One Sure-Fire Tip for Engaging the Hard Stuff

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My Accounting professor laid my mid-term exam on my desk.  A big fat red "C" on top. 

Did you know you can "C" out of an MBA program?  Yep.  Just one "C" in one class and they can drop you like a hot potato.

I hated going to my accounting class.  Boring stuff.  Zero motivation.  I was in the PhD program for Organization Behavor & Human Resources.  That's the fun stuff.  The exciting stuff.  The dynamic stuff.  People and decision making.

Accounting was just counting and tracking beans.

Ugh

As I stared at that "C," I realized it was staring back at me. 

It was pissed.  Did I just hear it ask, "What are you doing?!?!?"

I took the mid-term exam home and just looked at that "C."  Not at the exam.  Not at the problems.  Not at my incorrect answers.   Just that "C."

"I see you, but what do you want?"  I was almost screaming.

I was surprised at its answer.

"Love Me."

Flabbergasted (is that a word?), I asked, "How?"

No answer.

Halfway through Accounting and I have a "C" average.  Two more exams and my advanced degree aspirations in Organization Behavior are over.

"Love Me."

I Loved Up that "C" in Managerial Accounting with this simple tactic:

I re-framed Accounting.

Instead of slogging through each assignment and each class, I re-framing it into something I LOVE.

I turned it into a GAME!

My world became a financial, accounting game!

Instead of a simple personal checkbook, I created a Chart of Accounts.  I entered every expense as a Journal Entry.  I calculated the current Salvage Value of the computer for which my Dad loaned me the money.  No cent was going to fall through the cracks and not be counted!  I went to town!

This was my first launch of Mosher Inc!

From that instant of my mindset shift, I LOVED Accounting!  Instead of slogging through weekly assignments, I read the textbook with zeal, pored over assignments and learned how to run my Mosher Inc.  Two "A"s later and I passed with a B+.

More than that, though, I learned something even more important.

To this day, I still love that "C" in Managerial Accounting.  I keep the Managerial Accounting textbook close by in my office as a reminder to LOVE my "C"s in life.

The deepest learning from "C"s only come when I reframe them…and, yes, love them.

With that shift, I realize it is 100% within my power to …

• Gamify
• Gratify
• Beautify

…the ickiest To Do's on my To Do list.

• "I get to do … X"
• "I feel privileged to do … X"
• "I'm blessed to do … X" 
• "I feel immense gratitude that the universe has given me this amazing opportunity to do …X"

Just one shift away!

What is that one thing you are resisting doing?  It needs to be done.  It's screaming for your attention!

What does it want?

Just a little love.