Self-Motivation

Self-motivation is the only motivation that truly works. Here are some ways to motivate yourself to achieve your optimum potential.

1. Be optimistic:- If negativity and fear are knocking you off balance, it is time to re-group and re-focus your energies. A winning mindset thrives in a positive environment. It is time to uplift, encourage, and inspire yourself. When others talk about challenges, you must talk about opportunities. When others talk about why they can’t succeed, you must give them every reason why they can. Doing this will re-enforce your own belief in yourself. Most often the difference between success and failure is only that of beliefs. Change your self-negating beliefs and be optimistic about life.

2. Be humble and hungry:- Be humble in what you seek to learn in order to grow and improve every day. Don’t let your ego come in the way. At the same time be hungry with a passion to work harder than you have ever done before. It is not the time to be laid back; now is the time to put in your best effort.

3. Welcome uncertainty:- In these uncertain times, you can’t be sure about anything. Don’t let this fact discourage you. Instead think of the best outcome for yourself; come what may! Don’t worry about the state of economy and resultant job opportunities; just follow your passion with a firm determination to succeed. Faith and belief in a positive future will make you take timely positive actions.

4. Cultivate a positive vision:- Develop a positive vision for the road ahead. Don’t let disappointments bother you. Be clear about where you have been, where you are headed and why you are headed there. Vision gives you something meaningful and valuable to strive towards. Your dream has the power to change the world for you. Always think that your best days are ahead of you, and carry on with a missionary zeal.

5. Be a hero not a victim:- Both heroes and victims face life’s challenges; both get knocked down from time to time; the difference is that heroes carry on striving while victims give up easily. Heroes learn from their mistakes while victims blame the entire world for their down fall. You have a significant control over the things in your life; do not blame your circumstances for all your ills. Learn to take responsibility of your successes and failures. Remember, your life is a story, and the story you tell yourself and the role you play in it determines the quality and direction of your life. You can overcome any adversity by telling yourself a positive story. Make your life an inspirational tale, instead of a melodramatic drama or a horror film. Instead of becoming a victim, become a hero.

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Try, try....Again

How many times do we get disheartened by our failures? How many times do we give up in the face of failure? The words of Leo Buscaglia, a professor and motivational speaker (also known as Dr. Love) ring true in my heart. He said, “To try is to risk failure, but risk must be taken because the greatest hazard of life is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, and is nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow, live and love.” Leo is asking us to dare to risk, and for that we need to try and try again, until we taste success.

Trying is an essential step to self empowerment. Trying again after failing helps us break out of structured thinking and behaviour. It helps us break through our comfort zone and barriers. Continuous endeavour helps us experience new levels of mind and feeling. Eventually we end up experiencing more of life.

A person who keeps trying again and again, even while making mistakes, leads a more honourable life than one who never ever tries to do anything. Only those people who keep trying know how far they can go. Each new trial helps us build a new relationship with our life. It helps us experience life from different perspectives. Each renewed effort helps us discover how to ‘do’ life rather than allow life to do us.

How does one become tenacious? Suppose if I don’t know what it is that I want from life, the best step I can take is to get involved with just about anything which comes my way. I would just start with first available opportunity. Soon I would know if this choice is right for me or not. If it feels right, I would go ahead with it; but if it doesn’t feel right I must have the guts to try something else. By beginning to do something I will eventually begin to gravitate towards what I really want by tweaking my interests and experiences. Finally I will line up with who I am and what I am here to do. Things will eventually fall into place. This is the power of trying until you get it right.

Do you know what invokes your passion and lights you up? If you don’t you can try doing different things and find the one which is your true calling. Most of us get trapped in the feeling of ‘wasting’ time while trying out new things; but the fact remains that no time is ever wasted, no experience is ever in vain, and no life is ever useless. Each step logically leads us to the next step; as long as we keep lifting each foot to stay in momentum. As we confidently take one step after the next, the floodgates of universal support open up for us. Following our heart and our passion puts us in alignment with our life’s purpose. However long it may take, however many failures it may encompass; we will eventually get there.

Most of you must have travelled by air. When the aeroplane moves through a layer of clouds, all you can see is just white fuzz. Your perception becomes totally limited and you can’t see the larger picture. The moment the plane comes out of the cloud range, everything becomes clearer. Suddenly a new perspective comes into your view. Sometimes the plane moves into yet another fuzzy area, and you again feel completely lost, but soon you see the same clouds floating at a lower altitude. Similarly life moves through several different layers of clouds offering us several different points from which to see our life and the events around it.

This is happening with all of us. We are moving through different levels of reality and our aeroplane is steadily climbing up. At every point when we reach a new level of doubts, it helps to look at life from a higher perspective and just carry on.
So, enjoy this ride and if you fall, simply get up, loosen up and try once again. Try, try again............until you get it right!!

HT Horizons 17/02/10

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Know what you want

Two of the most important questions that I have learnt in my life are ‘What do I want?’ and ‘How will I know when I have got it?’ These two questions have changed my entire outlook towards my life. Ask these two questions to yourself now and write down your answers.

The first question, ‘What do I want?’ invokes some soul-searching. It takes into account the fact that our human nervous system is geared for ‘goal-seeking’. All of us work more effectively if we have an objective to aim for. The aim varies at different stages of our life. What I wanted as a student is different from what I want today. So, what is it that ‘you’ want? Perhaps you want good marks, an admission into a reputed professional course, a well paying job, a great lifestyle etc. Pay attention to your answer. Is it stated in the positive or negative?
A positive goal would be ‘I want good marks’ while a negative goal would be ‘I don’t want to fail’. I want to quit smoking, I want to lose weight, or I want to stop procrastinating are all examples of negative goals. If I were to tell you to stop thinking of a blue elephant, you will find this command difficult to obey, because the moment I say ‘blue elephant’ that picture will flash in your mind. Similarly if your goal is stated in the negative, the focus of your mind will be on the wrong thing. ‘I don’t want to fail’ makes you focus on failure. By stating your goal in negative, you make things difficult for yourself. So ensure that you state your goal positively.

The second question, ‘How will I know when I get it?’ is very tricky. A student who wanted ‘good’ marks said I will know when I stand first in the class. But I prefer specific evidence. I like to know what you will see written on your mark sheet (exact percentage/grade), how will you feel (elated, ecstatic, jubilant), what will you hear (congratulations/compliments), what will you do (throw a party) etc. This exercise provides your nervous system with a graphic representation of success for a particular goal.

Ask yourself, what will you see, hear, and feel as you achieve your goal? What exactly will make you know that you have made it? As you involve all your senses into this experience, you tell your nervous system exactly what to aim for. So get your whole body and sensations involved in your goal.

Once you have done this exercise to your complete satisfaction, stand up, and take a long step (literally), imagining that you are stepping into that time in future; seeing what you will see, feeling how you will feel, and hearing what you will hear, when you have achieved your goal.

Remember your mind and your body are parts of a single system. When you involve the two in a synergetic dance, miracles can be created. Don’t take my word for it. Follow the instructions and see what happens!!

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