Self motivation part 1
Being proactive
Never accept mediocrity from yourself.
Believe in your own worth and revel in the help you are able to give others.
If you have no enthusiasm to get on with things yourself you will find it difficult to motivate others.
Part of motivation and leadership is leading by example.
If you show a lot of energy then it is much more likely people will like you and feel galvanised to act themselves.
You could argue that there should be someone out there whose job it is to motivate you; and for you to motivate someone else in turn and so on.
What if you have no one to help you?
It’s no use moaning that help is out there for everyone else. In order to help others you have to show a degree of energy yourself.
In life time is always running out. Opportunities for doing things can easily slip by.
Don’t waste time waiting for things to happen to you, think about what you want to do and have a plan (see The Complete Time Management package).
Being proactive instead of reactive is an important aspect of many areas.
We don’t all have to end up being a Winston Churchill or other great historical figure.
It’s just a case of taking control of what you want to do.
Many of us may find it easy to work at 80 to 90% of our capacity but finding that extra 10% that may make the difference is the hard part.
Luck
There are a lot of people who take the view that there is little point in trying to be proactive as no matter what they try to do it always turns out bad – some people are just plain unlucky. Others feel that you make your own luck by exploiting opportunities.
The way luck affects peoples’ lives has been studied by Richard Wiseman.
He is Professor of the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire in the UK.
Wiseman started his professional life as a magician.
Later he graduated in Psychology from University College London and obtained a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Edinburgh.
In his book The Luck Factor he identifies many points to influence luck, some are:
- Maximise chance opportunities
- Listen to your intuition
- Be Positive
- Put bad experiences into perspective (Be Positive)
Stress
Its hard to focus on being proactive and considering the behaviour of others if you are feeling stressed (see Setbacks - part 1 and Setbacks - part 2).
You must try to deal with the stress.
Being great
In trying to improve your lot and provide suitable motivation it is easy to think that everyone has to strive for greatness, for example, Winston Churchill or Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Mahatma). However, all you can ask of anyone is to try to be the best that you possibly can.
I can’t do that
What are your limitations?
How can you motivate yourself to do the best you can if you don’t know what that may be?
The point is, no one knows just what they can do.
People are capable of extraordinary feats.
For example, there have been many documented cases of people lifting heavy objects when under pressure.
Or people displaying prodigious feats of memory by learning particular techniques.
Many believe that their ability to think and use their brains to their maximum potential reduces naturally with age.
This has been shown to be untrue. By continuously using your brain you will develop it and keep it as sharp as possible.
Find challenges for your brain; don’t let it go to waste.
Apparently, mathematicians live a particularly long time.
Using a mathematical analogy an individuals life can be considered as a fractal, so that each year, each month, each day and each hour can be considered as a reflection of the whole life.
If you want a lot out of your life try to get a lot out of each day.