Sometimes You Need a SLAPP to Get Back on Track

Greetings!

Do you need a SLAPP to get back on track?

The topic today centers on the SLAPP that will snap you out of your funk, and put you back on course toward your goal.

Don’t worry, the SLAPP I’m talking about has nothing to do with violence, it is spelled S-L-A-P-P, and it’s an acronym. I’ll define it in a bit, but first, I want to talk about where it comes from.

“The Choice Point: The Scientifically Proven Method to Push Past Mental Walls and Achieve Your Goals” is a book by Joanna Grover and Jonathan Rhodes, and it digs into goal-setting at the conceptual level.

Specifically, at the level where you decide when and how to act.

These Choice Points are crucial moments, both because they occur when we decide whether or not to act, and because they are opportunities to go through with the actions that can define us.

To quote the book: 

Choice Points usually happen when we face a challenge. They pop up during (or right before not doing) an infinite variety of activities: office work, writing a thesis, preparing for an exam, running up a hill, swimming the last mile, or working through a challenging dynamic in a relationship. For each of us, a Choice Point decision has the power to define who we are: a runner/non-runner, an academic/non-academic, healthy/not healthy.

As humans, we have roughly 6,000 to 60,000 thoughts a day. And we are free to choose which of these thoughts we act on–that includes negative thoughts and positive thoughts.

The Choice Point offers us either mental mutiny or cognitive control.

• Mental mutiny can lead us to being disappointed in our actions
• Cognitive control is tied to our commitment to our values and our long-term goals

Since the Choice Point is, by definition, wrapped in conscious thought, which would you rather choose–mental mutiny or cognitive control?

I choose cognitive control!

The book introduces a number of concepts to help you make the right decision at your Choice Point. They include:

• Retraining your “thought worms”, i.e., learning how to push those negative thoughts aside
• Functional Imagery Training (FIT), which is visualizing who you want to be and how to accomplish your goals
• Understanding your core values from a list of 83. Examples include:
  • Justice
  • Romance
  • Self-control
  • Self-acceptance
  • Mindfulness
• The Four Ingredients to Fortify Your Commitment
  • Have a One-Pointed Goal
  • Make Sure You Have Support
  • Find Your Core, and Strengthen It with Imagery
  • Trust
    • “If you are serious about change and you want to live a life different than the one you have, you will have to trust yourself.”

And now we come to the SLAPP!

Similar to the concept in my book about having a plan for when you fall off your horse, the SLAPP is for those moments when negative thoughts overtake us, and they threaten to knock us off the path towards accomplishing our goals.

• SLAPP =
  • Stop or Slow down
    • Make a conscious decision to disrupt your thinking pattern by taking a centering breath
  • Locate a cue
    • A cue is a trigger that reminds you to think or act in a certain way
  • Activate your imagery
    • Create a deliberate emotional anchor that will produce motivational imagery and the desired behavioral outcome of continued effort
  • Park unwanted thoughts
    • Trying to stop unwanted thoughts just creates focus on them, while parking them pushes them aside
  • Persevere with the plan

Does SLAPP work? Yes!

According to the book, a study was conducted with soldiers going through the Royal Marines Commando Course. 

After being taught the methodology, soldiers using Functional Imagery Training (and even shouting “SLAPP!”) had a 44% greater chance of success. They pushed themselves through the grueling training and achieved their goals in the face of great adversity.

Remember the next time you find yourself straying from the path, SLAPP yourself straight!

P.S. PROJECT BOLD LIFE: The Proven Formula to Take on Challenges and Achieve Happiness and Success is a complete system for planning your life to get what you want, and has been a top seller in three categories: “Motivational Growth & Spirituality”, “Personal Success & Spirituality” and “Management Skills”. I hope you check it out if you have not purchased a copy.