WARNING: In addition to being a motivational speaker, I’m also a medical doctor (I know what I’m doing). Do not (under any circumstances) try what you’re about to see at home…

Why would a motivational speaker swallow a balloon?

Answer: To demonstrate your unrelenting drive for closure. Whenever you face an unresolved situation that leaves you feeling in limbo (such as…waiting for a balloon to reappear) you experience a drive for closure.

Like all of us, you hate unresolved situations (all that confusion and uncertainty). And so - to achieve closure - you make up stuff in your head to complete the story. Unfortunately the stuff you make up tends to be negative.

Want proof? Think back to the last time you had an unexpectedly long wait before someone returned a phone call (perhaps a friend or a hot business prospect). In which direction did your interpretation of this delay naturally tend to go, positive or negative? Negative, right? We’re all world-champions at turning a speck of information into a whole pessimistic scenario.

Key Point: This negative perspective not only leaves you feeling fretful, it drives you to act impulsively…compounding your problem. It’s a vicious circle.

That’s why it’s vital you both understand and get comfortable with your drive for closure. You must be able to say: “I don’t need to rush into this. It’s just my drive for closure talking”. 

Then whenever you feel an overwhelming urge to react in haste you’ll be able to step back and make that reaction a pause. And when you have the thinking space to change your point of view, it gives you a range of ways to think, choices of how to feel and different options for effective action.

Bottom line: When you learn how to resist your drive for closure, you supercharge your results. If you don’t, you lose…It really is that simple.

And that's why this motivational speaker swallowed a balloon!