Get Motivated Stay Motivated

Staying focused is difficult for many of us. Some of us get side-tracked by the events of life going on around us. We allow ourselves to be pulled this way and that, sometimes not knowing where to go next. However, staying focused is primarily an issue of time allocation and programming that time. But it does take practice to make it a habit. Let’s look at some ways to stay focused until you succeed.

First and foremost, you need a set of well defined goals if you are to stay focused. It’s the key! And one way of doing that is to write down what you want to accomplish. As you’re sipping your coffee in the morning, jot down some things you want to accomplish that day.

A set of well defined goals is long-term as well as short-term. A very helpful tool to use to stay focused for the long-term is to plan ahead. This will require you to obtain and maintain some form of scheduling method. This can be done on something as simple as a paper calendar or an electronic one. The point is to start noting every appointment, every deadline, and every dinner engagement you commit yourself to.  By maintaining a means of scheduling you will firstly, become more organized, and secondly, because you are more organized, you will stay more focused. Just follow your schedule.

Sometime you may be involved in a project that appears to be overwhelming. What successful people do is break that project into smaller pieces. This strategy is well-known throughout the business world. As a matter of fact, it’s a business principle. Breaking a project down to more manageable pieces makes progress much smoother because there are fewer surprises.

Another strategy the business world utilizes is tracking. Every corporation throughout the world has some form of tracking its progress, whether that is sales, development, acquisitions, etc. Every corporation tracks its progress. You can apply this same strategy to your own success. This is another reason maintaining a written schedule is important. It can help you track progress.

As you see yourself progress keep it in mind, but don’t concentrate on it. Instead, direct your focus to the end result. Sometimes we can get caught up in the emotions of accomplishment and forget where we were going. It is a very good thing to experience the emotions of success. In fact, when we direct those emotions toward the end result they become a motivating source.

Going to bed at a decent hour and waking up early will also help you maintain focus. The body, including the mind, responds better when it receives the rest it needs. A rested body is more relaxed and a rested mind makes better decisions, and as a result, you will be able to maintain a better focus upon your goals.

Related to getting the right amount of rest is taking a moment or two in your day to enjoy some quiet time. Again, even the business world knows the importance of giving its employees a rest break. It’s more productive and production means more profit. That is why every corporation has established break times. It’s to give workers a quick rest. Utilize this same principle in the direction of your success and you will be more focused and motivated to achieve success each and every day.

And when you do accomplish major milestones toward your goal, don’t be afraid to reward yourself, whatever the reward might be. It could be as simple as cooking yourself a nice dinner as you reflect upon your success. Or it could be taking someone out to celebrate that success with you. Whatever the reward might be, enjoy it. You deserve it!

Staying enthusiastic while going for your dreams can be difficult at times. The events of life, at times, have a way of interfering with our goals and can discourage us. However, if you are to achieve your goals, remaining enthusiastic and motivated is vitally important, especially in moments of discouragement. If you lack enthusiasm, you will give up, and your dreams will come to nothing.

Enthusiasm originates from the Greek word ‘enthousiasmos’, which basically means to be inspired. Enthusiasm is inspiration and is a powerful way to create momentum and motivation. Enthusiasm can generate the energy and willpower to help us accomplish those things in life we have set out to do. Enthusiasm also can create within us a feeling of well-being and happiness.

Throughout our lives we are constantly bombarded with messages of fear, tragedy, and pessimism, especially from the media.  Newspapers and periodicals abound with bad news.
Moreover, the negative people around us discourage us even further. With so much of it around us we have a tendency to adapt that input into our own ways of thinking, allowing this negativity to taint our own thoughts and behaviors.

Enthusiasm is a skill that is learned like any other skill. Enthusiasm is seldom a natural development, but rather a result of conscious effort. Enthusiasm takes practice and with continual exercise you can stay excited and motivated to accomplish your goals, even when unfortunate circumstances do arise. But how do we create enthusiasm within ourselves?

First and foremost you must become passionate about your life and your goals. Most people can become temporarily excited about practically anything, but to maintain a sustained enthusiasm can only be achieved by becoming passionate about something. When we talk about passion we are taking about having a deep care for something. If you are not interested and don’t care about something you will not be able to create enthusiasm for it.

All successful people are passionate about something and they spend minimal amounts of time on things they have no passion for. Don’t waste your valuable time pursuing things you are not passionate about. You will feel little satisfaction from those endeavors and then you will wonder why your motivation is diminishing. It’s because your energy is being applied in the wrong direction. Passion is the fuel of enthusiasm.

Enthusiasm and energy are very closely related. If you come home tired from a hard day’s work you are likely not be too enthused or excited. Maintaining a high energy level will help you be more enthused. And the more enthusiasm you have the more energy you are likely to have. Both enthusiasm and energy work hand in hand. You can’t have one without having the other. Proper diet and the right amount of rest can help you maintain a higher energy level, which of course will increase your enthusiasm.

Maintaining enthusiasm also requires you to build motivation. Motivation is intrinsically related to energy. Energy is required to move and motivation generates movement. This means taking action, moving, and doing something toward accomplishing your goals, even when you might not be so enthused. By tapping into motivation you will become enthused. If you just sit around and wait for life to come to you, you will eventually lose energy and then motivation becomes nothing more than something you talk about. Moreover, when you lose motivation you also run the risk of losing passion.

You can create enthusiasm just by acting enthused. You don’t necessarily have to have an external stimulus to create enthusiasm within yourself. In fact, enthusiasm is something that comes from within and can be encouraged to develop just by the practice of acting enthused and doing something positive toward your goals.

Quitters never win and winners never quit.

Quit true.  There the way to success is not that easy but rather difficult.  Personally, I’d enjoy success more if I’ve experienced difficulties.  Even just with simple little goals in life.  There are sometimes hindrances to the things we want.  To pursue this goal, put in mind that it is not yet the right time for you.  With this, I even become more motivated with this goal because I didn’t acquire it that easily.  This is because I am afraid of things that I easily acquire and that it might also be gone easily.  The more I struggle to achieve that goal, the more I become motivated.

Quitting can be tempting sometimes.  But don’t fall into it.  Those are just trials in your way.  When you face these situations, just smile and think of these trials as your opponents wanting you to quit.  Then you’ll be more eager to move on and continue achieving your goals.
So if you want to achieve a certain goal or dream in life, be sure not to quit.  Once you quit, its the end of it.  You’ll never win if you quit.  Those failures are not failures itself.  Those are just test to your strength and perseverance over your goal.  Think of it as normal things in your way to success.   For me, it would be better to lose a game than quit on it.  Being named as a “Quitter” is something shameful.

Each one of us has our own perception of success.  We may see a Doctor as a successful one but maybe to that doctor he isn’t.  Success may mean getting rich to some while achievement without much wealth may mean success to others.  So how does this perception of success help us?
Knowing what you want in life gives you a sense of direction.  Envisioning yourself a successful person will give you focus.  It is important that you have a picture of success on your mind or someone else will give you a picture of success based on his own perception.  Then you will just later on realize that it is not what you really want.  Some people are influenced by their parents or the people around them with the way they see success.  If your parents, for example, are both Doctors and has proven themselves in their field, you will look up to them and make them as your inspiration and model.  Its helpful in a way because you get motivated by them.  But there are some who wants a different field but are pressured by the success that their parents or siblings has achieved so they force themselves to compete with them.

One should be brave enough to take the road to their success and not with the others.  If you get successful with your own dreams, the reward is fulfillment and real success.  You are more likely to get successful if you follow your own dreams and success.  Just remember that we all have our own meaning of success, so believe in yours.

Each person has his own taste or preference over things. Some persons may enjoy charitable works while others may not. But what if you are faced with something that you are not interested in and something that you think you’ll never enjoy? You may feel like a prisoner wanting to get freed of such task. Here are some pointers to help you:

• Think of the positive things about your task. For sure, you think of it in the negative aspect. Every fault that you can find about it are all in your mind already. Think of the benefits of the task and you will somehow realize that it isn’t bad after all.

• Be with people who enjoy the task. Surround yourself with people who are enthusiastic with the job. Do not spoil their enthusiasm by complaining and saying negative things about them or the job. Instead, get influenced by them.

• Enjoy being with others in the job. You may not necessarily do the job with them or talk about the job all the time. But you may enjoy their company. As you enjoy being with them, you may eventually enjoy doing the job as well.

Enjoying your job or even just the simplest task you have at home will help you get motivated and succeed with it. Instead of procrastinating over it, find ways on how to enjoy your job or task so that you will finish it on time.

I’ve been to Thrilling Heroics site and I found out the way you think about things has an impact on how you will get to succeed in life.  It listed the seventeen ways successful and wealthy people relate to money that unwealthy people don’t from T. Harv Eker’s book Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth.  Here’s the list:

1. Rich people believe: “I create my life.” Poor people believe: “Life happens to me.”
2. Rich people play the money game to win. Poor people play the money game to not lose.
3. Rich people are committed to being rich. Poor people want to be rich.
4. Rich people think big. Poor people think small.
5. Rich people focus on opportunities. Poor people focus on obstacles.
6. Rich people admire other rich and successful people. Poor people resent rich and successful people.
7. Rich people associate with positive, successful people. Poor people associate with negative or unsuccessful people.
8. Rich people are willing to promote themselves and their value. Poor people think negatively about selling and promotion.
9. Rich people are bigger than their problems. Poor people are smaller than their problems.
10. Rich people are excellent receivers. Poor people are poor receivers.
11. Rich people choose to get paid based on results. Poor people choose to get paid based on time.
12. Rich people think “both.” Poor people think “either/or.”
13. Rich people focus on their net worth. Poor people focus on their working income.
14. Rich people manage their money well. Poor people mismanage their money well.
15. Rich people have their money work hard for them. Poor people work hard for their money.
16. Rich people act in spite of fear. Poor people let fear stop them.
17. Rich people constantly learn and grow. Poor people think they already know.

read full article…
If you come to think of it, all of it are true.  Unwealthy people think that because they are not rich, they don’t have the right to think big.  They separate themselves from rich people.  They may not afford some of the rich people’s activities, but surely they can think the way rich people think.  They don’t have to act rich, they just have to think rich.
Rich people have worked their way to success.  Some may have been born rich, but they were able to maintain their wealth because they work for it also.  The list above is a guide for us on how we should set our mind to success.

I attended a commencement exercises for grade school yesterday.  The guest speaker has taken the pupils, and the audience as well, to a storyland and I took note of the interesting points that she said.

• Abraham Lincoln failed seven times.  Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States of America has failed to be elected in Congress and Senate several times.  He also even ran for vice-president and failed. But on his first attempt to ran for presidency, he succeeded.  His story was a very inspiring one.  Lincoln has been regarded as one of the greatest presidents in the United States and behind his success were failures.  He may have failed several times, but he stood up and made his way to success. His success was not only by becoming a president, but becoming a great person.
• Diligent can beat the intelligent.  If you are diligent, you are eager to get to the top.  Whereas if  you are intelligent but lack the confidence and courage, you are more likely to be defeated by the intelligent ones.
• Achievement is not measured by how many awards a person has but by how many times he stood up every time he falls.  W e are honed by our experiences to be a better person and thats the real achievement we have.

Perseverance is a very important characteristic one must possess to succeed in his goals or dreams in life. Here’s an inspiring story about Froy Candelario, an agent based in Southern California that I got from eBestAgent:

He sells way too many homes. Anywhere from 300 to 400 homes per year for the last 10 years. He doesn’t even list his listing on MLS. He sells 80% of his home by himself which means he represented both buyer and seller sides to keep all his commission. He works with only 4 staff members. He is one of the super agent in the whole country. He gets his listing with only cold calling and door knocking. Quite amazing stats. He’s net worth is estimated at upward of $100 million.

Froy’s true story is not in his real estate stats. Originally Froy is from Mexico. He and a friend decided to come to the United States, the land of opportunity to escape poverty from Mexico. They cross the border by hanging on to the underside of a train. They rode for hours, clinging to the train for their lives. They had no idea where they were and they could not let go for fear of being run over by the train. The miles clicked by and they were getting extremely tired. Finally, Froy’s friend could not hang on any longer. He let go and was crushed. Froy was devastated by the loss of his friend, but vowed to hang on. Less than five minutes later the train stopped. Froy had reached his destination. He had made it to the United States.

The lesson that Froy learned from his immigration experience is that one componen of success is being able to hang on a little bit longer than the next guy.

source: eBestAgent

I think Froy was highly motivated to succeed.  They have gone that far and it was not the time to give up.  There was no giving up, actually.  They have gone through a lot of sacrifice and it will be put to waste if they gave up.

With one’s high motivation to succeed, he can be able to hang on a little longer and persevere to go through the hardships that faces him in his struggle to achieve his goals.  It was just a matter of hanging on for a few more minutes in Froy’s case.  That few more minutes has changed Froy’s life and made him succeed.

Goal setting.  I have written about it here several times already.  Its importance, the process, and the likes.  This time, its about how it affects us.

Having dreams makes us feel inspired, that’s why we have that dreamy look sometimes in our face, right?  To dream is absolutely free.  The thing you want to have in life or something you want to happen, comes true in your dreams.  Realizing our dreams and making it into a goal makes us more hopeful although sometimes we lose hope.

When we set our goals, we have something to look forward to in life.  You wake up in the morning and start the day doing something for that goal.  The things we have set on how to achieve that goal gives more color and purpose to our life.  Life could be pretty boring without having something to look forward to - doing routine  tasks everyday.
If you haven’t started setting your goals yet, start now and do it the SMART way!

Having the internal courage, they say, will help you to become successful in life.  How?  Internal courage the ability to face yourself.  Do you hear that voice in your mind that tells you what to do?  Then, have you been into that situation that you don’t want to follow what it tells you to do?  You have to have internal courage to say “No” to that voice in your mind.  There are times when this voice tells us not to do certain things because of this and that might happen, or that it tells you you should not do it because you might fail.  Internal courage will make you face that voice and say “I will succeed”.

When we are on a dilemma, doubts, pessimistic idea towards a decision in life, that is the time we needed more of our internal courage.  The courage to tell ourself that we can do it, that we will succeed, and that it is worth trying.  Positive energy is what we need to be successful, so why should we listen to those negative things that the tiny voice in our mind tells us?  Or even with the negative things that other people tells us.  When we make decisions, we weigh the pros and cons.  But we should not get discouraged by the cons.  What we need to put in mind is that in every decisions we make, there are always pros and cons and that these things we decide on, comes only once that’s why its hard for us to decide.  But come to think of it, it only comes once, so why not do it?