4 year old Jack walked in the door with his chin on his chest, eyes down and bottom lip quivering.

I greeted him with a big “Hi Jack!!!”, in the usual way. “Gimme five!”

Jack slunk past me without making eye contact and sat down. I followed him to his seat and asked him “What’s the matter?”

He looked down and shook his head and a tear trickled down his cheek.

I asked him, “Do you feel ok? Did someone make you feel bad?”

He shook his head and mumbled something.

“What did you say?” I asked.

“Karate is boring.” he sobbed and then more tears flowed from his eyes.

“Don’t you want to do class today and have fun?”

A shake of the head was all I received as a reply.

I then asked, “What’s your favorite thing in the whole world?”

He shook his head… “Nothing”.

His mother then said, “He likes X-men.”

“Which X-men do you like Jack?” I asked.

At that moment Jack underwent a “state change”. He shifted his focus from crying and feeling bad to enjoyment. I immediately saw the difference in his face. He lifted his chin and started to imagine…

“I like the guy with the claws!”

“You mean Wolverine?”

“Yeah!”

“Can you show me how Wolverine does his punches with his claws?”

Jack jumped up and started punching the air and making noises.

“Wow – that’s cool. Give me five Wolverine!”

Jack gave me a high five.

His mood had literally changed from negative to positive within 60 seconds. From sobbing to running towards the tatami for class.

The process I just described is a very powerful method for changing the mood of others, and subsequently their results. (You can do this for yourself too.)

World famous success coach, Anthony Robbins uses this method to change the lives of hundreds of thousands of people – and you can use it to for your students and yourself.

In plain and simple form, here are the basic steps.

1) When a student is feeling low, refocus their attention to something they absolutely love. It must be something they are passionate about, or you won’t get the results.

2) Ask them questions about whatever it is that makes them happy. Ask them to imagine that they are living that experience, or being that person. You’ll see the difference immediately in their posture and emotions.

3) Link this to their current situation. This creates a new “neuro-association” and changes their thoughts permanently. For example, I asked Jack to show me how Wolverine does his karate punches. This created a new neuro-association with karate – one of fun and enjoyment, instead of “karate is boring”.

Try it out and let me know what happens…

To your success!

– Jason