motivation

Direction unknown

If you don’t know where you are going, how will you know when you get there?

Life is a mission, not career. A career is a profession and asks, “What’s in it for me?” On the other hand, a mission asks, “How can I make a difference?” I think that if you don’t create a vision of your own, someone else will do it for you – the media, your friends or someone else. And who knows if their interests are the same as yours? Therefore, unless you create your own vision of who and what you want to be, you will be quick to follow anyone who is willing to lead, even into things that won’t get you very far.

You are good enough

Imposter syndrome can feel like dissonance or disconnect between what you see as yourself and your public view. I think a little bit of self-doubt is very good for self-development and the three elements of imposter syndrome are:
a) You believe other people have an inflated view of your abilities and skills.
b) You have an intense fear that you’ll be found out and exposed as a fake.
c) You constantly attribute your success to other factors outside your own abilities and talent.

 

Social media has a huge role to play in imposter syndrome as you can see everybody else’s successful lives and feel that you are not good enough. Here’s an exercise: Write down all the things that you are successful at and then look at all the reasons why you may have achieved that success. This is because you can mistakenly attribute all of it to luck, but when you put it down on paper, you’ll realise how ridiculous that is. Learn to accept that you will make mistakes and you don’t have to be brilliant all the time. Contact me via e-mail for 1:1 coaching sessions.

Things worth replacing

I am always looking for new ideas with energy and then finding good practical frameworks for transfer them from theories into action. Nowadays, I work at the intersection between theory and practice. Good theories must have problem solving power and I think the test of a new theory is its usefulness in practice.

“Ability is what you’re capable of doing.

Motivation determines what you do.
Attitude determines how well you do it.”
— Lou Holtz

Let's see what you've got

The further away a goal is in the future the less motivation it brings to today, they will have very little power today to govern our actions. If you don’t have a definition, at least get a direction by asking yourself the following questions:

1.          Why is the goal important to you?
2.          What will accomplishing that goal do for your life?
3.          What will happen if you do not accomplish this goal?

Humans are amazing

I don’t think that lazy people exist, laziness can be caused by a lack of knowledge to complete the task at hand, procrastination, feeling too comfortable to have the job done, and lack of motivation to get started. A man who is self-reliant, positive, and optimistic usually undertakes his work with assurance of success and this draws to himself the creative powers of the universe. It’s a fact that the person who thinks with positive self-reliance and optimism does magnetise his condition and this releases power to attain a goal. Over and over again, we have seen what the mind profoundly expects, it tends to receive. Here, I define success as something that helps others and at the same time makes you feel happy as you are working at it.

Search and you will find

It takes more than self-motivation to really alter your life. I think you have to have a better plan for your life, and the first key to doing better is to find out how things work. Perhaps the real problem is the lack of ideas of how to attract your dream partner, create money and wealth, or maintain your ideal body weight. To change your life, you will need new ideas and to get new ideas you must consistently study. When you find something that works, take notes as it’s important that you don’t use your head as a filing cabinet. One way to learn if from your own experiences and another way to learn is from other people’s experiences. Which path will you follow?

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Fuel your creativity

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In my day to day, I face a variety of internal and customer-facing situations, both positive and negative, and being able to communicate effectively has served me well throughout it all. What I love about my job is that I get to bring talented people into an engaging environment where they can make a difference. I think that talented people working together for the greater good around the world will determine our future.

Remember just because you were born talented doesn’t mean you are the best, there will be someone working harder than you and that person will succeed. Contact me via e-mail to book a motivational coaching session.

“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”
— Tim Notke

Wisdom on Wednesday

I think motivation is the driver of productivity, and empowerment is the fuel of motivation. It’s far more motivating to work in an organisation that is passionate about innovation than one that is sterile and stuck in, “We have always done it that way.”

“Many people take action as a result of their passion, instead of being passionate as a result of their actions. Using passion (an emotional and subjective foundation) as the impetus for action can often bring disappointment when the desired result is not achieved. However, taking decisive action using empirical data, can increase the possibility of success and therefore feed your passion.”
— Safi A. Thomas

The start of the work week

I have never let any constraints block my path. Here’s a few tips in how to improve your social skills:

  1. Say 'Thank you'

  2. Say 'Please'

  3. Listen without interrupting

  4. Do not brag

  5. Wait your turn

  6. Choose kind over clever

  7. Hold doors open longer

  8. Forgive first

  9. Talk less, but say more

  10. Show gratitude

  11. Do not respond to negativity

  12. Be humble

““When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love…””
— Marcus Aurelius
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Basic goal setting

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When setting a proper goal whether it be for your career, physical, spiritual, social, family, intellectual, or financial well being, you need to make sure it follows this simple format:

S – Specific

M – Measurable

A – Achievable

R – Realistic

T – Timely

I think a good way to ensure you’re able to stick to your goals is by setting SMART goals. Do something today that is going to move you out of your comfort zone and put you one step closer to achieving the goals you have set for yourself.

Traditions are hard to change

Goal setting involves the development of an action plan designed to motivate and guide a person or group towards a goal. We are fast approaching that time of the year where your New Year’s resolutions begin to fade. Remember that as long as you are doing something to achieve your goal, you are making progress. It’s easy to become caught up in routine, but sometimes all you need is a small change of perspective to get the ideas flowing and feel motivated again. 
The F.O.C.U.S acronym = Follow > One > Course > Until > Success

Action comes before motivation

Nowadays so many lives revolve around instant gratification and dopamine addiction, and this control stimuli are the breeding ground for bad habits. Are you aware that your morning habits sets the tone for the day? Your discipline, faith and perseverance in your vision will give you the energy and drive to execute as habits are the compound interest of self-improvement.

Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. Good habits become easy habits when you learn to find joy in delaying gratification. The delaying is all the joy, and the gratification is just the consequence. Your habits shape your reality. I think the price of your good habits are seen in the present and the cost of your bad habits will be revealed in the future. Systems are simple habits as small, daily seemingly insignificant improvements done on a consistently over time, yields staggering results.

“You do not rise to the level of your goals you fall to the level of your systems. ”
— James Clear 

Active imagination

Imagination is more important than knowledge because imagination is the only thing that can open up our minds and our hearts to the possible - to the successful and fulfilling future we all envision for ourselves but that may seem out of reach because we currently don't have the knowledge to see the exact path to that.

“I am enough of the artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”
— Albert Einstein

Sunday exercise

When we close our eyes, or even if our eyes are open and start to use our imagination - the Einstein brain - we have just activated one of the bigger centres of our brain, the occipital lobe that’s connected to the motor cortex. It’s also connected to the motivational circuit; the nucleus comes and releases that dopamine that makes you feel good and makes you want to act. So, if you visualise yourself achieving the goal, if you visualise yourself behaving in ways that match the new belief, even if you visualise the words or you take the words on a sheet of paper and you read them. 

 

Try it: Close your eyes, see it, and feel it, your brain will begin to create a mental movie with the words and as it creates a mental movie with the words that’s happening in your subconscious mind. And when you give the subconscious mind these instructions a couple of things happen because of the way the brain hierarchy works. Number one is survival; number two is safety and number three is energy conservation. When you do something consistently, it takes between 60 and 365 days of repetition to override an old habitual circuit. Therefore, if you visualise yourself achieving the goal, feeling the success you want to feel, seeing the belief on the screen of your mind, you are actually creating an artificial numeral network through the science of neuroplasticity. And since your brain wants to conserve energy, if you do this on a consistent basis, your brain will automatically set aside the old beliefs and replace them with new beliefs, and then you will have deliberately and consciously evolved yourself.

Dream big

All our unfulfilled dreams, constitute a limitation on what we are and could become. Usually it’s fear and it’s close cousin, anxiety, that keep us from doing those things that would make us happy. The things we long to do - educate ourselves, become successful in our work, fall in love - are goals shared by all. The things we are afraid to try usually are made up of broken promises to ourselves. Yet the means to achieve these things are not obscure. Why don’t we do what is necessary to become the people we want to be?

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
— Henry David Thoreau

Most people are stuck in life because of fear, fear of everything outside their comfort zones. We are exposed and vulnerable when crossing a bridge; that keeps many of us from crossing to where our dreams live. Our minds have a way of rising to the occasion - challenge it - and it will reward you. Our dreams transport us to magical places that we try to capture in music, film and art, but we only dream when we sleep deeply. I think you should focus more on why you want your dreams to come true, rather than on how to make them come true. When we do this, the “hows” happen in a miraculous way.

Going through the motions

Now we are in the first week of 2022 and after the festive season many people are struggling to get back into the work rhythm. I think human behaviour is driven by our attitudes, and our attitude is based around the beliefs that we have. Maybe if you understand at a deeper level what you really want then you will really want to act. What’s your passion?

When you develop that something that’s bigger than yourself, it will help you to stay focused and stop your subconscious mind from hijacking your thought process. I think that if you learn to sell and share information, then selling products and services will become as natural as positioning yourself at an interview or on a date. When you are in a leadership position, you must be able to sell the organisation’s vision, goals  and your ideas with enthusiasm and energy if you want your team to follow without protest.

“When it comes to developing your style, listen to other people and absorb what is useful, discard what is not and add what is uniquely yours.”
— Bruce Lee

Awareness and trust

I recently spoke to an audience of designers and brand owners about the fact that when the world is not happening the way you want it to happen then you have a problem not your customers. I started with a bold statement: “I know that you already make stuff that people want to engage with but are you clear about the fact that consumers will only buy from you for two reasons; they know you exist, and they trust you.”


Here are some examples of the questions I posed and answered:  

  • What change are you trying to make?

  • How are you going to spend your time and resources?

  • Would you like to learn how speak up and tell a story that spreads?

You have a choice

The Law of Thermodynamics states that you cannot create or destroy energy, but you can transfer it from one thing to another or transform it from one thing to another. I always tell entrepreneurs  to look at energy the same way they look at money. Energy is a finite resource that needs to be wisely managed, wisely reallocated, and wisely invested. Practice being present with whatever you are doing because wherever your attention goes, your energy flows.

The Law of Practice says that we become good at whatever it is we practice, it doesn’t matter whether it’s positive or negative. If you practice something repeatedly, you’ll become good at it. Now is this why people are so good at distraction? Every day I hear people say that their smart phones are a distraction, the technology is not a bad thing, it’s beautiful so long as we oversee it. On the other hand, if every time your iPhone makes a noise, you turn to it and say – “Yes, master! How can I serve you now?” Then you live in the world of distraction, your iPhone has trained you to be distracted just like Pavlov’s dogs. Let all communication systems serve you but don’t let the little devices intrude you.

The secret to living is giving

One of the most important words for leadership and success is the word “How?” Whenever you have a goal, the only question you’ll ask is how can I achieve this goal? Whenever you have a problem, you ask; How can I solve this problem? Whenever you have an obstacle, you ask; How can I overcome this obstacle? Leaders think about what they want and how to get it most of the time and as a result, they are thinking about their goals and the actions required to achieve them. They are thinking about the actions every single minute of every single day to move faster towards achieving that goal.

“Happiness is the progressive step-by-step realisation of a worthy ideal or goal.”
— Earle Nightingale

When you feel yourself moving step-by-step towards achieving something that is important to you, you’ll feel positive and happy most of the time. Unsuccessful people think about what they don’t want, they think about the things that make them angry and sad, usually past events that they can’t change, and they think about who’s to blame for all of their problems. So, whenever you see people talking and complaining about things that they can’t change, things that are their responsibility and blaming others, then you know that you are dealing with a negative unhappy person with a very limited future and with a very unhappy present. I think the way you take control of you mind by grabbing the wheel of a vehicle is to start thinking about what you want and how to get it all day long and you’ll automatically become positive and start to think that you are in control of your life.

 

I have a coaching client who wanted to change her habitual internal dialogue, so I proposed that she used my five alarms technique for 30 days. The goal is to change towards more productive thoughts or feelings 5 times a day. The five alarms technique is when you set an alarm 5 times a day, and every time the alarm sounds, you should ask herself 3 questions: What am I playing over in my mind? What am I thinking about now? What am I feeling? It works, try it for yourselves and you can thank me in 30 days.