Stephen McGarvey - Ignite a Shift: Engaging Minds, Guiding Emotions and Driving Behavior

IGNITE A

SHIFT

Ignite a Shift isnt a book filled with grandiose claims of instant health, wealth, and romance like so many books in the self-help space. This valuable read has proven strategies to help make significant shifts in your life that will maximize your potential.

TOPHER MORRISON , BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF STOP CHASING PERFECTION AND SETTLE FOR EXCELLENCE

Ignite a Shift is a must-read for senior executives and leaders. Change management is critical to the success of any important strategy or plan, and Stephen [McGarvey] provides terrific insights and tools on how to create behavioral shifts to successfully navigate change management.

JOHN HOWLETT , PRESIDENT, BUNZL CANADA

Get ready to focus on the positive, let go of the negative, and leverage the amazing power of your brain so you can succeed and thrive! Ignite a Shift provides the tools you need to navigate the internal workings of your own brain. Youll learn how to recognize, regulate, and control your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, which is the first step towards influencing others. Ignite a Shift is a unique, engaging, and necessary resource that will propel you on your journey towards self-improvement.

DR. BERNARD CHIASSON , VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS AND CHIEF SCIENTIFIC OFFICER, MIRAVO HEALTHCARE

Ignite a Shift is an insightful read that guides you in an intelligent reflection about your mindset.

BEVERLY GU , CORPORATE SOLUTIONS, NASDAQ

STEPHEN M C GARVEY

ENGAGING MINDS, GUIDING EMOTIONS
AND DRIVING BEHAVIOR

NEW YORK

LONDONNASHVILLEMELBOURNEVANCOUVER

Ignite a Shift

Engaging Minds, Guiding Emotions and Driving Behavior

2022 Stephen McGarvey

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in New York, New York, by Morgan James Publishing. Morgan James is a trademark of Morgan James, LLC. www.MorganJamesPublishing.com

Proudly distributed by Ingram Publisher Services.

Cover photo used with permission by iStock / pegadesign.

All cartoons designed by Robert Duncan

Client names have been changed throughout the book to maintain privacy.

The mnemonic ZeeWhy has been adapted from Chuck Hickok, Teaching Memory Skills lecture series, 2010. Used with permission.

First electronic printing April 2021

Visit www.SolutionsInMind.com

Morgan James is a proud partner of Habitat for Humanity Peninsula and Greater Williamsburg. Partners in building since 2006.

Get involved today! Visit MorganJamesPublishing.com/giving-back

I dedicate this book to my life and business partner Natalie Sarlo-McGarvey. We are truly opposite and inseparable sides of the same coin. Im grateful that we committed to embarking together on this journey called life and, God willing, I look forward to having many more wonderful adventures and years to come. I love and value you very much. Thank you!

Id also like to give a special thanks to my father, Arden, and to my late mother, Dorothy, who were always full of love and encouragement. Thank you for teaching me about God our Creator and Jesus our Redeemer.

No person is an island. Every day, we realize more and more how interconnected we all are, and how much we impact each other, both consciously and unconsciously. And each and every day, our individual success relies to some extent on our ability to persuade and influence others.

In Ignite a Shift, well embark on a journey together and explore at a deeper level the subtleties of how persuasion works, including the ways in which we influence ourselves and others.

On this journey, you will discover the importance of rapport as the foundation for persuasion and influence. Well explore a number of communication and memory techniques and examine the often-underappreciated impact that language has on engaging and guiding others. Youll understand how to identify and harness various motivational factors that drive peoples choices and behaviors. Youll also learn how to negotiate effectively. Well consider the significance of SMART outcomes in the context of setting well-defined objectives, which will greatly increase the likelihood of achieving them. All of these topicsand many morewill be discussed within the context of how to move from the Current State to a Desired State.

Throughout this book, Ill present proven concepts regarding influence and introduce important distinctions and strategies to keep in mind when you are persuading others. Ill also give you the tools to apply this knowledge and, at the end of each chapter, youll be challenged with an exercise that will provide you with the opportunity to take action to ignite a shift within your own life and in your interactions with those around you. I want to emphasize right from the beginning that my intent in sharing all of this information is to equip you to use these strategies to enrich your life and the lives of those with whom you interact. Always bear in mind that these techniques are very powerful, and it is imperative that they be used respectfully and ecologically at all times.

If you were to survey individuals about what it takes to be persuasive and influential, youd get a variety of answers. Some people might say, You need all the facts, or, You have to know the best sales strategies, or perhaps even, You either have to be very charismatic or very assertiveor both.

Lets look at these statements one at a time. Is having all the facts at hand enough? While its certainly impressive, think of all the political candidates who rattle off fact after fact, then make a poor showing in the polls. As for sales techniques, weve all been annoyed by salespeople running their lines, pushing us to buy today because the price is doubling tomorrow, or using some other tried and true gimmick to attempt to persuade us. And personality? Having a charismatic one is helpful, of course, although we all know certain very charming people who are popular and at the same time lack the ability to effectively influence others.

No, something else lies at the heart of persuasion and influence.

Or should I say, several something elses, which well explore throughout this journey together.

First, let me tell you that the last thing I ever imagined or planned on doing was writing a book.

I can safely say that academic accomplishments were elusive for me and seemed to be something only others could achieve. In Grade Two, I remember being petrified of reading out loud in class; feverishly rehearsing in my head each paragraph or section numerous times before my turn came to read aloud. I was told I had a learning disability and failed the grade. My teachers were convinced that I had dyslexia. When it came to writing, it was a struggle to arrange even my simplest thoughts in a linear fashion and I had to constantly reread what I had just written before I could continue. As I progressed in school, I was always anxious during tests and exams and never managed to finish them in the allotted time. I even failed Grade Twelve math three timestwice in summer school! You get the picture , dont you? As I share this story about my past, you may even feel sympathetic, or you might relate to it based on your own unique challenges.