Keeping yourself motivated as you work towards your goal can be challenging. You may find it hard to stay positive. If you find yourself stuck in a rut, there are some tried and true methods to stay pumped up and keep the momentum going. Remember motivation — positive and negative – comes from within. So take a deep breath, relax, and focus on the positive.
Re-evaluate your plan of action, including your timeline. Look at your goal as a whole, and then break it down to “bite-size” pieces. Having a smaller piece of the larger task to work on and complete can create a large sense of accomplishment and rekindle your motivation.
Evaluate your obstacles. What is standing in your way? Think about other obstacles that you’ve already faced and overcome. You can get past these, too.
Reach out to a friend for advice and encouragement. Pray for guidance and strength. Locate a book of inspirational quotes, poems or short stories. Find a movie with a positive, uplifting storyline. Listen to upbeat, toe-tapping music – and play it loud.
Look for a distraction. Work on a hobby to channel your creative side. Many times using the “fun” side of your brain may spark your confidence.
If you do better to regroup in quiet, try going for a walk, or find a quiet place to reflect on your past successes. Another great idea is to envision your current project in its completed form. Imagine how successful you will feel when you can add this venture to your list of accomplishments!
Sometimes just one of these actions will motivate you back to your path, and at within other times it may take a combination. Whatever you do, remember never give up. Try to get back in step with the same motivation and vigor you had at the beginning of your journey.
Patrick George is a popular motivational speaker and author of the books, “The Little Black Book of Leadership Quotes”, “Quotes for the True Leader” and his newest book, “You Can’t Fry Chicken in 8 Minutes but You Can Set Incredible Goals in 8 Steps”. Patrick’s passion for motivating people comes from his years of experience in student activities during his high school and college years. For more than 20 years, Patrick has travelled the United States and Canada motivating thousands of youth and young adults.
Humans enjoy playing board or computer games, provided the games are difficult and there are obstacles. We enjoy planning, scheming, being tested and challenged in order to finish the game. The challenges and obstacles make the game enjoyable and hook us to play for hours. Life would be senseless and meaningless without problems, hardships, setbacks and obstacles. Without the crises we experience, we will not appreciate the successes or peak experiences. The Chinese symbol for crisis comprises two characters, namely danger and opportunity. Every crisis may elicit feelings of apprehension, but it also presents an opportunity for change, growth and self-mastery. We do not always understand why certain difficult people come into our life, but there are no coincidences.
We do not always believe or accept that every person comes into our lives for a reason. We do not make mistakes or poor decisions because everything that happens to us, happens for a purpose and can be perceived as a lesson. The universe will present you with the problems and challenges that you need for your spiritual growth. Every situation, especially the adverse situations, is an opportunity to learn and to discover who you really are. If people betray or hurt you, it may be to teach you about trust or forgiveness. When faced with adversity, you have the opportunity to develop qualities such as inner strength, courage, resilience, self-discipline, willpower and resourcefulness. When people disappoint, manipulate or use you, they present you with opportunities to control your temper, to transcend your ego and to develop qualities such as patience, tolerance, unconditional love or forgiveness. Difficult people give you the opportunity to behave pro-actively and to access more light in order to attain self-mastery.
Albert Einstein said that imagination is the greatest creative force in the universe. Why would such a great man say something that sounds so silly and trivial? Look at those words again: ‘greatest creative force’. Imagination? Not education? Nor money?
Nor luck?
Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich, said that imagination is the most marvelous, miraculous, inconceivably powerful force the world has ever known. Before you pass him away as a crackpot, know that Mr. Hill was an advisor to two U.S. presidents, was commissioned by the great and wealthy Andrew Carnegie to teach people about making their dreams come true, and has been thanked by many of the greatest people around the world for the success he helped them achieve. People like F. W. Woolworth (founder of Woolworth’s), Woodrow Wilson (former U.S. President), George Eastman (founder of Kodak), W. M. Wrigley, JR. (Wrigley’s), and many others have used his teachings to manifest their dreams.
Imagination is the force that takes you to places you have never been.
Henry Ford relied on imagination and belief. Walt Disney said that had he not seen Disneyland in his mind, the rest of the world would not have seen it on earth. Bill Gates first imagines his products before they become actual software that we rely on. And it would serve you well to remember that many of the world’s greatest people started with nothing and built empires. They had a dream. And the universe conspired, as it always does, to let them experience their imagination.
The universe always lets you experience your imagination, whatever it may be.
The Bible says ‘As a man thinketh, so shall he become’. It also says ‘Without vision we perish’.
Your mind’s images are literally the blueprint from which your world is built.
Your mind is infinite. What are your limits? What are limits, except those that you say are so? Why else would two different people have different ‘limits’?
Life is images of the mind, expressed. What this means is that Life, The Source, uses your thoughts, your mental images, as the instructions by which to create your reality in the material world. Life expresses your mental images into physical reality.
To express is to make known, to state, articulate, communicate, convey. The force of Life makes known your thoughts to yourself and everyone else by forming them into experiences and objects that can be experienced, here in the physical world.
You experience your own thoughts first hand, your images of your mind, so that you may know which ones are suitable and which ones are not. That is how you know yourself, that is how you experience your self, and that is how you grow.
This is the supreme purpose of this physical world that we are now in. It is designed to enable you to experience your Self. It is designed to enable you to experience an idea and its effects and consequences.
Life does not select which ones of your images to express and which ones not to. How would it choose for you? It therefore expresses all of them to the extent that you have them and believe them. You have true free will. This free will is truly free because of the fact that all of it is acted upon without filtering or favoring. Free will is truly free because of the fact that it actually gets results all the time, not just some of the time, and it gets them exactly.
Your ideas, visions and dreams, whatever they may be, are the prophecies of what you shall one day become and achieve. You can predict your outer life tomorrow by looking at your inner self today. You can change your tomorrow by changing your inner self today.
As you think, there do you find yourself. You attract the people that have something to teach you in line with your thoughts, people who have something to learn from you in line with your thoughts, and you repel those who have nothing more to learn from you and give you in line with your thoughts. The same goes for places and conditions, situations and environments.
Many things influence your imagination – past fears, desires, poor mental training, lack of awareness, sub-personalities, lack of goals – any much more. But anything that influences your imagination is under your control. You can stop it simply by becoming aware of it and releasing it. And this is where awareness, consciousness, comes in as the key to clearing your mind of the debris that brings suffering to you and sabotages your success.
Everyday you make a thousand choices. You choose what to wear, where to go, who to meet, what to eat and what to do. MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL, YOU decide WHAT TO THINK. One thing is sure and that is that your day will not be better than your thoughts. ...................
Just close your eyes for a moment and see if you can visualise this open toolbox and if you can see the hundreds of tools that are neatly placed in this toolbox. Now look if you can see the maker’s name on these tools. The creator of these tools (thoughts and perceptions) is you. You created thousands of thoughts and perceptions (tools) about everything since your childhood. ..................
When confronted with any situation or problem you reach into this toolbox and take out what you think the most appropriate tool would be and then attempt to fix the problem. It is estimated that your mind thinks at least 2,500 thoughts an hour. Every thought that you think is a tool (perception) that you have that you imagine would work best under specific circumstances. This thought process continues day and night and will do so for the rest of your life. .....................................
I am convinced that we think ourselves to a standstill. We never stop playing with these tools in our toolbox and can hardly ever really relax for a while. If we are not faced with a problem or task that needs completion we still continue to take out these tools and mentally rehears and contemplate how we will use them should something that we fear become a reality. ............................
We are forever thinking and scheming and never become still and tranquil inside. Our bodies might seem relaxed, but deep inside our heads this thought process continues churning around. What I am most worried about is that most of the tools that you have in your toolbox are very old and outdated. .......................
Many of the opportunities, problems and obstructions that you face daily cannot be repaired while you are using old and outdated tools. If you take a modern mechanic’s toolbox and you place the toolbox of a mechanic of fifty years ago next to it you will find that there are major discrepancies. When you are confronted with something that needs repair and you do not have the right tool for the task at hand it can be very frustrating. We usually improvise and try using some other tools and hope that it will also get the job done. ........................
When you are faced with a problem you need to select the right tool for the task at hand. If you do not have the tool in your toolbox it can complicate your life. What most people seem to ignore is that it is sometimes better not to reach for your toolbox when faced with a problem. Sometimes you need time to pass or need to leave the problem with its rightful owner. How well you use your tools is usually reflected in the world you see around you. What would you do if you were faced with any or all of the following? .........................
You get a flat tire on your way to an important customer or meeting. You can fall apart, develop a migraine and think that life is against you or you can take out the right tools (patience and reality) and take care of the problem in a relaxed manner. ........................
You have been working on the computer for hours and suddenly lose all your work. You can drop dead with a heart attack; think that God hates you or you can take out the right tool (sanity and reality) and begin over and this time remember to make a backup of your work. ....................
A lover or wife possibly cheated on you. You can go crazy and get an assassin to take out the potential threat to your relationship, think that you are a failure or you can take out the right tool (no fear of loss) and get on with your life. .......................
When you have the right tools in your toolbox it makes life a lot easier. The choices we make are vital in our lives. The more quality choices we make during any given day the higher the probability of success and peace of mind. ................
I suggest that you equip your toolbox with the best tools you can lay your hands on. It is important to upgrade if you discover that one of your tools are outdated or that a more modern version is available. How would you react if your TV packed up and a technician that obviously knows very little about electronics arrived at your house with only a sledgehammer and a few other primitive tools in his toolbox? I am sure that you will send him away and find someone better qualified and equipped for the task. .....................
You might sometimes be like this incompetent and poorly equipped technician indicated above if you do not often update your tools (thoughts) in your toolbox. You can also have all the right tools in your toolbox and never use them because you are afraid that you might make a mistake. ..................
You must remember that happiness and success is always just one thought (tool) away. You should remember when you find it difficult to cope with something that one new tool (thought) could change your life. One fresh thought and one new idea can change your life from pain and suffering to success and peace of mind. ........................
You are today what you were programmed with yesterday. The choices that you make on a moment-to-moment basis decide your fate and future. You can never feel or perform better than the ongoing thoughts and feelings that you allow to occupy your mind! .......................
The mistake we make is that most of us live our lives on a reactive basis. We start and complete our day in a reactive state of being. Something comes to our attention via our five senses or via a thought in our mind. We automatically slip into the “role” that we created for ourselves many moons ago. We act, react and experience the same feelings and emotions that we embedded with our scrip at its inception. We do exactly the same when new stimuli push the previous “drama” off the stage in our minds. We sustain this reactive mode of thinking until we finally go to bed at night. Most of our days are made up of a tapestry of “roles” that we played in our own colorful way. It is important to understand that nothing is going to change until we do something different. We cannot repeat the same old recipes and expect a different outcome. ....................
You can use the “Portable Life Skills Wisdom” book to develop a range of appropriate scripts that you can use when you are faced with a problem or project that need your attention. You will if you apply the scripts in this book find that you no longer run your life on a reactive basis. The new scripts will help you to live your life in the moment. You will become more realistic. You will treat each event on its own merit. How do you do this? ......................
The Process ....................
Read the first message in your book. Write it down if at all possible. It will assist you to absorb the data provided. Now sit back and close your eyes and visualize how you will apply the specific message in the various areas of your life. See yourself on the screen of your mind using the message in all your day-to-day activities. It is important to attempt to feel and experience the benefits that this new mode of thinking will bring into your life. Do this for ten minutes. Then open your eyes and begin to apply the wisdom on all occasions where appropriate in your activities on that given day. ...........................
Proceed to do the same with second message etc. in your book tomorrow. You will upload almost a thousand powerful recipes if you sustain the process indicated above. You can in less than three years upload a powerful “tool” system that will serve you for the rest of your life. This can be a life changing experience if you apply it daily. You will discover that the ten minutes you invest daily will upload countless new strategies into your subconscious computer. Build a successful and happy life. The key however is action. You can have the best tools available to man and still fail if you don’t use them daily. Wishing you the very best with this endeavor. .............................
Daily Support System (This Blog) ................
You not only have the massive key ideas in the book that you can use when appropriate you also receive daily posts on a wide range of subjects that will expand this system to a level never offered before. Visit this blog daily for fresh new ideas with a sprinkle of historical wisdom that stood the test of time. ..........................
Rene