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Attitude

Mar 25
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Just Do It!

By Attitude, Blogpost

The EASIEST way to achieve any goal is to make action a habit. Taking daily action on your goal is weird and unfamiliar at first, and you might be tempted to skip a day or a month if you come up against an obstacle. But if you’re diligent about daily action for about a month or two, you will have created a habit of action that will make you unstoppable.

How do you create a habit? Persistent repetition.

Okay… but how do you make yourself do something until it becomes a habit?

start-wallpaper

Find a way to keep doing it! Find a way to START, every single day. Create a habit of starting.

Starting might mean opening up your journal and writing your short list of goals. It means reading a page in your textbook, not a whole chapter. It means dialing the first number on your list, not making the commitment to call every person on it. Create a habit of starting: a push in the beginning of each day to get the momentum rolling.

So what happens when you just don’t feel like doing it?

First, let’s identify why you might be facing resistance to taking action:
● You’re comfortable, and the action is uncomfortable or difficult.
● You’re not afraid, and the action is scary (because it’s uncomfortable or difficult).

Here are ways to make a habit of action MORE comfortable than a habit of not taking action:
● Prepare yourself. Lay out the necessary equipment beforehand. Then, your resources are right there and the excuses of having to find something will vanish.
● Break your actions into their smallest, easiest components. It’s easier to commit to reading one page than a chapter. Tell yourself, “I’ll just do this one little thing and then I can get back to something else.” Changes are great that once you get rolling, you’ll keep rolling. Rollling is easy once you start!
● Talk about it. The more people you tell about your goal, the more uncomfortable it is to NOT take action because you’ll risk having to explain why you’re not moving forward!
● Reward yourself. For example, if you start the day off with a cup of coffee, DO NOT have that coffee until you have accomplished some small task. Reward yourself with the coffee after you’re done.

Make it as easy as possible to start, and hard to not start. Just for 30-60 days, or until you wake up one morning and you automatically take action on your goal. Then you’ll know that you have created the daily action habit.

Inspired by Leo Babauta’s blog on www.zenhabits.com

Feb 28
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Self-Motivation for When the Going is Tough

By Attitude, Blogpost

when_the_going_gets_tough

We’ve all been there – that situation when, despite your best efforts, the road is rocky and you are increasingly worn out from the effort… and the light at the end of the tunnel is probably an oncoming train.

Many people enter a project or start working on a goal with an unconscious self-defeatist attitude! It’s not that they lack motivation, it’s that they’ve predestined failure by not having the self-esteem necessary to follow through on a goal. They say, “I’ll try” – which implies, “I will work until it’s too hard, or too uncomfortable, or too scary, or too whatever… and then I’ll say that I tried and it will be okay to quit.”

NO! Wrong attitude!!

How can you get past this slump to the success on the other side? No matter what your business or personal goals are, you CAN motivate yourself to keep going – and more importantly, to keep giving your best. You CAN learn to persevere even in the face of “obvious” defeat. Most goals are, in fact, abandoned just shy of success.

Success is in the mindset. We are, all of us, naturally lazy and prefer to take the path of least resistance. When an obstacle comes up, it’s easier to give in and say, “not this time” or “it wasn’t meant to be.” But is that going to move you toward your goals? Of course not.

 

The problem with writing an article on self-motivation is, there is no one perfect way to motivate everybody. Depending on how you perceive the world; your level of self-esteem; your beliefs about your goals and many other factors, you will have to come up with your own secret formula for motivational success. That said, here are some tools you can use. Try one, try them all, and NEVER GIVE UP.

 

1: Small steps are better than giant leaps.

Be realistic in your goals. Unrealistic expectations (usually related to rigid timelines) set you up for failure before you even start. Any business takes time to grow; and taking a business from zero to a million requires time and a plan. Set measurable, ever-increasing goals that you use as stepping-stones to success. Break your goals down into small, daily actions and stick to your plan. “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” And then another, and another. One step at a time is all you need to focus on. Think about it: what would you rather do: be overwhelmed into inaction-paralysis by a huge goal, or have a small daily action to take care of? Which is more motivating?

 

2. Instead of a to-do list, make a “Daily Hit List”.

These are tasks that are important for your goals; and do these before you do anything else that day. Set aside 10-30 minutes of laser-focused activity and get these important things out of your hair. Feel the satisfaction of having moved another step forward. If there’s time to “do it all,” great. If not, at least the important things have been done.

 

3. Do not allow yourself to quit.

You’ve probably heard the old cliché, “winners never quit and quitters never win.” It’s true! But don’t keep banging your head against the wall using the same techniques to problem-solve, when they aren’t working. Be innovative! When you’re up against an obstacle, use meditation to help you visualize alternative outcomes and innovative solutions. When you attack a problem head-on using logic and reasoning, you may not come up with a solution – but if you engage your imagination and creativity, you’ll be absolutely astounded at how clever you really are.

 

4. Talk about your goals with supportive people.

They will hold you accountable, cheer you on, give you ideas and mentor you. The more you talk about your goals, the more real they become in YOUR mind, too, and the more valuable information you will get as people love to share their knowledge.

 

5. Hold yourself accountable.

And also expect 100% effort and dedication from yourself. Your goals are your dreams, right? Why wouldn’t you give 100% to yourself? Do not doubt yourself and do not fear. All it takes to vaporize fear and self-doubt is taking action! Having a plan with small, incremental steps makes it EASY to take action. Action leads to confidence, higher self-esteem, and forward momentum!

 

6. Intense visualization.

Use two or three intense visualization sessions every day to keep yourself fired up about your goal and to maintain a positive mindset. Take 2-3 minutes, find a quiet place to close your eyes and intensely visualize SUCCESS in your goal. That’s all it takes! Your mind will mobilize to find the “how” – that’s its job – and your only task in visualization is to give the command that this is what you want.

 

You are both your greatest ally and your worst enemy. When you think about your goals, which are you? Be your greatest ally and choose right now to take small steps forward every single day, rain or shine. As Albert Einstein said, “Nothing happens until something moves.”

 

 

Inspired by Wayne Hartzell’s blog on www.personal-goal-setting.com

 

 

Oct 17
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A Positive Attitude and Success

By Attitude, Blogpost, Success

 

 

Surrounding yourself with positivity in your work environment might sound like a lot of New Age la-la stuff, and you might bristle at the thought of pasting motivational quotes in your office.

Good news. You don’t have to.

But maybe, after reading this, you’ll want to. At least one or two that will keep you accountable and on track.

If you’re a businessperson, you have goals and your time is precious and scarce. Frequently reading positive quotes actually create a more positive mindset that is more prone to taking action, interacting with people, and taking calculated business risks that move your business forward.

“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”– Dale Carnegie

Everybody is wrapped up in their own lives. They don’t have a whole lot of time for your life story… they are too busy being focused on their own needs and wants. That includes your clients and your prospective clients. The more interested you become in them and their needs, the more sales you’ll generate because you’ll figure out a way to make your product or service meet those needs!

 

“Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.” – Benjamin Franklin

 

You KNOW procrastination is a dream-killer. So instead of a “to-do” list, make a “hit list” of the most important tasks and systematically take care of them immediately. Everything else can wait.

“I think that much of the advice given to young men about saving money is wrong. I never saved a cent until I was forty years old. I invested in myself – in study, in mastering my tools, in preparation. Many a man who is putting a few dollars a week into the bank would do much better to put it into himself.” – Henry Ford

How much time do you spend learning about your business, your product or service, and your market? Never stop learning. You will never become a master of anything because there is always more to learn; if you think you’ve learned it all, you’ll stagnate and get left behind. Be curious and look for more to learn, every day.

“Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill

Business life is full of disappointments and obstacles. How do you cope? Do you take the lessons from your failures, or do you allow them to knock you down?

These quotes by some of the world’s greatest achievers will instill a sense of optimism and personal power in you. Watch your results increase as you change your mindset!

With thanks to www.goalsnaspirations.com for the inspiration for this post.

 

 

Mar 22
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How Your Story Creates (or Un-Creates) Your Goal

By Attitude, Blogpost, inspirations


What sort of stories are you telling about your goals? Are your stories full of enthusiasm, belief and action, or are they full of excuses and ‘becauses’? You may now know how important it is to tell the right story. The truth is, your Word is more powerful than you think. Have you noticed that the happiest people tell the most positive stories and the most miserable people tell stories of suffering and woe?

The thing is, it’s not the circumstances that create the story, it’s the story that creates the circumstances!

Your internal narrative and the way you talk to other people is a critical component of success. Your Word has energy behind it. If you say things like, “I’m sick and tired of… then you will actually become sick, and tired! If you say things like, “I love the challenge of…!” then you will approach the day with enthusiasm and drive. How does this work?

Try this little experiment, right now. Take a few minutes with no interruptions. Sit quietly and relax. Your first task is to say, “Nothing good ever happens to me.” Say it to yourself several times, and feel the physical reaction in your body. No matter what your mood was when you started, guaranteed, you are feeling blue now! We humans are emotional creatures. Our moods dictate our actions (otherwise it wouldn’t be so hard to stick to a diet). By creating a negative mood, you subconsciously sabotage your goals because now you just don’t feel like doing anything – because no matter what you do, “nothing good ever happens to me.”

The next step is to completely change the scenario. Paste a BIG smile on your face. I mean the biggest, cheesiest, silliest smile you can manage. It is physiologically impossible to smile and feel angry or sad! You can’t hold on to that negativity! Then, say to yourself, “Everything is coming together for me.” And feel the energy in your body change. Do you feel like taking action on your goals now? Sure you do! It feels good, and right, and the positive energy has totally transformed your ability to achieve!

Listen to yourself and see what sort of story you’re telling – do this any time you’re feel frustrated or stuck and you’ll notice that you’re telling yourself a story of drama, suffering, failure and all sorts of negativity.

Throw that story as far as you can and re-write it! We are hard-wired to tell stories. Our minds constantly attempt to explain what is going on around us – and that’s the key element right there – it’s the mind’s interpretation of an event that writes the story!

And YOU control your mind – when you are aware of what’s going on you can imprint the right thoughts in your mind, and then you can’t help but succeed!

Facts in and of themselves are just facts. Just raw data. It’s the story we create around them that dictates our experience! Think about that. If you took two people and put them in the same situation, their stories would be completely different.

Each story we tell is a complex tale that mixes our beliefs with current events, past events and emotions, and this goulash is what we tell ourselves and others. The thing is, much of the time these stories are created unconsciously and out of habit. And you can change your story, any time you want. You can go from:

  • Nothing ever works out
  • There’s too much competition, how will I stand out?
  • I wish I had time to do stuff I love
  • I would take care of myself better if I didn’t have so much work!
  • I’m not smart enough…
  • I’m not good enough…
  • It takes money to make money
  • Money is hard to come by

To:

  • Everything works out perfectly – even if it’s not how I anticipated, I receive valuable lessons from this situation.
  • For every talent and gift, there is an audience.
  • I do what I love, because I choose to focus on what is important to me
  • I make the time to take excellent care of myself
  • I’m smart and I’m always looking for new knowledge and skills
  • I’m capable and resourceful, and I’m always finding creative ways to accomplish things
  • I’m resourceful and aware and I constantly notice opportunities to make money
  • The less I worry about money, the easier it comes to me!

 

Listen to yourself next time you’re thinking or talking about your goals, and get in the habit of listening to yourself when you talk to other people. You may be shocked at how negative your Word is. These faulty stories are mostly based on fear, and if you change your stories to positive stories with a “can do” attitude, things will turn around for you very quickly!

 

Inspired by a blog by Dr. Maynard Brusman.

Feb 14
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Making YOUR goals unique

By Attitude, Blogpost, Goals

Unique




Unique You, Unique Goals

Have you ever compared your goals to the goals of other people? Have you judged yours based on theirs? Well, don’t. Sure, use people’s goals to inspire you, but don’t compare your goals, or your results. Everyone has a unique path in life. Don’t beat yourself up if your goals aren’t as grand as your sister’s; or as cool as your brother’s. I know it might seem obvious to not compare yourself to others, but people often have a slightly over-developed competitive streak that comes from their own insecurity, so they have to prove themselves against others. If their best friend achieves X, they have to achieve Y – or be resentful forever if they can’t. Even a more subtle variant of this kind of competition – comparing yourself to others – can be detrimental to your goals.
 

First, you are not them. They are not you. Focus on your goals and don’t worry about theirs. You have talents and abilities that your friends and family, your colleagues and heroes, do not have. If you take two people and they are going for the exact same goal, even if they reach the same result, their stamp on it will be different. The end result is the icing on the cake. The real magic happens along the way, when you make your goals YOURS. You give your efforts a certain “you-ness” that no one else possesses.
 

Second, maybe your ultimate benefits will be far higher than theirs, even if their result is “better.” You could be going for the same goal as someone more “able” than you – but says who? Maybe you are more determined. Maybe you are more creative. Maybe you will find a better solution… maybe this goal will stretch you much further than it stretches the other person, and as a result, you get more personal satisfaction and growth out of it. Goals are there to get you to grow and to satisfy some inner need. Don’t base your goal on being better than someone else – because there will always be someone who is better than YOU. Maybe not today, maybe not for years – but ultimately, someone will best your achievements, and you will be crushed.
 

Two people with the same goal will end up with different ripple effects. Maybe you both have the same goal, but its achievement will impact a different group of people – which is great! Always remember, for every talent, there is an audience. So be brave. Forge your own way. Get to your goal the best way you can – not by following in someone’s footsteps, but by taking inspiration from others’ achievements and making your own path. You may improve on what they’ve done, and set the stage for even greater accomplishments for people who follow YOU.
 

If you compare yourself against other people’s achievements, you’re bound to get discouraged. So use their accomplishments to fuel your fire. Don’t compete against others (the great skier Hermann Maier admitted that his biggest mistake whenever he skied badly was that he was trying to win against his competitors instead trying to achieve a personal best). So don’t put that kind of pressure on yourself. They may be having a “Superman” kind of day, and you may be dragging… Compete against yourself, using others’ accomplishments as “carrots.” This kind of competition is healthy. The kind where “you must lose so that I can win” is unhealthy.
 

Always push yourself, against yourself. Compete against the part of you that wants to quit; that wants to settle for the easy way; against the part of you that is afraid and lacks confidence. You already have the tools within you to make it happen – you just have to have the confidence to take those tools out of the toolbox and use them.
 

Inspired by Anilia’s blogs on www.motivatedsista.com

 

 

Oct 11
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Overcoming Doubt and Other Negativity

By Attitude, Blogpost


You know by now that negative thoughts lead to negative actions and result inevitably in negative results. So when your goal is looming frighteningly large (“how can I possibly…?”), how do you keep those paralyzing negative thoughts at bay? How do you reprogram your own mind to avoid those destructive thoughts?
 

And where do you turn for help? Who can help you reprogram your habitual negative thought processes?
 

One of the best places for support in this area is a group of people who, like you, are in the process of achieving some pretty grand goals. I’ve mentioned before, that other people can see right through your own rationalizations and other negative self-talk. Your support team will help redirect you to thinking the way you need to think; ultimately, you have to learn how to take full control of your mind, and it’s a much easier journey when you don’t go it alone.
 

If you let your thoughts run wild with negativity like “I can’t”, “I don’t have time”, “it costs too much to get started”, you can bet that your resulting actions will NOT move you closer to your goal. Thoughts always result in action (even inaction is action!). Taking control of your mind means that your prevailing thought patterns become those of “I can”, “I am being wiser with my time management and I have plenty of time to work on my goal”, and “I’m finding creative ways to finance my dreams” (and so on). And just as sure as saying “I can’t” results in you doing nothing, “I can” results in you trying new ways to accomplish something. So where does the group come in?
 

First, you can see that you’re not the only one in this situation. Your group knows exactly what you’re going through! Second, you can spot each other’s negative streaks and in a cooperative spirit, help each other redirect those thoughts. Third, by meeting consistently to talk and brainstorm about your goals, thoughts of success (“I can”) become firmly entrenched in your mind. Can you think of other reasons why surrounding yourself with people who support you will have positive results?
 

Let’s say you have one friend who’s the one you go to when you talk about your goals – that one, wonderful, non-judgmental, unconditionally-loving friend who’s always encouraging you… how wonderful to have someone like that! Does this friend allow you to wallow in self-pity when you can’t do something right away? No. Your friend encourages you to try again, or try another way. Does this friend agree with your negative self-talk? No. That raised eyebrow says it all, doesn’t it? Does this friend agree with your excuses and rationalizations? No. The eyebrow is still raised! Does this friend say “oh well, I guess it wasn’t meant to be?” Of course not! Your friend has far more faith in you than you have in yourself – and it’s contagious, and soon you’ll come to have that faith too!
 

Now, imagine this positive energy multiplied by ten.
 

“It wasn’t meant to be” becomes “I created it.” “I don’t think I can” becomes “I’m becoming the person who CAN”… and then, truly, miracles happen. There is also a snowball effect as the energy of your group becomes more positive. You’ll begin to feed off each other’s enthusiasm and successes. You’ll take such massive action that all negativity will simply vaporize… and this will fuel the fire of passion, creativity, desire and dedication to your goal. In an atmosphere like that, success is inevitable!
 

Negativity becomes a thing of the past when you’re surrounded by other people who think they can… and think YOU can.