8. The Single Most Untalked About Element Of Success In Building An Alexander Business

Have you ever been so tired, that even stumbling to bed seems too much of an effort?

It was a night like this that I had one of my biggest lessons about motivation and energy. In those days I lived in Sydney. I was running Sata (Sydney Alexander Teaching Associates) which was like an early version of BodyChance. That January, the annual Summer Festival was on in Sydney’s Hyde Park. They set up a stage, and it was while I was performing about Alexander Technique that I saw Anna. It was of those electric moments when the world silences itself, so that all that I could see and feel was her. Wow! I got get that girl’s phone number I thought…

Fast forward to me that night, having finally finished the day: 25 x 10 minute lessons, three stage performances, and Anna. She had come to my tent in the park. We talked, but she had been coy, and would only take my phone number, not give me hers. It was the end of the day now, almost midnight. I was sitting at home, exhausted. My eyes in a glaze, my body slumped - I couldn’t even find the energy to go to bed. Then Anna rang.

OMG!!! 

She said she was at a party close by and did I want to come…

Was I still too tired? Did I say: “Hey, thanks for calling Anna, but you know - I am too tired to meet you now.” Of course not! And the fact was, I was no longer tired. My system engaged itself to serve my goal…

When your goal is sufficiently clear, and it is something you really want, finding energy is easy. It takes no effort - you bounce out of bed and get everything done and finish early. When it comes to building a financially successful teaching career, this is what you need the most!

This issue of motivation is the primary factor that will decide if you succeed or not. Finding the energy to do the activities that lead to success is the single, biggest barrier you face. Who creates this barrier to your success? You do.

In Alexander Technique there are no victims, no one to blame. You take full responsibility for your life, and gather around you what you need to succeed. Am I always motived? No. If you read my FaceBook posts during 2011 (and you are welcome to become a friend so you can read them), you know that I once transparently shared how I work daily with staying motivated.

How do I get motivated?

I seek out mentors. I find people who have already succeeded and let them teach me what to do. You need to meet your mentor personally, but if you can not, then seek out all they have written. However, my most powerful leaps forward in building my own career came when I sought to be with my mentor in person. I found that person because I was consciously looking for them. Are you searching now?

Simple human contact with the right person can be a powerful transformative experience. One of my mentors was teaching in a room full of 90 people - it didn’t matter. Being in the presence of your right mentor is entirely different from reading his book, listening to her video or hearing someone talk about them.

So in your success plan - who is your mentor? This year for example, I will spend more than $38,000 on my business/career building education with my mentors - I have many these days. It is not a cost, it is an investment. Their advice accelerates my business but it is not free - you need to invest. My advice is to find someone you can believe in.

I mentor, but only for my students as part of BodyChance’s mission to have Alexander's discoveries accessible to everyone in Japan. You need to meet with a mentor in your country - do their workshop or residential. Go belly-to-belly with them.

However, make sure they are doing what you want to learn from them. Have they got street cred? In Alexander Technique work you understand that you can not help another person any more than you are able to help your self. Apply that criteria to your mentor: are they successful?

There are lots of them about - so start looking!

And Anna? Turns out she was in love with Hugo Weaving before he was a big star, and I couldn't compete with that. Not every story ends happily.