Nichols motivates herself into being an agent of change
LISA Nichols is one of the world’s most in-demand motivational speakers. Her rags-toriches tale saw her go from being a struggling single mother on benefits 20 years ago to becoming a millionaire entrepreneur. The California-based businesswoman is the author of seven books on motivation and counts US talk-show host Oprah Winfrey among her close friends.
Nichols made her fortune by setting up a training and development company Motivating the Masses. As a fledgling business it worked first with drop-out teens in the US, helping them to get back into the school system, but quickly grew into offering life coaching and motivation programmes and seminars for entrepreneurs and CEOs.
“My business has grown double-digits every year for the last 13 years,” she told the Sunday Independent. “The company grew even during the 2008 recession in the US. During that period, when the climate changed, we changed. We stayed mobile, not static. Our lowest cost programme is $28 and our platinum programme is $47,500, and both programmes are packed to capacity.”
However, Nichols prefers to call herself a “facilitator of change” rather than a motivational speaker. She insists there’s a subtle but important difference.
“A motivational speaker is just like a jump-start. It’s like that cable that jump-starts your car battery but you don’t know how to keep your battery charged. A facilitator of change, however — and I consider myself a facilitator of change — is about helping people achieve long-term transformation.”
With a bag full of inspirational phrases in her motivational locker such as “If your dreams don’t scare you, you ain’t dreaming big enough” and “The two most important days of your life are the day you are born, and the day you know why”, Nichols exudes enough positive energy to power the national grid.
Nichols is due to speak at the Pendulum Summit at Dublin’s Convention Centre on January 11 and 12 where she will be joined by fellow motivational speakers Robin Sharma, Dr John Demartini, Keith Cunningham, Jack Canfield and Keith Ferrazzi.
So what is Nichols’ motivational message for business people in Ireland, especially in the wake of a morale-sapping economic crash? “So many of us have stopped dreaming big because we have had some failures in our life,” said Nichols.
“However, a lot of times the real reason that people lack motivation is because they have stopped believing that they can influence things in their own lives.
“The picture I give these people is that they have moved out of the driver’s seat of their life and now they are in the passenger’s seat, and they are letting their circumstances drive. In some cases, people move out of the passenger seat of their lives and they’re in the back seat of their lives. And in some cases they’ve moved out of the back seat and they’re in the trunk! And they’re hoping they don’t crash.” Nichols admits she offers no magic solution. “It’s not that I’m coming to Ireland with a lot of answers as much as I’m coming with better questions. The first thing I say to people is that they need to become their own rescue.”
But transformation demands change and change can be difficult, she said.
“I like to agitate a bit, because if I agitate and disrupt your soil a bit, then we can plant a new seed. People want to grow a new harvest without disrupting their existing soil, without planting a new seed, but that’s impossible. People walk around wanting to get a new result by doing the same habit. If you don’t want any disruption then the growth is going to be very difficult.”
Warming to her theme of how best to motivate those who are demotivated, Nichols reworks the cliched ‘No pain, no gain’ aphorism with her own homespun version.
“My grandmother says that your conviction and your convenience don’t live on the same block. The difference between a lot of people and myself is that I’m willing to take on the inconvenience because the ROI [return on investment] is greater than the inconvenience.”
Nichols admits that she was warned by friends that her positivity might grate with some of the more sceptical and world-weary Irish delegates.
“I’m okay with it. Cynicism says that I haven’t seen enough evidence, show me more. I don’t get defensive. There’s nothing for me to prove, there’s nothing for me to defend.
“What I do know is that my life is barely recognisable from what it was before. I have a breathtaking life because I have chosen a particular mindset, so when you have evidence there is nothing to prove. All the Irish need is more evidence and opportunity.” Unleash Your Warrior Mindset Pendulum Summit will take place at The Convention Centre Dublin on January 11 and 12, 2017. Visit www. pendulumsummit.com for tickets