A Fun and Effective Way To Stay Motivated

How often do you feel excited, really juiced to get out of bed each and every morning to work on your goal? Do you habitually feel motivated, every single day, to do whatever it takes to make your goal or objective happen?

If you don’t feel excited and motivated, don’t want to get started, don’t itch to get down and put every effort you possess, to do what it takes to make it happen, then the goal that you set yourself may be a weak one.

Or, perhaps on this occasion you hit an obstacle, a complication, and it gradually drained your motivation. It happens, we’re human after all. I don’t think we can be highly motivated every single day of our lives.

In such circumstances, even when you’re faced with an inconvenience or discomfort, such as having to do a particular task, one that you think is a pain, one that you hate doing, find boring, or find difficult, you still need to get it done.

It could be that sales call you’ve been dreading, that person you don’t want to meet, or that sales copy that you have to write. Whatever it may be you see a big wall in front of you with a big red cross over the word ‘motivation’.

Yet you still need to get it done. So what do you do?

I ask you to sit back and remember the times when you raced through a project that you hated so you can leave on time on a Friday night to meet up with your friends, or the time when you made all the ten dreaded phone calls one after the other, with no coffee break in between, so you can tick them off your to do list so you can arrive early at the restaurant to get the best table.

What happened?

You were strongly motivated to get out of work on time or to arrive at the restaurant to book the best table, no matter what. You had a goal in mind. As much as you hated and dreaded the project and phone calls, for you to achieve your goal they had to get done.

You did whatever it took to make them happen. You motivated yourself to get them done. Somehow you found a way to get all the motivation you wanted.

Here are two fun and mighty ways you can bring into play to inject added clout to your motivation level when you are faced with a bothersome task:

1.    Have fun along the way. Don’t take everything so seriously. If you view working towards your goal a chore or an unpleasant and laborious task, you will fall short of completing the task, or if you did finish it off, you will have had an awful time getting there.

Your goal then becomes a pain, one that you will not want to achieve. You won’t find it fun anymore and you will lose your motivation. The journey to fulfilment should be pleasurable and entertaining.

For you to keep the momentum going it’s important for you to have fun while working on your goal. There will be some things that you will have to do on the way that you do not like doing. I think it’s fair to say that it’s a given fact. Yet, if these so-called chores have to be done anyway, why not make them fun and enjoy doing them?

Spend some time to come up with ways to make the road to success and fulfilment fun and enjoyable, amusing and exciting.

When I have to do things that I don’t enjoy doing yet realize their true worth and value, I gear myself up. What do I do? I act like a fun-loving child for a few minutes (or more).

I have a scrapbook of my favourite cartoon illustrations in my top drawer. I flick through the pages to lighten up. I look at the cartoons, then the work I have to do, and then back to the cartoons. I switch back and forth until I see the humour in the work that I have to do. In the end, the ‘was’ chore has now become a ‘fun’ task that I do happily with a firm smile on my face.

Effective? You bet!

2.    Believe you can! Now you might be thinking, Oh, I can’t do that. I can’t take my scrapbook out and have a whale of a time, giggling and laughing. Who says you can’t? You say!

Change that limiting thought. Sure you can have fun. Sure you can flick through your pages of jokes and have a good laugh.

Steer clear of your self-doubt, or any thoughts that you have designed to stop you from having the attitude of a self-motivated and happy person to achieve what you want.

What’s the worst that can happen? Your boss will tell you off for turning the pages of a joke book? Fine. Take a break and take the scrapbook with you!

You see, having motivation and remaining motivated in the long-term can be achieved. You just have to figure out how to remain motivated, especially when things get in the way.

Now you know a fun way of keeping the momentum going. And by the way, not only will you remain motivated, you will enjoy life more by laughing more.

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How many new thoughts and new skills can you learn over a lifetime? What number would you give it?

I’ll give you a clue. The number is huge. Humungous. Out of this world. Any ideas?

Here’s the answer. Think of the number 1, followed by zeros that would fill an 800 page book, both sides of the page and in standard font size 12. Then go off the last page for another 6.2 million miles of zeros.

Read that again.

Now isn’t that amazing? That’s how many new things and skills we as humans can learn. That’s how many new thoughts we can own. That’s how many new behaviours we can expose.

Your possibilities have no limits. There is no limit on your capacity to learn new things. No limits whatsoever for your brain to learn, to memorize, develop, achieve and perform at higher levels than you can ever imagine.

It makes no difference what your age is. You are capable of learning anything new that you want to learn. You are able to develop your brain right up to the moment that you breathe out your last breath.

Your brain has the capacity to achieve way beyond what was ever thought possible.

So now is the time to break out of your limited thinking by dreaming big dreams and imagining unlimited possibilities.

Becoming successful is not impossible. In fact, it is virtually impossible not to be successful. It’s a choice you make, your decision. Every day, step by step, you may climb the mountain of success if you’ve decided to do so – if you are committed to accomplish what others think impossible.

Make it your choice, from today, to head towards improving your life; whether it is to learn more about your business or job, to start your own part-time or full-time business, to develop your writing skills, to practice for your driving test.

Whatever your goal is make that decision to do it. Feel excited and motivated to take unconditional action; to act in spite of fear, doubt and inconvenience.

How would you motivate yourself to take unyielding action? Here’s how:

1.    Create an attitude of determination. Every action that you take in life is first filtered through your feelings that are in your unconscious mind. How you feel about something determines what you do and how well you do it.

Where do those feelings come from?

Your feelings are created, controlled and influenced by your attitudes. Your attitude is your perspective from which you view life. Whatever attitude you have about anything will affect how you feel, which affects how you act.

It is your attitude that will determine your motivation level; whether you will take action or not.

2.    Create an attitude of motivation. There are many people out there who believe, or are under the strong impression, that motivation is something that will come to them when the time is ready. In the meantime, they can carry on with their lives as is.

Of course, this is not the case. Motivation is an attitude, a way of thinking that we create for ourselves. It is not something we wait for in the hope that ‘someday’ I will have all the motivation I need to accomplish all that I want.

That ‘someday’ might never come!

Science of success experts have concluded that the brain is a goal-setting organism. No matter what goal you give to your unconscious mind, it will work day and night, 24/7, to achieve it for you; to make it a reality.

Dig deep. Find the goal, the strong feelings and attitude behind the goal that will spur your unyielding motivation to get you and keep you moving. Every day, make that choice an intention to have what it is that you are aspiring after.

And day by day, your level of motivation will stack one layer over the other, providing you with a warehouse of motivation energy. The more motivated action that you take, the easier it will be for you to escalate your feelings, your attitude and your motivation.

The more you generate high feelings and attitudes of energy the more motivation you will feel surging within you. And the more you store your ready-to-be-released motivation, the easier it will become for you to be motivated to take all the necessary action to accomplish your objectives and reach your goals.

Hani Al-Qasem is a published author and personal growth specialist. He co-authored Self-Confidence Building in 7 Steps and Establish Powerful Self-Enhancing Beliefs.

Download the free e-book Establish Powerful Self-Enhancing Beliefs and eliminate the limiting beliefs that keep you from enjoying happiness and success. Get motivated and Stay Motivated to achieve more.

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How To Ignite Motivation: A Lesson From Beethoven

I am not sure how many of you are aware of the truly motivating and vastly inspiring story of Beethoven’s Ode To Joy. If you’d permit me, I’d like to share it with you.

Most of Beethoven’s masterpieces were composed while he was deaf. Many of us, me included, might be horrified should we ever become deaf. However, Beethoven would not allow deafness to stand in his way. He had found a way to get over that obstacle.

His love for music strengthened his self-motivation to compose one masterpiece after the other without giving in to the challenge he had. He had music in him, and nothing, not even his deafness, would take charge of him.

And, as we all know, he triumphed over his deafness.

Beethoven set the music to the last movement of the Ninth Symphony to a poem entitled “Ode To Joy”. He strongly believed this poem celebrated the brotherhood of man.

On May 07th, 1824, Beethoven conducted the Ninth Symphony. When the “Ode To Joy” movement was over, the audience erupted in applause. Beethoven, however, did not turn around to accept the round of applause, as he could not hear it. Noticing this, one of the chorus members took it upon himself to step out of line and take hold of Beethoven’s arm to turn him around to face the audience.

But by then the applause had subsided.

As Beethoven quietly looked out into the audience, they all arose, one by one, in standing ovation, their applause thunderous. It is said that a single tear of joy skated down the composer’s cheek. It is also said that a small tear had rolled down the chorus member’s cheek who stood next to him.

This story made me think. I asked myself a few questions, which I will address to you. What do you have that is inside of you, that’s so strong, that it can triumph over your shyness, your fear, your lack of self-confidence or lack of self-motivation?

What will bring your tear of joy? Who will take you by the arm and turn you around when you are down and out, or facing the wrong direction, or on the wrong road, so you may not only see but also hear your standing ovation? The applause, the loud cheers, the simultaneous stamping of feet?

As you think of your chorus member, feel him or her standing next to you, shoulder to shoulder. See yourself achieving, see the new highly enthusiastic and motivated you. See the elated you. Hold your chorus member’s hand tightly and double your elation and motivation.

Hear the applause and the cheers of hundreds of people. Hear them cheering you on, calling your name, loving you and you loving them back. Feel it. Immerse yourself in it. Feel it throughout your whole body. That applause and cheer is for you and you only. Get excited. Accept the applause. Hold on to the cheers. Feel the emotion.

Lift your arms in the air and declare: “I am feeling strong, capable and full of life today.” Repeat this declaration three times as loud and as emotionally as you can. Feel an amazing, lively energy flow through your body.

Feel so motivated that you can do anything, absolutely anything, to achieve your goals and dreams in life. Obstacles can be and will be nothing but sprinkles of dust that you can blow away with a single breath.

I believe in much the same way that success breeds success, motivation must breed more motivation. And the more motivation you have the motivated you will become. It’s like stacking one layer of motivation over another.

You trigger more and more motivation. Here are a couple of ways to breed, stack and trigger more motivation:

1.    Celebrate your motivation attitude. Take time out to remind yourself what you have accomplished and how far you’ve come. Celebrate the fact that you had the motivation to start and finish your task, objective or goal.

Celebrate there and then, immediately upon completion of the task or realization of the goal. And celebrate big!

Rejoice the small and large successes and accomplishments. Honor each one, individually. Allow each success to bring with it its own sense of fulfillment. This fulfillment will give you the added surge of motivation to bring in more successes.

Make it a point to be motivated to achieve as many successes as you can. Size doesn’t matter! A small success is still a success. That’s how the mind sees it.

Motivation is like a snowball – it keeps gaining momentum. Imagine what will happen when you stack one motivation over the other. The snowball will get bigger, sooner.

2.    Reward your motivation attitude. We all love rewards, don’t we? Make it a habit to reward yourself for being and remaining motivated. Have a long bubble bath, go to the movies or a restaurant, buy a pair of shoes, a handbag, a watch. It is important to reward yourself, and as you do, you will look forward to the next reward.

By consistently celebrating and rewarding your motivation attitude you will stimulate and encourage additional motivation. It will be within you waiting to be automatically summoned.

Commemorate your motivation to get you where you want to be. Have a party, have fun and watch your successes escalate.

Hani Al-Qasem is a published author and personal growth specialist. He co-authored Self-Confidence Building in 7 Steps and Establish Powerful Self-Enhancing Beliefs.

Download the free e-book Establish Powerful Self-Enhancing Beliefs and eliminate the limiting beliefs that keep you from enjoying happiness and success. Get motivated and Stay Motivated to achieve more.

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The One and Only Motivator for Success

How many times have you had these thoughts: “I need to go out there and do it” or “I should go to the gym more than once a week” or “I ought to wake up thirty minutes earlier to revise my presentation” or any other ‘could’ve’, ‘would’ve’, should’ve’?

If you’re like me, you’ve probably had many of these thoughts. But how many of them did you actually commit yourself to in the long term?

More than likely, not enough!

You know you should go for this, you ought to do that, or you would like to do the other. But the ‘knowing’, the ‘ought to’ and the ‘would like to’ are not going to make things happen.

Why haven’t things changed the way you wanted them to? Why haven’t you committed to going to the gym more than once a week, or why haven’t you gotten up thirty minutes earlier to revise your presentation?

The answer lies in motivation: The skill of getting yourself to take action to achieve your goals, no matter what.

The great thing about life is that you can learn, develop and master the skill of getting and staying motivated, so you can accomplish the things that you have always wanted.

Feeling more motivated, you will become more energetic, more willing and capable, stronger to face any of life’s challenges and hurdles. With enthusiasm and motivation you will take on everything and anything and you will continue moving ahead until you have accomplished what you set out to do; where you will happily and eagerly look forward to your next gym visit, or getting up early to revise your presentation.

No more excuses!

And what is the power, the motivating power that can keep you going on and on until you’ve fulfilled your true potential?

In one word, it is passion.

I am not talking about a mere wish, a simple want or a plain request. I am talking about a resolute and tenacious desire, a true passion, where you do whatever it takes for you to achieve what it is that you seek.

The more you are passionate about what it is that you want – your resolute desire – the stronger your motivation is, and inevitably the more successful you will be.

Once you have found your passion, motivation is effortless.

Your intense desire, your fervent passion is what fuels your core and inner motivation. This motivation will bring about inspired action to make things happen.

Motivation and intense desire go hand in hand. This desire, your compelling goal or passion, is your journey and motivation is the fuel that will get you there.

Turn that desire into a firm goal and allow motivation to get you there, one step at a time. One step today, one step tomorrow, the day after, every day, every week and every month until you achieve your goal.

More often than not, it is the first step that is the hardest. And it is only after you have made a series of steps, even a series of small steps that it gets easier.

Here are three potent ways to put a fire under your motivation:

1.    Know your desire. Your first step is to measure the strength of your passion. Is it a solid desire that you really want? Is it something that you excites you? This means looking at yourself through a clear lens and finding out who you really are. What makes you tick? What makes you happy and fulfilled? Often we are bombarded by many external factors telling us what should make us happy, what should define us as successful. The fact of the matter is only you can know what makes you happy. Take the time to honestly strip away all of the societal layers and pressures and really see who you are. The world doesn’t define you, you are the creator of your own world. You are responsible for your own happiness and productivity. You will not find this happiness, productivity, motivation or inspiration if you are trying to achieve things based on others’ standards.

Once your passion is clear-cut and compelling, deep-seated in your thoughts, it becomes very easy for you to keep it at the forefront of your mind. Given that this passion is so important to you, it will be effortless for you to keep a clear image of your desire, passion or goal.

2.    Know your benefits. Your second easy step is to ignite that passion even more. Get yourself a journal and make a list of the benefits that you will attain on the journey as you pursue your passion and the benefits that you will get when you achieve each passion or goal.

At this point, it is important that you involve your four senses as best you can. When you write a benefit, close your eyes and measure the strength of it. If it does not excite you, it is not powerful enough. Rewrite each benefit until it electrifies you.

It is essential that you involve your senses. See the benefits, hear the benefits, smell the benefits and touch the benefits.

3.    Know your action steps. This last step will be remarkably easy for you. Why? The sheer power of your passion and the mighty energy you feel from seeing, hearing, smelling and touching the benefits will have incredible and stimulating clout that will motivate you into action.

When you are so passionate about your goal, when your desire has great influence over you, you will inevitably take action to make that passion a reality, even when you are not in the mood, tired or it’s late at night.

There will be no excuses! Your motivation will incite action. It will automatically spur you on.

Keep seeing, hearing, smelling and touching your passion to maintain your motivation level at a height you never thought possible.

Rekindle the fire under your motivation by reviewing your desire, your passion and goal, and you will be able to go ahead and achieve with very little effort.

Learn how to eliminate the limiting beliefs that keep you stuck where you are. Download the free book Establish Powerful Self-Enhancing Belief and start achieving today.

Hani Al-Qasem is a published author and personal growth specialist. He co-authored Self-Confidence Building in 7 Steps and Establish Powerful Self-Enhancing Beliefs.

5 Ways to Stay Motivated to Finish What You Started

Image courtesy of andrew_mo

There must be a reason why many people quite often start projects or tasks, big or small, and at some point while working on the tasks they feel overwhelmed, frustrated and stressed, so much so that in the end they quit or feel like quitting.

When they are in a state of overwhelm or frustration their motivation to keep working is hindered. Their enthusiasm to finish off what they had started is greatly reduced and may lead to stop working on the project altogether.

So what do most of them do?

They mosey on to the coffee machine grunting under their breath, and once there they find someone to vent on. They spend a few minutes in idle one way chatter, complaining about the project or task that they have to do.

And as soon as the complaining session is over they reluctantly go back to their desk and stare at the project with great distaste wondering how they are going to get it done.

Rather than you falling into the same predicament of overwhelm and frustration, there are 5 ways I found that can really keep you productive and motivated to finish off what you started, where you can get things done from beginning to end, and feel great while doing so.

Here are the 5 ways that you can use today to easily finish off anything that you started, and to do so with great enthusiasm and motivation:

1. Break down the project into smaller pieces. The size and type of the project is irrelevant. To be more productive and remain motivated to finish off the project, you simply have to break it down into smaller, more manageable portions.

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