Advance Performance | How To Create Powerful Moments and Experiences with a Life-Changing Impact
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How To Create Powerful Moments and Experiences with a Life-Changing Impact

How To Create Powerful Moments and Experiences with a Life-Changing Impact

Moments matter. Moments can be life-changing whilst many other moments are quickly forgotten. Defining powerful moments shape our lives, but we don’t have to depend on luck or accidents in forming these experiences for ourselves and others. We can create them.

We can all remember “big days” in our lives such as graduation, our wedding or birth of a child which are grand in scale and emotions.They happen just once and therefore stand out individually. But how do other experiences such as holidays or memorable work projects, races or a football match stand out in our memories and define us above thousands of other daily experiences?

In their new book The Power of Now: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact, Chip and Dan Heath report on research has found that defining moments in our lives contain at least one of the following elements:

  • elevation (going beyond expectations)
  • insight (learning something new about oneself)
  • pride (feeling personal fulfilment)
  • connection (sharing the moment with another person).

If we understand what powerful moments are made of, we can be intentional about creating them. And the right moment can have extraordinary power.” – Chris Heath

The authors explain we don’t remember a whole experience (even with our own wedding or a graduation), we recall clearly the Peaks, the Pits and the Transitions.

How can we create more defining moments with long term impact for ourselves and others?

Setting our SMART goals for different occasions. As a manager, mentor or group leader, we should set SMART goals to ensure the occasion is defining for other participants. E.g. To form an effective, informative and welcoming Induction Programme for all new staff to ensure their first day in a new job is positive.

Taking control of the controllables is one of the messages we teach on our Advance courses, and this is the key message in creating defining moments in our lives. We can ensure a project, a meeting, a pitch or presentation can be defining for ourselves and others by preparing and considering the pitfalls we can alter.

Breaking the script – create an element of surprise for others. Pret a Manger has a policy that staff can treat customers with an item among their purchases – the staff can choose who to give their free coffee to, or not charge for their juice. If this happened every day it would be expected, and lose its impact. The element of an unexpected freebie means it is another “first” happening again.

Stretch for Insight – This is the authors’ term for having a positive learning mindset. If we focus on how we want to improve our experiences, we are more likely to empower ourselves through action.

Practise courage and step out of our comfort zone – Courage is contagious. The more you say yes, and have a go, take that risk, the more courage you will gain, and have the positive mindset to face challenges which will create defining moments. And by taking courage to step out of your comfort zone you may be creating the defining moment for someone else – giving them courage as well.

Creating a Culture of Values and Positivity within your company, family, team or community group – if we want to succeed and establish defining moments within experiences, we need to lead by our own actions showing our values and our “why” so that others follow.

By understanding how our powerful moments are created through elevation, insight, pride and connection, we have the ability to create more moments that matter.

We can be the designers of moments that deliver elevation and insight and pride and connection. These exceptional minutes and hours and days—they are what make life meaningful. And they are ours to create.” – Chris Heath

Further reading: 

This is an excellent summary article on the ideas frm the book by Chris Heath