What motivates you?

What motivates you?

Is it being competitive?
Is it about facing the challenge?
Is it to keep up with others?
Is it to prove someone else wrong?
Is it that others are relying on you?
is it being in a team?
Is it the reward that is a motivator?
or, Your dreams keep pushing you forward?

How to motivate is not one size fits all.

New Year has come and gone for another year, fresh starts make you feel good and filled with hope that this time I will follow through and for some, by February the blues can start to settle on your shoulders as you realise you were just kidding yourself, the resolution is now just a laugh away and maybe I will get it right next time.

What is the reason I couldn't stay motivated to follow through and make it happen?

There is a big industry out there devoted to positive thinking, building self confidence and motivation and so many worthwhile resources.  Why, then doesn't all of it work for everyone?

I have read about the megasuccessful people in the world and how they did it. I paid attention followed their rules, but it didn't always feel right for me, it wasn't a good fit.  I would lose the motivation to continue and become totally ripe for negative thoughts, fear, guilt, blame and shame.

One method of motivation or off the shelf program is not the whole answer. You need to find out what will work for you. Find that out and you will have your own secret of success and you won't be beating yourself up along the way.

One simple quick way to find out what motivates you.

Think about what you have done in the past.  Events such as winning a race, learning to swim, gaining a qualification, winning the job.  The times you wanted to do something and you made it happen.

What made the difference for you to make it happen?

& the opposite, what about the times when it hasn't worked and you just didn't get the results you were after.  What did you do for motivation?

What made the difference for you to give up?

Simple? Yes, Stick to what works for you.

Look to what has worked for you before, trust your instincts to know what is best for you.
Nothing is wrong with you, it's the motivational methods you have used that are not your own unique fit.
Find out what you need, to do your best work and be in charge of your own motivational program.

 Unlock your best future

My words are centred in the desire and intention to help people bring about their best and connect to their best future.
http://isucceed.info

7 Ways to Hack into your success

7 Ways to hack into your success

The meaning of success is your meaning, what you want it to look like, what you want to have, be and do in your life. Your success is not another's expectations or how much money or toys that you have.  Your success comes from a place of integrity, joy and value.  It is there for you to hack into, when you choose. When you choose that you want a better life, when you want to rise up from mediocrity and grab the best life can offer.

"Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything."  Napoleon Hill.

Are you ready?  Do you want to?

Once you have made the decision to grab success, to focus on what is important for you, it is time to hack into the success formula.

1.     Confidence before Perfection

Confidence will always trump perfection. When you wait for the holy grail of perfection your confidence will be drained, you will question what it was you were after. You will question your purpose and the value of what you are doing.  Perfection is an obstacle that will hold you back, you will use it to put off or to let go.  

I made this Hack #1 because when you are waiting to learn more, to research more or get the right sign, the waiting takes over, you will wait in the wings and wait and ponder and still be there looking for more before you start in 3 months, 6 months, 12 months time.  You can see what this can do to your confidence.  

Your confidence builds with action.  The action that is directly focused on what you want to see in your life. Your success is built on the confidence you have in yourself to keep moving in your chosen direction.

2.     Mine the Mindset

Strengthen your mindset by first finding out what beliefs are working for you and what are working against you.  Journaling is a great tool to mine your thoughts, your values and beliefs.  Keep asking yourself the WHY question.  Why do I want this so badly?  Why do I keep changing my mind on this subject? Why do I get scared?  Why do I do what I do?

We spend a lot of our thinking time in the past, stuff about what we did or didn't do, or how we screwed up. Our beliefs and assumptions can be wounded from past events and constrict what is possible and cause us to accept something less.  Don't build your identity on past pain, it is not who you are. Purge your past and look at your failures, yes it sucked and you kick yourself for it but what are the lessons or warnings, what can I learn and use now. 

Remember, you are what you think.  The defeatist dwells on the problem and the fears.  The courageous successful person will search for solutions and is optimistic and resilient.

Your mindset for success, the belief in yourself and what you can accomplish is your strongest foundation.  Keep developing your skill for positive, grateful thoughts and a strong belief that your success comes first from the inside.

3.     Critical Friendship

What a great asset to have a friend who can give you another perspective.  A friend you can bounce off ideas and a friend who will listen to understand and give you the space to describe your vision and how you are going to achieve it.  This friend is your confidante, no secrets here, just honest, thoughtful feedback with no personal agenda. The friend pays attention, asks questions and finds the opportunities that you are not seeing yet.

All this you may not find in one person, to hack into your success quicker you need a friend, a coach, mentors, a group, a community who will help and encourage you.

4.     Resourcefulness before Resources

Not every day is going to be a winning day, there will be times when stuff happens.  This is when your resourcefulness will really kick in.  You are resourceful when you know there is more than one way to get to your goal. You are resourceful when you are creative in your solutions and willing to take the risk.  Are you using your time in the best way?  Are you getting the right things done?  You master your resourcefulness by being clear on what you want, by being strategic in how you go about getting what you want, by taking managed risks and to focus daily on your priorities.

The success formula does require your work, your time and your effort. Be practical in how you have thought out your vision and have mapped your goals. Be strategic with your targets and with your resources. Work out what you want to see at each signpost along the way.

5.     Seek Focus & Flow

      This one, for me has been the key that has opened up my success. All my good intentions would work for a while, then I would be distracted, put things off or start again.  I can be impatient and would get frustrated when it didn't happen fast enough for me.  I was multi tasking and multi learning and when I sat back I could see I was just going from one experience to the next with little discipline.
      
      Focus and Flow have kept me in the rhythm of success and has opened up to me, so many opportunities.  

     When I focus on the expectancy of what I will achieve, it looks so real to me, even though it is in the future, I can now filter only that which is important.  The benefit of being focused on your vision is that you make clear decisions suited to your purpose and a determination to make it happen.

     The flow is when those decisions you started become your natural state. The natural state of how you want to live your life and what you want to see in your life.  
      
      This starts out as small actions you take on a daily basis, keep these daily actions for at least 21 days for them to become a habit.  Once they are a habit you move into a flow where your body and your mind want to do them without you consciously having to make it happen. A common example is to see success in your health, more energy, feeling fit and eating well.  You may have a goal, such as a good BMI, to run marathons, or less sick days. Your small actions you put in place, every day, turn into good habits and become your new lifestyle.

Set up your success rhythm and it will become your natural lifestyle.

6.   Purpose,  Pleasure & Pain

     Finding your purpose doesn't come easily to everyone. Do you feel sometimes you are hiding and that people mustn't find you out? Are you who you want to be?  is there a more extraordinary version of you? Do you want to live life on your terms?  

     Give yourself the best gift of time. The time out for yourself to clarify your purpose. Look at what excites you, what you love to talk about or read about, what gets you all fired up, what comes naturally to you.   You have a unique purpose, the right fit for you.  There is no need to push it, just let it bubble to the surface.

     Success is just the zing in your purpose. Success is the added benefit, the bonus points in our game of life. Your purpose has a driving force that you know what it would be like if you went ahead, the pleasure it would give you and you know the pain, if you didn't step into your purpose.

    What would it look like if you stepped into your purpose?  More time with your family, better relationships, travel, energy, sleep better, enriched, abundant, positive, secure....

    What would it look like if you held back? Anxious, scared, frustrated, lost, puppet, wannabe, ....

    The consequences of pleasure and pain attached to our purpose amplify our motivation to succeed.

7. Clarity for Now and the Future

     Once you have your vision and purpose, you are ready for the master plan.

     Step into 4 or even 5 years time, what does success look like for you? The time you spent getting the detail in your vision is going to help here to turning them into your big audacious/achievable goals.  It's time to get that clarity into what you want to achieve and attention to how you are going to make it happen. 

     Keep it simple, keep it actionable and make it fun & exciting.  

    Remember your success hinges on your action.  You are making decisions for change and your commitment will bring you success.

The 7 Ways to hack into your success give you rich fundamentals to create your success. There is more and I will be adding to each of the 7 ways, with insight, warnings, ideas and how to's to help you unlock your best future.

     My purpose is to help people connect with their best life.  This is exciting for me as its the opportunity to see people go from just talking about it to making it happen. 

     To help you really connect to your why and what you want to do.  

     I had some challenging and chronic phases in my life that had left me thinking "Is that all there is?". I can't I get ahead, I am dragging my feet, I am stressed and worn out.  I have learnt that when you set your purpose, set your intention and create a vision that is when things change, all aspects of my life got better and better.  The coaching I offer comes from a place of experience, never-ending research and testing and the desire to have that ripple effect on others in their life and to get your WHY into action.

 Unlock your best future

My words are centred in the desire and intention to help people bring about their best and connect to their best future.
http://isucceed.info

PRO-crastination...is this a yes, no or maybe?

  

Procrastination - The more I think about it, the bigger it gets! 

You know when you look at something long enough you see it everywhere.  

It didn't seem like a big thing, I learnt to live with it.  

Sometimes I could wear it like a badge of honour, or be in the cool procrastinator group and swap stories of how bad we are, have a good laugh and sigh "oh well". At least I am not alone in this.

Hold on, just let me check Face Book.

I confess I have this bathroom and it has been waiting for its makeover for well...two years.  To give you an idea, it looks a little like these bathrooms.  I am organised in many areas of my life, but my bathroom is a shocker...it does get clean, so don't be horrified. I just need better cupboard space.  Sometimes you get so used to what it looks like that it is no longer labelled procrastination just "normal", you live with it.  "This is how it is"; "don't sweat the small stuff", "waiting on inspiration". 

The time I have spent inventing the excuses then getting it done. 

I could have had new cupboards by now.

Honestly after putting procrastination at the top of my "things for the better this year" list,  I knew that I really don't like putting off what I know needs to be done.  Being a pro at procrastination was not getting me anywhere. I have pulled this pro - crass- tin - ation apart and now know what to do and what not to do. Number One is to recognise it - no excuses.


Here are a few questions...won't take up much of your time :)


Do you let your everyday tasks, even the urgent tasks take precedence over what you have said is important and need to do?
YES or NO

Do you have motivation highs after being inspired and then it fades and you just don't follow through?
YES or NO

Do you wait for the rush of deadline? 
YES or NO

Are you waiting for perfect?
YES or No

Ouch, if you said YES... count yourself in the PROcrastinator group.  We all procrastinate, but when you do this over and over again and it is holding you back, then it's time to change the behaviour.

Commitment vs Apathy

Commitment is the glue that keeps it all together and on the path - a straight  and focused path to what you want to achieve.

Wish – Hope – Want – Commit – Goal – Plan – Achieve

Commitment looks like strong, open, eyes focused and your body is listening, ready and active.

You want to learn, you want to make a difference, you get excited, you have a wider view around you. You push yourself, you motivate yourself and you do this when no-one else is looking.

Do you know these people?  Do you work with these people?

What does apathy look like?

Apathy stops you before you even get started - you are on the roundabout and no intention of getting off.  Apathy will play the victim and hide their true emotions and cop out to "I don't know".

It looks like slumped shoulders, defeated, shuffle rather than stride, head down, all too much, too hard, too tired, give up, lots of sighing, look the other way.

Do you know these people? Do you work with these people?

Apathy can steal away your hopes and dreams and when you see it in the workplace, it will disrupt and frustrate. Apathy is the arch enemy of motivation, killing ideas, suffocating progress.
Yes, apathy is that rotten. You will struggle with improving staff engagement and getting your plans to happen if apathy lives there.

What to do about it.

If only I could jab you with a dose of anti-apathy or call in the anti-apathy busters to clear out the blues but,  IMHO -

1. When you see apathy, name it:  It comes from a place of hurt and lethargy, apathy is a shield to feelings and lack of direction. See it as a thief of your best.
2. Jump: Next, take a jump from the apathy cycle at WANT and make the decision to take the line to commitment.  You may think this is out there, but yes, jump, dance, move, step, stride, do any action. Match your thoughts of changing the attitude with action, even better do it to music. It's time to get silly and brave.
3. Passion squashes apathy every time. Apathy will say, I am not passionate about anything - I do what I have to do and to hell with everyone else.  Apathy tends to love the couch, so get the body heat turned up - add exercise to your day, drink lots of water. When you are at the desk, have a timer and at the minimum every half hour - get up and move. Time to start grooving.
4. Start with the small wins and celebrate what you have done and how far you have come.  
5. Pick one thing, one goal and make it happen
6. Choose one charity and give
7. Say one encouragement to another person every day
8. Wow! you have got to #8 you are showing commitment
9. Go to your employer and say " I want to understand why we are doing ...." 
10. Go to your employees and win them over. Work is creative and it is interesting and goals do work. Goals set by the employee - concentrate the mind, provide intrinsic motivation, support value & identity and fuel the passion. What better way to remove apathy!

 

What do your habits say about you?

Victory is a word that has been rumbling around in my head the last few days and you know when there is a rumbling you need to look at it closer, put it under the microscope and find out what is going on.

Victory

The dictionary meaning conveys a strong force and is referenced mainly to war or military engagement and the one meaning that relates well for me is the success attained in a contest or struggle over an opponent, obstacle or problem. It is the act of triumphing.

For me then victory is when you don't back away or retreat from the struggle.  You are steadfast in what you promised yourself.  You know there will be obstacles, opponents and problems and when you triumph the victory is all the more sweeter. I needed to look closer at my habits and see if they are serving me well and create good habits that will lead me to victory.

The last post was about taking up the challenge and making the choice.

 A choice between standing down or accepting victory. 

Choice gets easier when good habits are involved.
"the last of human freedoms: the ability to choose one's attitude in a given set of circumstances". Victor Frankl

Stephen Covey and the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People was one of the first great self- help books I read.  I had the audio as well and on my work road trips would listen to each one and get very excited about what I was hearing.  I knew that the lessons I was learning and applying were strengthening my effectiveness and character.
Covey's 7 Habits start with self awareness, self mastery, personal leadership - those private victories and the sequence of growth continues to those public victories - success with people, for example "Think Win-Win", "Seek First to Understand".  

Habits

 "Successful people daily weave habits of effectiveness into their lives in order to achieve desired results."

Habits have a strong pull on us. They are consistent and can be conscious or unconscious patterns in our life.  A habit starts out as a thought, turns into an action and when repeated turns into a habit. 

Our habits define what we do, what we feel, what we say or do not say.  It is our habits that reveal our character and plot our destiny.

Would you agree? Habits are worth taking a closer look at.

All about my business at http://isucceed.info