Where to Get Motivation When You Don't Have Any?

I'm writing this article mostly for myself but as you read I'm sure that you can get some benefit out of it. I'm sure that we have all been there before! We have our goals in mind. We have a plan and yet sometimes we lack the drive. How do you get some motivation when you simply don't have any in the fuel tank?
Remembering your "why"

A lot of people say that remembering their "why" keeps them going. You why should be big and motivating enough to get you past any sticking points. If you why doesn't do that for you, then maybe you should find a deeper reason. Just thinking of your why and not of yourself will usually do the trick.
The five minute rule

Another method is the five minute rule. The five minute rule is simply working at something just for five more minutes. Working at anything for five more minutes is something that anyone can do. Who couldn't give just a measly five more minutes? Just working at something like that will also get you through that emotional dead zone and provide you with some mental traction. You will find that after those five minutes, you will have enough inspiration to keep right on going!

Pain is always a good motivator
In marketing, they say that people will usually act to gain pleasure or to avoid pain. Breaking that down even further, they say that people are lazy and that they will avoid pain more often than trying to gain pleasure. Applying that to your own situation, just think of the pain that your current situation is bringing you and that will definitely get you moving in the right direction.

Just take some action
The absolute best way that I have found to get some motivation in my gut, is to just take some stinking action. It all starts with a decision in your head. Just say "I'm going to do this and I don't care how I feel about it. I need to get this done and that's what I'm going to do, period!" Just plunge into some action and you will find that you will get some inspiration. Just get dressed or start writing and see what happens!

Surround yourself with motivated people
Life is never perfect and neither are we. We all sometimes need kicks in the pants and it is also important to surround ourselves with like minded people. If you surround yourself with lazy people, then you will naturally be lazier. If you surround yourself with happier people, then you will naturally be a bit happier. If you surround yourself with motivated people, then you will naturally be motivated. These are just a few things to get you going when you lack motivation!

For more on success visit my blog at http://desiring-success.blogspot.com or for info on the best online success system and money maker go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPU4gCnuNKQ

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Change Your Mindset, Change Your Life

At first glance the phrase, "Be your own cheerleader" might seem a little silly or strange. This is however, how I choose to look at it. For this example, I will rely on a sport most people are rather familiar with which is football. Ever think of the purpose of cheerleaders in a football game? It is essentially a chain reaction. The audience cheers on their team, but what if the team is losing? Even the fans of a team can get frustrated from time to time. It is fairly easy to get stuck in that defeated mentality, but that is the perfect time to rise above it. Cheerleaders step it up to try to keep the audience involved and excited. It can most certainly serve to inspire and/or motivate the players who may be fatigued or feeling defeated. There are plenty of times a team has even come back from a losing position because they were able to keep their head in the game, and rise above the challenge.

I am not here to sugarcoat. There will be plenty of times when you might feel like quitting, or when you are feeling defeated if something does not turn out the way you expected. Honestly, I have been there too...I mean, I had to change the path I was on when life threw me a curve ball. Each individual out there faces challenges, and avoiding them only hinders the ability to become stronger. Regardless of what anyone says, you have the ability to get yourself back in the game. Disappointments happen, but that is all part of the process. The past might not have been so great, so just make the choice that things will operate differently this time. Rather than more of the same, if a setback has occurred, do the legwork to figure out why and implement changes. Changes might seem overwhelming at first, but take it a piece at a time.

Most importantly, I encourage you to stay focused and excited about what you're doing. One suggestion that I find works might be to have a reward system in play for yourself, when each milestone has been accomplished. During the tough times, convert the negativity into positive movement. Find things that inspire you to stay committed to YOURSELF, so that you can succeed in the face of adversity. Anything is possible. Above all, do not forget to be your own cheerleader! I truly hope you find more happiness and success with this new mindset!

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Are You Proactive or Passive?

A series of events have led me to examine the direction my life. Living in a rural area where the only jobs were retail, and the promotion slim to none. I won't mention the minimum wage salary and part time hours. I longed for a change and a little excitement. Be careful what you ask.

In July I got a call from my mother, who had been hospitalized. I immediately left my drab and dreary existence to see how I could be of help. Long story short I arrived to see my mom inundated with medications she needed to take daily. I became her health care advocate. The journey continued until my Mom had a stroke, with me at her side daily for six months. She never recovered, on January third she left this earthly realm.

But during the five month period I really started to examine my life. Was I really living the life I was meant to live. Yes it seemed like a great idea to move to the quiet rural community, but my dreams weren't being fulfilled. The recent passing of my Mom and Whitney Houston, resonated with my spirit. I was a passive participant in my own life. The very thing I take away from these series of events is that every day you wake up, we make a choice.

How did I get to this place? I really don't remember the moment day or time. What I did know at this point, I needed to step up my participation in my life, and stop being so passive. Become a more proactive person in my happiness and goals. It's really not funny, I know the things I need to do and every day, each day I don't, I made a choice.

When I wake up and make a decision to not exercise, if I make the choice to exercise for 20 minutes, I can last for 45 or 60 minutes. It always happens. It seems there's some force I need to push through to get to the goal. Once I start pushing, it always seemed harder just to get started. Being proactive and making decisions helps keep you on your life's purpose. Here are three points to keep you proactive:

1.Don't Focus on Regrets
When life changing situation happen, we spend time going over regrets. Turn those regrets into a list of accomplishments. Know that every living day is a day of hope and opportunity. If you can dream you can live it.

2. Honor Time
Time will not wait for anyone,. If you're delaying and procrastinating, you're stopping your own growth. Make a list of goals and time line to get to that goal. Wake up everyday with a to-do-list that is reasonable.

3.Live on Purpose
As a creative person I am always thinking of projects I want to start and complete. When I ignore and don't make a decision to research and complete these projects I am not walking in my purpose. You have to break a few eggs to make an omelet! Crack a few eggs, be a proactive and live on purpose.

About The Author: Lynn K. Thompson is an author, graphics designer, and marketing maven. She has over 16 years of hands on experience in communications, and has served as a publisher, editor, and publicist. She lends her expertise and advice in graphic design, marketing and publicity. She conducts seminars on the subjects of Creative Marketing, Reaching a Goal with Publicity, Award Winning Publication Design, Web Site Development, and Presentations that Impact and Get Results. Visit her online at

http://LynnKThompson.com.

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Motivation Advice - 5 Ways To Get Unstuck From the Past

The past may hold many unwanted memories of failure and frustration. There are ups and downs throughout life, but we tend to focus more on our failures than our victories. Our fear of failing again makes us hesitant to start again. However it's easier than you think to leave the past behind and get started again. Here are 5 ways to get unstuck from the past.

1-Forget it. Rather than obsessing over past each mistake just let it go. Allow thoughts and feelings about the situation to fade away. The memories will fade over time if you stop bringing them back to the fore front of your mind. Instead focus on where you are trying to accomplish now. Keep your attention in the present or in the future. The mind cannot focus on two things at the same time. Forget the past and look to the future.

2-Accept it. None of us are perfect. We all make mistakes from time to time. The more you get down on yourself the more you miss opportunities that are still coming your way. Accept yourself warts and all. One mistake does not define you. If you can make corrections then do so and move on.

3-Look at it. Look at the experience. Examine the details of it. So many parts of your past may not come as a result of anything that you did or didn't do. An example of this is a person who has a low self-image because they were teased heavily as a child. That person may have low self-image now, but they don't have to stay that way.

They can't be held responsible for being teased as a kid. Today as a grown up they can improve their self-image in many ways. But first it helps to look at why they feel so inferior. Then they can go to work on that area of their lives based on what they saw about their past.

4-Learn from it. Use past failures and disappointments as a foundation for your future success. There is always a lesson that can be gained from failure if you study it with the proper mindset. Act as if you were about to face the same situation again. How would you handle it this time around? I'm sure you would have an easier time making the best decisions. This is called experience. Failure, mistakes and disappointing results can make you stronger if you look at them in the proper light and learn from them.

5-Stop it. You don't have to stay stuck in the past. There is a better way to live. Rather than fretting over the past and things that you have absolutely no control over focus on the activities that you're presently involved in. Immerse yourself in each moment of your life as it's occurring. Spend your moments fully engaged in whatever you're presently doing. Complete the task at hand with your undivided attention. This will improve your results. You'll also gain a higher level of proficiency. Instead of being stuck you'll become motivated to take on larger, more demanding, and fulfilling projects.

Would you like the 10 Keys To Motivation? Claim your free access to my special report "Motivation Keys". You can download it for free at http://www.motivationkeys.com

Learn the top keys that you need in order to go after and hit your goals time and time again.
From Anthony D. Carter - a leading expert on motivation.

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Where to Get Motivation When You Don't Have Any?

I'm writing this article mostly for myself but as you read I'm sure that you can get some benefit out of it. I'm sure that we have all been there before! We have our goals in mind. We have a plan and yet sometimes we lack the drive. How do you get some motivation when you simply don't have any in the fuel tank?

Remembering your "why"
A lot of people say that remembering their "why" keeps them going. You why should be big and motivating enough to get you past any sticking points. If you why doesn't do that for you, then maybe you should find a deeper reason. Just thinking of your why and not of yourself will usually do the trick.

The five minute rule
Another method is the five minute rule. The five minute rule is simply working at something just for five more minutes. Working at anything for five more minutes is something that anyone can do. Who couldn't give just a measly five more minutes? Just working at something like that will also get you through that emotional dead zone and provide you with some mental traction. You will find that after those five minutes, you will have enough inspiration to keep right on going!

Pain is always a good motivator
In marketing, they say that people will usually act to gain pleasure or to avoid pain. Breaking that down even further, they say that people are lazy and that they will avoid pain more often than trying to gain pleasure. Applying that to your own situation, just think of the pain that your current situation is bringing you and that will definitely get you moving in the right direction.

Just take some action
The absolute best way that I have found to get some motivation in my gut, is to just take some stinking action. It all starts with a decision in your head. Just say "I'm going to do this and I don't care how I feel about it. I need to get this done and that's what I'm going to do, period!" Just plunge into some action and you will find that you will get some inspiration. Just get dressed or start writing and see what happens!

Surround yourself with motivated people
Life is never perfect and neither are we. We all sometimes need kicks in the pants and it is also important to surround ourselves with like minded people. If you surround yourself with lazy people, then you will naturally be lazier. If you surround yourself with happier people, then you will naturally be a bit happier. If you surround yourself with motivated people, then you will naturally be motivated. These are just a few things to get you going when you lack motivation!

For more on success visit my blog at http://desiring-success.blogspot.com or for info on the best online success system and money maker go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPU4gCnuNKQ

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You Can Never Achieve More Than You Believe Is Possible

Your beliefs about anything, whether founded in fact or just the figment of your fertile imagination, dictate the quality of the outcomes you are able to enjoy in your life. Almost everyone, who is trapped in a life, which lacks meaning and fulfilment, is causing their own lack of progress, due to unfounded beliefs about themselves and their environment. When you fill your mind with incorrect assumptions and beliefs, you reinforce your fears and insecurities and you deflate or destroy your dreams, effectively sounding the death knell for any success you desire.

The best way to ensure that your assumptions and beliefs are serving you is to tackle them head on and discover the truth about them. Once you remove all the wrong assumptions and unfounded beliefs, which you hold as irrefutable facts, from your experience. You are able to change your starting beliefs and greatly improve your chances of attracting the success you desire. Use the list of assumptions and beliefs, which I have listed below, to start exploring your own assumptions and beliefs about yourself and your environment and see if you can uncover the truth about your life
.
Please use the list of the dream killer assumptions below to assess your own beliefs and assumptions, to see if they are serving you or not. This list will help you to shift your beliefs and allow you to adopt a better set of assumptions and beliefs, which will support, rather than limit your success.

1. Do you often assume that you know exactly what is going on around you and as such you blunder blindly into projects without sufficient preparation? These constantly evolving and rapidly changing times, requires us to stop and ask enough questions to equip us with all the info we need before we pull the trigger on any new project. The rule of thumb here is when you think you have all the info you need, dig a just little deeper and see what you can uncover. The time must obviously come, where you have explored, examined and discovered and you must begin taking action. This should only happen when you have a respectable level of confidence in what you are about to do.

2. Never assume that just because you have invested time to acquire as much information as possible about any project and you have developed a plan to bring the project to life, that you will not encounter any challenges along the way. No plan is fool proof; you can never anticipate all possibilities, which may arise. Be flexible and be willing to roll with the inevitable punches or challenges, which will cross your path. Do not allow yourself to give up at the first hurdle, know that challenges are part of any success journey and as such they are never a reason to quit.

3. Stop assuming that you can succeed alone, great achievement seldom occurs in a vacuum. A mentor, coach or accountability partner will serve you well and offer you an additional set of eyes and ears. They will serve you by offering you an additional set of hands, a different perspective and a second opinion. There are numerous options where you can get the help and support you need. You can never assume that someone is unwilling to help you. Ask the difficult questions, you will be astounded at how many people are willing to help. The secret to get positive responses from the people you approach is to be crystal clear and tell them exactly what you expect and need. My experience has shown that if you can state exactly how much time you need and what you expect from them and you throw in the cherry on top of what you can offer them in return, nine out of ten people will accede to your request.

4. Stop assuming that you do not have sufficient knowledge or skill. Success is about ideas, which have been acted upon, never about how many diplomas you have hanging on your wall. Any area where you feel you lack either knowledge or skill, can easily be overcome by investing into books, audio books, DVD's or attending a seminar on the subject. If you can think it, someone has invested time to ink it.
5. Stop assuming that you need to have strengths in every area and that you must develop your weaknesses, before embarking on any new project. Nothing could be further from the truth. Focus all you resources on developing your strengths. Ignore your weaknesses and get someone, who plays at what you struggle with to carry out the tasks where you have weaknesses.

6. Stop seeing a lack of money as a reason not to start any project. Explore all the options available to you. Take a medium to long term view of any project, which seems to require more money than you can raise at that time. Build a plan to first save, earn or borrow the money you need. It is astounding what you can achieve in five or ten years, with concentrated effort, focus and determination.

7. Remove the dream killing assumption that you do not have sufficient time to tackle any worthwhile project. We all have 86400 seconds in a day; super achievers like Oprah Winfrey, Richard Branson and Donald Trump manage to achieve so much each day, because they allocate how they spend their time really well. Once you discover and eliminate all the time wasting activities you engage in every day, you learn to delegate low priority functions to others and you become more efficient and effective, you will most definitely have the time you need to succeed.

Examine your dream killing and limiting assumptions and beliefs, see which ones are limiting you and keeping you trapped in mediocrity. Shift your attitude and philosophy around these silly assumptions and finally pull the trigger on the success you desire and deserve. You truly are magnificent and once you confront your incorrect assumptions and beliefs head on, you equip yourself for greatness.

http://www.andrewhorton.co.za

Hi my name is Andrew Horton; I am an inspirational Speaker, Master Teacher, Radio and TV Host, Global Traveler and Author. My area of focus is in the field of human behavior, expanded awareness and enlightenment. I travel the planet constantly researching, learning and seeking ways to unlock the mysteries of the human mind. I delve into the inner workings of the universe, always looking for ways to understand my role in making things better and contributing to the improvement of the human experience. Please visit my website to sign up for a daily inspirational message, by following this link Daily Inspirational Message. This is your daily call to action, a reminder to do things better each day. Visit my website at http://www.andrewhorton.co.za

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Failure Is A Better Teacher Than Success - Persistence Is Key

Failure is a better teacher than success as it gives you the opportunity to learn from your mistakes and grow. The problem with failure is that many people accept it as defeat and then quit. Persistence is the key to making it big in this world. The world's most successful and wealthy individuals were met with failure on repeated occasions. The crucial ingredient was the ability to keep going no matter what.

One More Round
Failure in itself is not a bad thing but the true way to gauge the fruits of failure is based on what you do with it. Are you the type of person that quits and runs home to mama or do you ensure that something positive comes of it? Quitting can become a way of life and people who take this route are usually doomed to a life of mediocrity at best. Without pain and sacrifice we would have nothing good in this world. The point of this life is not to make as few as mistakes as possible but to learn from your mistakes.

Always remember that you can fail 100 times but only succeed once to be labeled a visionary. A prime example of this is Thomas Edison who "failed" nearly 10,000 times to get the light bulb right. In spite of getting it wrong 10,000 times he only had to get it right once to ensure his place in history. Do not be afraid of failure but embrace it and learn from it.

The Magic Question
When people fail the question that resonates time and time again is "why?" This is really a self-pity question. "Why won't things go my way?" "Why won't it work out this time?" "Why does everyone else catch a break but not me?" The question that people need to really ask is "what?" "What is it that I am supposed to learn from this?" "What do I need to change to ensure victory next time?" You can always tell the measure of a man by the attitude he takes after a failure. Most make excuses but there is a rare few that embrace their mistakes and begin talking about what they are going to do different next time to ensure things go their way. Which one are you?

In Conclusion
Failure is a better teacher than success if you are willing to humble yourself and learn from your mistakes. A lot of people make no effort to learn but are too busy making excuses and blaming others. If you deny yourself this human desire for self-sympathy and press forward you will have a very bright future.

CJ Henderson is a self-development guru who uses practical advice to bring massive life transformations. He is committed to helping others find their higher purpose. To find more about CJ see Change For the Best
To ensure your emotional health is at the top, and your despair is at the bottom see Live Life to the Fullest

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Searching For Meaning Behind Our Work

Don't worry about the level of individual prominence you have achieved; worry about the individuals you have helped become better people.- Why Great Leaders Inspire Others (Inc.com)

I believe in coaches and I believe in coaching. I believe that we have the power to equip young people with confidence and belief in themselves. Moreover, I believe that my job (and yours too, Coach) is meaningful.
Our athletes, especially collegiate athletes because they're closer to the "real world", want to know that their life's work can have meaning beyond just a paycheck. Teachers, peace corps volunteers, and religious clergy aren't the only folks who can make a difference in the world. Engineers, lawyers, secretaries, and yes, coaches can have meaningful jobs...as long as we're intentional about it.

So how can a coach-whose successes and failures are broadcast on television, posted on the internet, tweeted on Twitter, and updated on everyone's Facebook status-focus on finding meaning beyond the wins and losses?

Sometimes folks will say, imagine what you'd want your eulogy to say and live your life accordingly. Since I don't want to be morbid, I'll say we should live our life for our retirement party. If our families, co-workers, former and current athletes, and opposing coaches got together to celebrate our coaching career, what would be want them to say about us?

What will folks say about me when I finally hang up my whistle?
Family. I'd want my family to say they respected my hard work and the love I have for my sport and my players. Some of the coaches I know have older kids who've gone into the coaching field. I'd love for my kids to want to coach one day! I hope they'll say they had just as much fun on the coaching ride as I've had.
Co-workers. I'd hope my co-workers would say that I was a fun person to be around. Why fun? We spend way too much time in the office to be grumpy all the time! I also hope they'd say that I was willing to work for the common good of the department, not just my own program.

Athletes. At my coaching convention this year, they had a panel of some of the winningest coaches in volleyball. To a person, they all talked about how their most cherished and valued memories aren't the big wins, but the relationships they'd built with their players. I'm sure we all want our athletes to know how much we care about them...on and off the court.

Opposing coaches. I hope they'd say my teams were hard outs, that they knew they had to bring their A game to compete with us. I'd want them to say that as much as they wanted to beat my teams, they respected how well prepared and skilled my players were. I'd want them to think that having me in the conference made it better, not worse.

What do you want said at your retirement party?

Dawn Redd is the Head Volleyball Coach at Beloit College. Come visit Coach Dawn's community of coaching nerds and team leaders over at her blog, http://www.coachdawnwrites.com, where she teaches how to become an excellent coach, motivate individuals, and build successful teams.
Her book, Coach Dawn's Guide To Motivating Female Athletes, is available for purchase on her website.
Follow Coach Dawn on Twitter: @CoachDawnWrites

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Man on a Mission

I've followed his career closely for three years now. Each year has revealed dramatic improvement in his art.
I've been witness to his rigorous practicing and rehearsing. While those he could be socializing with were out doing other things for fun he buckles down to work perfecting that which he loves and desires to do best.
I've listened to him, always confident and never boastful, talk about what he is profoundly passionate about. When he isn't speaking you can almost hear his self-talk, upbeat and positive.

I had the extreme pleasure of watching him perform recently on a large Toronto stage and it was magic. Astonished by not only the total confidence he displayed but by the ultimate joy he radiated. He was amazingly humble after receiving the highest awards and deluge of accolades. I thought to myself he was by far the best performer and if he keeps this up he's headed for the big time. But even if he chooses not to take the path to stardom I feel compelled to write about what is at the very core of this exceptional achiever - Purpose!

One of my personal quotes has it, "Purpose is the seed from which a successful existence sprouts."
When one discovers their purpose in life they join the small fraternity of people on this planet who rarely get moody or depressed. They are consistently optimistic and seldom sick and enjoy vibrant and healthy relationships. Needless to say, they have high self-esteem and almost always feel fulfilled. As such, they lead stellar lives on that most magical level most sadly never experience.

Personally, I've never met anyone who created a purpose driven life I didn't like, or love, and totally respect, and didn't get amazingly along with. My life has been so richly blessed because I have known or worked with many true professionals both in the music business and with authors and entrepreneurs over the Internet. People whose purpose was clear and whose passion was infectious. They always served to make me a more purposeful and passionate person. And this young man ranks right up there with the best of them. His future indeed shines bright!
Here's the rest of the story though.
His name is Cameron.
What moves him is the art of dancing.
This Man on a Mission is only nine years old.
Cameron just happens to be my youngest grandson.
While the fear-mongering media is ranting at the top of their negative lungs that our children and grandchildren are going to be saddled with trillion dollars of debt while inheriting climate catastrophe and expanding wars on terror, I firmly believe our offspring will make out just fine. See, there must be thousands, perhaps millions of children just like Cameron who have begun to discover their purpose, pursuing it with passion early on in life, and enough of this next generation will want to change whatever world we choose to leave behind for them!

Perhaps Cameron will bring his brilliant dancing to the change-the-world party! If not dancing then he will certainly move the world in other positive ways. Trust me on that.

For now though, at less than a decade old, he's quite content to fill his heart and the hearts of those he touches with his gifts of passion - and purpose!
So, I ask: Will your walk through life leave a trail?

Authors note: On July 10th, 2011, Cameron won the prestigious Tremaine Dance Junior Dancer of the Year award in Orlando, Florida.

Rick is co-founder of the humanitarian organization, 10 Million Clicks For Peace. He is also co-creator of the life-transforming course, Modern Day Mastery. Rick wants to know if you've got what it takes to step up and be a leader in the new world transformation: http://www.ModernDayMastery.com/freeseries

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Success Does Not Happen In a Day, It Happens Daily

Do you think you just wake up one day and success has just arrived with huge fanfare and a ticker tape parade? No success is the result of thousands of hours of concentrated and focused effort on the part of the person who is enjoying the fruits of their labour. Although to everyone around them, it looks like they achieved their success overnight. The same is true of failure; it is not one cataclysmic event, it is the result or rather the accumulation of years of poor thinking or bad choices. Said differently, failure is nothing more than a few bad choices and poor judgements repeated every day over a long period of time.

It seems rather silly for anyone to just keep making the same mistakes over and over again. In fact it was Albert Einstein, who said that the definition of insanity was repeating the same behaviour over and over again and expecting a different result. I think the reason people get trapped in the never ending cycle of neglect or on a tread mill of repeating small errors in judgement day after day, is that they don't think that it really matters. The small errors in judgement, small things like pressing the snooze button every morning and enjoying that extra nine minutes of sleep or coming home every night and collapsing in front of the TV or never reading another book after leaving school, does not seem like a cataclysmic event. But unfortunately the compounding of these small errors in judgement, adds up to massive failure over time.

How can a minor oversight, those small poor decisions or wasted hours, add up into anything significant and have an impact on anyone's life? These small errors in judgement don't seem like a problem in the moment, because the immediate gratification we get from vegetating in front of the TV, instead of investing time to read and grow, feels so good at the time and there seems to be no immediate consequence or pain for our actions. Not having invested any time to read a book in the last ninety days does not seem to have any effect on our lives in the moment. Nothing drastic happened, everything seems just fine. So as the last ninety days does not seem to have negatively affected us in any way, we continue to think in the moment and repeat those ninety days, over and over again. Before we know it 20 years have passed and we have completely neglected our personal growth.

Our company is right sizing and as we are just another employee, who has remained trapped in the same place for the last twenty years and so we are one of the first people to be considered for retrenchment. We then lament the state of the economy and tell everyone that the reason we are being retrenched is not our fault and we proceed to blame everyone around us. The reason we are being retrenched is no one's fault, but our own. Had we invested the time to read books over the past twenty years, instead of visiting happy hour every Friday evening or vegetating in front of the TV every night after work, had we attended seminars and listened to educational CD's in our car on our commute to and from work for the last 20 years, we would be one of the most needed and sought after employees in the organisation and probably the last person they would have selected for retrenchment.
The first time you place a fast food burger into your mouth, you did not fall down and have a heart attack. It takes years of constant abuse, lack of exercise and constant junk food binges to destroy your health. The enjoyment you get in the moment from your burger and chips does not seem to matter at all. It is the accumulation of these negative bad choices, which ads up into the triple heart bypass operation you are forced to eventually endure.
The good news is that this cycle also works in reverse. The good choices and disciplined actions you take every day accumulate and add up into super achievement. The result of reading educational books, attending inspirational seminars or working with a mentor, does not deliver instant results. These disciplines add up over time and just like a snowball gathers momentum and grows bigger and bigger at it rolls down the mountain, so too do the positive disciplined actions you take, add up into super achievement.

Don't you think it is time for you to start reversing the formula for failure and to turn your life around? Introduce a few new daily disciplines into your life and gradually start to reverse the failure cycle and turn it into success. When you make this small shift, you make one really important change in your life; you make achieving success in the future an important part of your current activities. Success and failure follow the same process and use the same formula.

Failure is the result of neglect and repeating the same bad behaviour over and over again or continuing to make the same bad choices, year after year. Success on the other hand is exactly the same, the only difference is that you apply a little discipline and you make better choices and take positive actions every day. As you repeat this behaviour, taking small almost insignificant actions every day, you eventually arrive at success, almost effortlessly, not even realising how you got there.

http://www.andrewhorton.co.za

Hi my name is Andrew Horton; I am an inspirational Speaker, Master Teacher, Radio and TV Host, Global Traveler and Author. My area of focus is in the field of human behavior, expanded awareness and enlightenment. I travel the planet constantly researching, learning and seeking ways to unlock the mysteries of the human mind. I delve into the inner workings of the universe, always looking for ways to understand my role in making things better and contributing to the improvement of the human experience. Please visit my website to sign up for a daily inspirational message, by following this link Daily Inspirational Message. This is your daily call to action, a reminder to do things better each day. Visit my website at

http://www.andrewhorton.co.za

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Goal Setting Guide

Perhaps you have noticed, as have I, that many people talk about "that guy" who made it big in the real estate business, or invented the paper clip, or something else amazing. I know I have, but then I started to realize that I was not that guy. Why? I could sell real estate, although I don't want to. I could invent the paper clip, but I'm not that creative. However, there are things that I am good at and things that I want to do. How do you suppose these guys became successful? They did it. That's the difference. They did it, and I just talk about it. When I came to that realization, it was time to do it.

The first thing that I had to do was motivate myself. I could never do this in the real estate market because it doesn't interest me and I hate selling. So I needed to find something that would interest me, but also that I dedicated myself to. It is not enough to just do something I am interested in, I have to be dedicated to do it. My personal choice was building websites. I enjoy it and I learned how to make money at it with the help of a very successful web developer who happens to be a relative.

Next I had to develop a plan. Just deciding to do something and dedicating yourself to it is not enough. To succeed you need a plan, a blueprint on how to go from nothing to success. A written plan that can be revisited is essential so you know where you are going and have a measure by which to determine later if you are accomplishing your goals. So I created a plan by which I would execute my plan to meet my goals.

Execution came next. I had to actually do what I set out to. All the planning in the world never accomplished anything; only hard work did. So my next step was to start building websites the way I had been taught. I spent hours after work and on weekends building my empire for about six months.

Then, I checked my progress, which was minimal. I assessed my situation and realized that I was not making any money, even though I had a dozen websites. I returned to my mentor and found that I was making a few mistakes. I fixed what I had done wrong, which took many hours to do, and things began to improve. By going back to my original goal, I was able to determine that i was not successful at what I was doing. That helped me to go back and find out what I was doing wrong.

By following theses steps, I was able, with a lot of hard work, to find my dream instead of talking about the guy who found his. It isn't luck, but by following a goal setting and execution plan, I now have a continuous daily income as a result of my hard work.

Reach your goals

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Does Everyone Have to Have Goals Written Down?

The idea of having concrete, achievable goals seem to be deeply ingrained in our culture. I know I lived with goals for many years, and in fact a big part of my writing is about how to set and achieve goals.
When someone lives without goals, for the most part. It's absolutely liberating, and contrary to what you might have been taught, it absolutely doesn't mean you stop achieving things.
It means you stop letting yourself be limited by goals.

Consider this common belief: "You'll never get anywhere unless you know where you're going." This seems like common sense, and yet it's obviously not true if you stop to think about it. Conduct a simple experiment: go outside and walk in a random direction, and feel free to change directions randomly. After 20 minutes, an hour... you'll be somewhere! It's just that you didn't know you were going to end up there.

When you have no goals you have to open your mind to going places you never expected to go. If you live without goals, you'll explore new territory. You'll learn some unexpected things. You'll end up in surprising places. That's the beauty of this philosophy, but it's also a difficult transition.

Today, I live mostly without goals. Now and then I start coming up with a goal, but I'm letting them go. Living without goals hasn't ever been an actual goal of mine... it's just something I'm learning that I enjoy more, that is incredibly freeing, that works with the lifestyle of following my passion that I've developed.

The problem with goals

In the past, I'd set a goal or three for the year, and then sub-goals for each month. Then I'd figure out what action steps to take each week and each day, and try to focus my day on those steps.
Unfortunately, it never, ever works out this neatly. You all know this. You know you need to work on an action step, and you try to keep the end goal in mind to motivate yourself. But this action step might be something you dread, and so you procrastinate. You do other work, or you check email or Facebook, or you goof off.

And so your weekly goals and monthly goals get pushed back or side-tracked, and you get discouraged because you have no discipline. And goals are too hard to achieve. So now what? Well, you review your goals and reset them. You create a new set of sub-goals and action plans. You know where you're going, because you have goals!

Of course, you don't actually end up getting there. Sometimes you achieve the goal and then you feel amazing. But most of the time you don't achieve them and you blame it on yourself.
Here's the secret: the problem isn't you, it's the system! Goals as a system are set up for failure.
Even when you do things exactly right, it's not ideal. Here's why: you are extremely limited in your actions. When you don't feel like doing something, you have to force yourself to do it. Your path is chosen, so you don't have room to explore new territory. You have to follow the plan, even when you're passionate about something else.

Some goal systems are more flexible, but nothing is as flexible as having no goals.

How it works

So what does a life without goals look like? In practice, it's very different than one with goals.
You don't set a goal for the year, nor for the month, nor for the week or day. You don't obsess about tracking, or actionable steps. You don't even need a to-do list, though it doesn't hurt to write down reminders if you like.

What do you do, then? Lay around on the couch all day, sleeping and watching TV and eating Ho-Hos? No, you simply do. You find something you're passionate about, and do it. Just because you don't have goals doesn't mean you do nothing - you can create, you can produce, you can follow your passion.
And in practice, this is a wonderful thing: you wake up and do what you're passionate about. For me, that's usually blogging, but it can be writing a novel or an e-book or my next book or creating a course to help others or connecting with incredible people or spending time at the spa getting a facial, having my nails done, and just relaxing.. There's no limit, because I'm free.

In the end, I usually end up achieving more than if I had goals, because I'm always doing something I'm excited about. But whether I achieve or not isn't the point at all: all that matters is that I'm doing what I love, always.

I end up in places that are wonderful, surprising, great. I just didn't know I would get there when I started.

Ms. Shensky is a professional speaker. writer, and coach. As a Career Coach she works with clients to help them find their passion and build it into a high paying career. As a Life Coach she works with clients discover their limiting beliefs the subconsciously put the brakes on and prevent them from reaching one's goals.

She holds an AAS in Mental Health and BA in Psychology and attended a Masters program in Rehabilitation Counseling. She attended Toastmasters where she received both the CTM and ATM certifications and participated in the NSA-GA Chapter mentoring program. She attended the American Seminar Leaders Association University where she received the Certified Seminar Leader (CSL) certification. She attended Stores Online presentation to learn about Internet Marketing. She has used her real life experiences to established a NPO--International Disabled Entrepreneurs, Inc. (IDE, Inc.) to teach people with disabilities the skills needed to have their own business.

http://1personalcareercoach.com
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/careerperformanceinstitute

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Turn Goal Setting, Into Goal Achieving

There is a sort of magic found in setting goals. When you set yourself goals in an ever expanding spiral, starting with goals for yourself, your immediate and extended family, your community, city where you live, province or state, your country where you earn most of your money and finally goals for the planet and beyond. You open your mind and you begin to see massive possibility or hidden potential, which would have remained hidden from you, had you not allowed yourself to think beyond your own limited environment.

When you consciously set yourself inspiring goals and you are clear on why achieving those goals is important to you, you unlock a deep rooted passion and drive, which will allow you to overcome any obstacle, which may cross your path. The one secret I have discovered when trying to turn goal setting into goal achieving is that you must have goals, which are bigger than yourself and your own self-interest. Unless you have a vision and goals, which are at minimum, at least as big as your family, you will struggle to achieve your personal goals. You will struggle to expand your vision of what is possible for your family and achieve goals at this level, unless you have goals and a clear vision for your community. You will never be able to make a real and lasting difference in your community, unless you have a vision and a set of goals to make a difference in your state or province. You will most certainly never become an international player or even one of the top players in your nation, unless you have a vision and goals, which is truly vast and beyond global thinking.

Once you have stretched your thinking beyond yourself and stretched your mind to include a vision and goals for as large a world as you can. Expand your thinking around goal setting to include short, medium and long term goals. Short term is goals cover the next year, medium term goals stretch out over the next five years and long term goals stretch out in front of you, for the next 120 years. Research has shown that most people over estimate what they can achieve in a year, but significantly underestimate the unbelievable possibilities, which can be achieved in a decade. When you allow yourself to take a really long term view of what is possible, you free your brain to dream about unlimited possibility and you are able to see that almost anything is possible for you.
When we expand our space and time horizons, we are able to stretch our vision and we begin to explore and discover greater possibility, thereby unlocking more of our hidden potential. This phenomenon of expanding awareness and unlimited possibility is highlighted by examining the time horizons of different people filling differing roles in our world. A factory worker has a limited time and space horizon and thinks in terms of hours and days. The person who supervisors the factory workers, must think in slightly expanded terms and sees the world from a slightly expanded perspective and thinks in terms of days and weeks.
The lower management team needs to think and plan a little differently and they need to see their world in terms of weeks and months, whereas middle management takes on an even longer term view and they need to think and plan in terms of months and even year to year, in terms of budgets etc. The people in upper management positions are more strategic in their thinking and they focus on their business in terms of years and decades. The CEO on the other hand must think in decades and focus his or her energy on creating a business, which will last for decades and even generations.

As you can see from this example, the greater your focus around your space, time continuum is, or the more expanded your time scale awareness is. The greater will be your ability to expand and grow and the greater will be the magnitude of your accomplishments. The best way to turn goal setting into goal achievement is to expand your vision, learn the art of patience, by allowing yourself to have longer time horizons for your vision and goals and avoid the trap of always expecting or wanting instant gratification. Add to this your big vision and a set of goals, which encompasses a global view of all the possibilities around what you can accomplish on a global scale and you have the key to unlock your unlimited potential, where you can have, do and be whatever you want. When you are inspired from within and you have a vision and a set of goals, which stretches you to think beyond only yourself and an expanded time frame, which expands your thinking about what is possible for you. There is no limit to what you can achieve.

http://www.andrewhorton.co.za

Hi my name is Andrew Horton; I am an inspirational Speaker, Master Teacher, Radio and TV Host, Global Traveler and Author. My area of focus is in the field of human behavior, expanded awareness and enlightenment. I travel the planet constantly researching, learning and seeking ways to unlock the mysteries of the human mind. I delve into the inner workings of the universe, always looking for ways to understand my role in making things better and contributing to the improvement of the human experience. Please visit my website to sign up for a daily inspirational message, by following this link Daily Inspirational Message. This is your daily call to action, a reminder to do things better each day. Visit my website at

http://www.andrewhorton.co.za

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=A_Horton

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Time Is Gold But Nobody Seems to Care

Once time is wasted there is nothing much you can do to retrieve or replace it. It is lost forever. Time is the most precious of wealth you can ever desire and have. Everyone has 24 hours of time each day no more, no less. It is not gold for nothing. Everything in life is measured by time. Life is ticking each and every moment. How well you make use of your time is the most valuable lesson you can ever learn in your entire stay in this material world.

Appreciate time. One needs to understand the essence of time. If time is as precious as the most valued stones on earth, you must recognize the extent of its significance and value. You can always replace gold with another one but not time. A wasted time is gone forever. Therefore, you have to acknowledge how important it is.

Hurl procrastination off the back door.
Dawdling is time's worst enemy. This is the reason why you have so many projects on your mind and yet none of them ever materialized. You keep putting them off until tomorrow as if tomorrow is a reality. Nothing matters but today. The events of the past were useful on the formation of what is today and we need to recognize that fact but those were the days. Nothing matters but today. Tomorrow will be as useful as yesterday only if we try to do well today. Live in the present. The past is done. The future might never come. Today is all you have and it contains 24 gold-like hours. What you can do today do not put off until tomorrow.

Create a schedule.
It is always advisable to plan. Jot down all the things that you need to accomplish for that day and make a schedule. Making a schedule is not predicting the future, rather, it is about knowing what you may and may not carry out on that particular day. It serves as a guide to achieve your specific goals. It frees you from the burden of having to recall, every time, what you need to do next. It makes you go through the day smoothly with much ease and minimizes your stress level.

Quality over quantity.
Cramming in more activities than what you can handle is as useless as procrastination. You will end up over saturated or over stressed while the work you have accomplished is as messy and muddled as your stress level. Do not sacrifice the amount of things you can do in a given time over how well you can do them. Nobody will appreciate substandard work hastily done. Spend the same amount of time with much more attention and care. In the end you will realize it pays to value quality over quantity.

Life is not a race.
It doesn't matter who arrives at the finish line first. The most important thing is how well you spend your time over things that are truly productive.

How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.
Time changes things, but you actually have to change them.

Vj Shah
Internet Marketing, Self Improvement Consultant

http://Vj-shah.com
http://gobizbiz.com

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Why Do We Have To Grow Up?

often wonder why it's so damn hard to just be a big kid no matter how old you are, and hanging on to that carefree child even when you grow up. Why can't we hold hands with our best friend in public without people thinking of sexual connotations? Why can't we go outside, play, sing and dance whether its raining or sunny without people thinking we're crazy? And why is it so hard for adults to smile or laugh, as if it is a sin or embarrassing thing to do?

If you remember the 1988 Tom Hank's movie "Big", it was about a 12 year old boy who made a wish at a magic wish machine to be a grown-up. The movie was about not getting caught up in society's stringent rules and routines but remembering those things that made being young so great. It was about having a more innocent outlook on life, especially when facing the mundane world of adulthood. Western society teaches us to relinquish and suppress this inner child once we reach our teenage years. "Grow up, you're not a child anymore! Stop being childish!" are words drummed into most of us kids. But psychologists as far back as Carl Jung believed that the inner child or divine child in all of us, is our sub-personality, that influences our instinctual needs, emotions and behaviour as adults. Our emotional experiences and earliest memories as children, both positive and negative, form part of our psyche in later life and are the basis of how we react to situations in an adult world.

But we spend most of our adulthood suppressing that innocence, with many of us depriving ourselves of the most simple joys of life, until we get too old and don't care what others think, and nor does society care about the crazy antics of an old person. But not everyone lives like this. The Dalai Lama and his Buddhist followers, plus millions of Indians understand that laughter, happiness and joy are key to a healthy lifestyle.

So it's no wonder that the native Fijian's, without Western society's pressure to conform, hang on to that inner child for most of their lives. They laugh, sing, dance and hold hands just as children love to do. They wake up each day and wonder about the things they can do today - regardless of weather, money or expectations. They go to work singing, laughing and smiling each day, no matter what their age or background. The workplace for a Fijian is just another part of their daily world to enjoy and embrace.

You just have to be jealous of the native Fijian people. They are born to their ancestral land and have no worries of a bank mortgage, home loans or credit card debts. Without the worry of money and finances like most cultures, they wake up each day and smile. It's a pity we can't all be big kids forever.

Join a safari of life, ancient culture and fresh wild foods at http://www.fijianfoodsafari.com
Follow this author's culinary and cultural adventures in the South Pacific, living with the descendants of an ancient civilization that doesn't live like the Western world. Explore, discover and be inspired by a world that Tom Hanks made popular in the film "Cast Away" with pristine oceans, no food allergies and an example of how the world should really be.

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