How can advisors stay motivated in the face of tough day after tough day in markets, a relentless stream of bad news in the media and a succession of difficult client conversations? One useful strategy can be "framing" the way you think about market events or tough client meetings to control the impact these have on our mood. Last week, I was invited to participate in a conference call for advisors by Mackenzie Financial. In talking about the theme for this call, we decided to concentrate on strategies that advisors can put in place to maintain motivation and a positive mindset.

This is the number one issue for many advisors right now. In the face of what's transpired in the last six months, it's natural to feel beaten down. At the same time, it's essential to stay reasonably upbeat and motivated - a reasonable level of motivation and positive attitude makes everything else we do possible. (We got great feedback on this call - it's available at 416 695-5800 or 1 800 408-3053, passcode 3283867.)

Given the tough period we're in, for most of us motivation won't happen unless we make it happen. As a result, we need to put explicit strategies in place - and one of those strategies relates to how we "frame" events.

In 2000, a vote was taken on the most influential books written in the previous 100 years. Among the top ten was "Man's Search for Meaning" by Victor Frankl.

Frankl was an Austrian psychiatrist imprisoned in Auschwitz in World War Two. In that book, he wrote about the qualities that marked those who maintained hope and a positive outlook in that horrific environment.

One of his key insights was that the survivors shared the view that while they couldn't control the events around them, they could always control their response to those events.

Framing events so we see ourselves as in control is essential to avoiding the "poor me", victim like mindset that drains energy and will.

Essentially, framing events is all about choice.

We can choose to say "these markets drive me crazy". Alternatively, we can say "I allow these markets to drive me crazy."

Or after a tough conversation with an irrational client, we can say "That client drives me crazy". Or we can take another approach and say "I allow that client to drive me crazy." Changing how we look at things alters the amount of control we feel and can have a big impact on our mood.

As a side point, another strategy we talked about on the call was to tag team difficult meetings, asking an associate, another advisor or your branch manager to sit in if you know a meeting will be particularly hard.

It's been just under six months since the collapse of Lehman Brothers - in a recent round table, one advisor said the last six months feels like six years.

It's important to remind ourselves we'll work through this tough period, just as we have other tough periods in the past.

In the meantime, it's key to maintain our motivation .

There's no one formula to make that happen - we're all different and will respond to different approaches.

That said, every advisor needs to put in place a mix of approaches that will help you function effectively. As you think about your own formula to stay motivated, consider changing how you "frame" events. Doing that and that alone can make a big difference in your outlook.