How to Use Personal Leverage to Reach Your Goals

Archimedes said, “Give me a lever big enough and I can move the world.” (Or something like that.) I believe he was right. The challenge most people face when looking to change their lives is that they do not have any personal leverage.

Let me explain. I believe two forces motivate people: Pain and Pleasure. These are the factors we consider when making pretty much any decision. Think about the following scenarios and consider the pain and pleasure associated with the decision-making process for each one.

• Who you decided to marry
• Why you became domestically restructured (aka, divorced)
• Where you sent your child to college
• Where you work or do not work anymore
• The airline you tend to fly
• Restaurants you frequent

Our awareness of and concern about pain and pleasure dictates our decisions, especially when it comes to setting goals. The fact is, we are more likely to move away from pain than to move towards pleasure.

Have you ever put your hand on a burning stove? If so, did you move your hand off the stove slowly and casually? Of course not! You probably moved faster than you ever have in your life. Why? Because it hurt! When you understand how well pain motivates, you can use this fact as personal leverage for setting and achieving goals.

Here is an example of a real-world scenario in which I helped someone—let’s call her Betty—create personal leverage in order to achieve her goal. Betty struggled with weight issues and had set, and reset, her goal to “lose weight” many times, with zero success.

In order to help Betty use personal leverage to her advantage, I needed to uncover a pain point to get her motivated. During a casual conversation, I learned that she absolutely cannot stand a particular politician. The more she talked about this person, the angrier she got. She started to look like a burning stove herself! Bingo! I had found the personal leverage point necessary to motivate Betty in a way she had never before been motivated.

I asked Betty to write a check made out to the politician she did not care for (to put it mildly) to the tune of five grand. I told her I would hold the check and we agreed that if she did not achieve her goal weight by a target date we chose, I would mail her check to the politician’s office as a cheerful donation.

Even I was shocked at how quickly Betty got into action! It was as if she had a new purpose for living…and she did: to keep her five thousand dollars! Betty not only achieved her weight loss goal by the target date but she surpassed it. Now, whenever Betty wants to reach a goal, she employs the motivating power of personal leverage for herself.

I encourage you to use the powerful tool of personal leverage in your own goal-setting regimen. When you do, you will move as quickly as though you have put your hand on a burning stove, which in turn will give you the burning desire you may have been lacking.