Archive for Motivation
Motivation and Principle Truths
Posted by: | CommentsTeaching and motivating others motivates me. I stumbled across this some years ago while working on my goal to become a better public speaker. One of the steps I took was joining a great organization called Toastmasters. The Toastmasters program is built around giving speeches focused on a specific goal each new speech building upon the last. Sounds like a sound formula for success doesn’t it? During some of the speeches I was giving I found that I became very motivated when I was teaching my audience about personal, professional and life success skills. Skills that I learned and had personally put into play to be more, do more and have more.
This thrill and literal adrenaline rush became quite addictive. So addictive that I was able to achieve all of my Toastmasters goals in a very short period of time, faster than anyone else in my club ever had. But these awards, while gratifying, were not the true driver behind my Toastmaster speaking success.
The driver behind my success was the feedback I was getting from those people in the audience. The more they learned from my message, the more I was driven to seek and teach them. Of course in order to teach I had to learn. I had to test. I had to apply. I have come across lots of information, tips, techniques, and gurus that did nothing for me. There were many methods I could not get to work for me. However, does that mean the time was waste? No!
You see, every single book I read, seminar I attended, or audio I listen to did one of two things (often they did both.) It taught me something new that I needed to go out and try; and/or it drove home something I had already learned and needed to continue to implement – because some facts are core principles to personal, professional and life success.
But this blog and these posts are not just about me – they are here to help you learn that things you need to go out and try or perhaps remind you of the tips and techniques that you know already and just need to get out there and implement because as you already know – some facts are just principle truths.
Principle truths in life are time tested and everlasting. For example, he time tested truths of nearly all religions i.e. do unto others as you would have them do unto you; though shalt not kill and so on are founding principles that just work. Whether you believe in the rest of the text offered by any given religion, the writers core message is still sound, focus on and work towards a worthy goal then good things will come back around to you tenfold.
These types of principles were here a thousand years ago, are still being taught today, and will be taught and applied a thousand years to come. The names of the teachers will change; the names of the students will change. Heck, even the method by which the message is shared will change. But the core success principles will still be there firm and strong, unyielding and unmoved by the sands of time.
You could sum most all success principles into this:
- Figure out what you want.
- Find out what you need to do to get it.
- Start Doing That – TODAY!
I chuckle as I re-read that last part of this post. Why you may ask? Well because it is that true. It is so true you honestly do not have to read any more of my blog, my courses or any of my articles. Those three things are so sound that you could close this internet window and never come back to this site. But I hope you do come back because I go through some great ways for you to make each of those steps a little easier. To avoid procrastination inside any of those steps and avoid running out of energy or motivation along the way – so again, keep reading.
But before you leave today – let me ask you this. What core success principle have you read, heard or learned over the course of your lifetime. Like I said this blog is not all about me – I want to hear about you. Let me hear about what core personal, professional or life success principles you have learned – leave me a comment below so I can learn from you too!
Think Successfully & Take Action!
Tracy Brinkmann
One of Today’s Top Motivated Coaches and Author of Success Atlas Programs
History is a Learning Tool
Posted by: | CommentsHistory is a great learning tool. You can read the biographies of great men like Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, George Washington, Martin Luther King Jr. and so many others, learning from their actions and more importantly from their mistakes. As I write these posts I am sitting across from a wall of book that I have bought, read, re-read and studied over the course of the past three decades. These books include but certainly are not limited to; goal setting, writing skills, presentation skills, sales skills, consulting skills, relationship skills, memory building, computer programming, how to be a better parent, how to get everything you want faster than you thought possible and well you get the idea, the list goes on and on and on.
So the key message I want to share is this short little post is that while I write to share bits and pieces of knowledge on goal setting, motivation, success (personal and professional); know that it is not JUST my personal take on these topics. I am merely making an attempt to share my personal version of what you are able to do, be and have by empowering yourself via goal setting, motivation, etc. Call it my personal distillation of what I have read combined with what I have experienced over those three decades and in some cases even longer.
But, do not just take my word for it, go out and get yourself another source of information. Read another blog, get a book and another book and even another if that’s what it takes. What I truly want you to do is to find whatever catalyst you need at this moment in your life to sit down and choose your own worthy goal, to set your Success Atlas and begin making it come true in your own life this very minute. Not tomorrow, not next week, next month, next year or a decade from now. I want you to take some step, small or large, to begin making your dreams come true TODAY.
It would sincerely be one of my most honored blessings if someday someone came up to me and said, “Tracy, because of you I….” and they told me about a goal or dream they realized. That they became something that made a difference in their life or they did something that was a dream of theirs.
One day I know for a fact that I will be sitting the front porch of my home, rocking slowing in a rocking chair overlooking my yard. Listening to the birds sing and inhaling the sweet smell of the day. I will tell my grandchildren of some of the things I have done. I will share with them some of the mistakes I have made in the hopes that they will not have to make those same mistakes. Then I will tell them of that person I was able to reach out and touch and move them to live the life that they dreamed, desired and deserved.
When you are sitting in your rocking chair later in life, what stories will you be able to tell?
Think Successfully & Take Action!
Tracy Brinkmann
One of Today’s Top Motivated Coaches & Author of Success Atlas Programs
Sweat now or Bleed Later – Facing Fear and Building Motivation
Posted by: | CommentsI have learned over my 45+ years of life that fear can be one of the most crippling ailments to your motivation in reaching a goal, no matter how small or large that dream or goal might be. Fear allows your mind to run wild with worst case scenarios that quite probably would never happen if you sweated it out and simply took consistent action. The four letter word know as fear can, if you let it, keep you from taking the first step towards your dream or goal – and I have found that in 100% of the cases with no exceptions, if you do not take the first step towards your dream or goal you will never take the second step, because your fear will bleed your motivation out of you. So you will need to sweat now or bleed later.
The lesson of sweating now or bleeding later is another one of the valuable lessons I learned from the military that I have been able to apply to all areas of my life long after having left the military. In the armed forces they teach you, in a number of ways, that the more you sweat in peacetime, the less you bleed in battle. There in hides a lesson I was able to take and apply in everything I attempt. In the military they train and train and train, putting you through situations that you could face under fire. But then they take it one step farther and put you though the next level of situation in an attempt to prepare you for the most extreme types of situations that God forbid you would ever have to face. But this next level of sweating in peace time preps you for these worst case scenarios and enables you to face them with a more level head.
One less extreme example I can share with you would alli best buy be during basic training, when you are taught how to quickly remove your gas mask from its pouch and put it on correctly in seconds. We went through drill after drill after drill on doing this at times when we knew it was coming and times when it was a complete surprise. I remember thinking how fast I was able to do it with all this practice. Then we took a 5+ mile hike out into the woods to a small one story cinder block building which had ‘smoke’ coming out of it. We were told this build was filled with tear gas and were instructed to put our gas masks on. Then in groups of 8 to 10 at a time we were lead into the gas filled building. I remember thinking to myself how glad I was that I paid attention when learning to seal the mask correctly around my face. Once inside we were lined up and a few seconds later instructed to pull our mask off. WHAT??!! You want to talk about heart pound fear! None of us wanted to but we all knew we had to – and we were told that we all had to stand in that gas there until everyone did it AND until everyone took their first breath of the notorious tear gas.
I would love to tell you about how tough I was in handling this experience but sadly I am only human and the gas… well the gas is designed to be very effective. Let me tell you – I never want to experience tear gas again. Imagine if you will your face feeling like it is on fire as if sitting under sun lamp on high, then you eyes burning like all your sweat was pouring right into them. Now add to that an uncontrollable cough, the burning in your lungs makes you think they are going to explode. Then there is your nose – lets just say, the body can be quite effective at trying to push foreign agents out of the body and the nose will try to do this by flooding itself. You get the picture.
I can hear you now, “Wait Tracy what lesson could you have learned from this other then perhaps your fellow soldiers look really funny stumbling out of the gas house with faces washed out with tears and snot?” Well I realized the value of the gas house lesson two nights later while we were sleeping in the woods and one of the drill sergeants threw a tear gas grenade. My nose got the first hint of that gas and my body snapped to being fully awake and I had that gas mask on faster then I had ever done it previously. Sweat now or bleed later.
The lesson of sweating now or bleeding later has stayed with me long since I learned it. When I was faced with the opportunity to compete at a national level in a humorous speech contest I could feel my fear welling up and impacting my usual practice process. I was avoiding honing my speech for fear of failing on stage. Odd as it might seem the act of avoiding the honing was surely going to result in my failing on stage. It wasn’t speaking in public in general that I was afraid of – it was speaking to an audience of people that I knew would want someone else to win. The friends and family of those I would be up against would be in the audience and I knew they wouldn’t want me to win, that fear was choking off my action. So I faced my fear head on by putting myself into a speaking opportunity where I knew the audience would be even less likely to want me to successful in giving my message. I arranged to give a motivational speech at the Gwinnett County Juvenile Detention Facility. I figured that if I could face this audience of teenagers whose lives had taken a turn that landed them in this facility, where they were being made to sit through my presentation – then I could surly face any audience I would meet at the Humorous Speech Contest.
Well to make a long story short – I was actually well received by both audiences. The teens actually appreciated that someone took the time to speak to them and had many questions to ask during and after my presentation. And while I did not win the humorous speech contest, I did learn that if you ever had to face something that you fear then you can always ‘stage’ a bigger battle then the one you have to face. If you have something hard to do and you are reluctant or hesitant to do it, pick out something even harder and do that first.
Apply this sweat now or bleed later lesson and watch what it does to your motivation when you finally reach that ‘real’ challenge!
Think Successfully & Take Action
Tracy Brinkmann
One of today’s TOP Motivated Coaches & Author of Success Atlas Programs.
Happy Thanksgiving, Being Thankful… again
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s early in the morning the house is still asleep, except for one of my darling cat that has come in from the rain to warm himself in my lap. The smell of this years Turkey is already starting to fill the house. Except for Maylan (the cat) and our newest animal addition, Shotzi (our Schnauzer) – I am alone with my thoughts and now you as you read this blog post. While I always have a grateful attitude towards all I have been able to accomplish and all I know I am about to accomplish, recently however, my thanks has caused a swelling in my heart and my mind that I find a bit unbelievable – perhaps this has been spurred on by the recent birth of my grand daughter Kyli or the loss of a friend in a recent car accident or my daughters fellow cheerleaders who were in that same accident – some of which are still fighting for their lives…. or by the show of support at the recent All Star Challenge Cheer Competition where teams from around the country showed their support and gave $10,000 to the families in their time of need.
Whatever the motivation, It is the quiet serene moments like this that provide the opportune time look back at what has happened, look at today at what IS happening and out into tomorrow at what allegra\\\’s generic I want to happen. Some time ago, I was sitting in my office looking around being thankful for the opportunity to work with such great people and give back. I called my daughter up JUST to tell her how much I love her – another thing I am thankful for. When I got home that night I gave my wife extra hugs and kisses – yes another thing I am thankful for. Recently, I was online with a few of my favorite people – people like you that I have met and learned from via social media and other online interactions. All these things big and small are things that I give thanks for on a regular basis.
To this day I do not know what prompted that original swelling moment of deep gratitude – but I have remained just as grateful ever since. This extra level of thankfulness has further improved my attitude, and helped me keep things in perspective as those bumps in the road come along.
Through all of this reflecting back, and visualizing forward I am EVER grateful for all that I have, have had and will have. I would urge you to do the same. Pausing for a moment to reground yourself by truly acknowledging what you have, not matter how small, will do wonders for your attitude as well as your outlook.
I wrote the following article on a Thanksgiving Day back in 2005 in the hopes of sharing this attitude of gratitude with those that might find it interesting– it still holds true today. Whether you do or do not celebrate the holiday of Thanksgiving I would urge you to start making every day a day of giving thanks.
When I joined the US Army back in the early eighties they taught me a number of survival skills. I learned to live off the land, navigate that land with just a compass, where to find water, where to find food and more. I learned to jump from airplanes and traverse terrain like a Billie-goat. But even the US Army, with all their robust survival training did not teach me what I have come to realize is in fact a real survival skill – thankfulness.
In all the books I have read on personal development, as well as all the seminars, DVDs, studies, journals etc I have found a unifying thought on thankfulness: “Be thankful for everything you have, while you pursue everything you want.” A simple truth, as most profound truths are, is that we should be thankful everyday for everything we have, everything we have received and everything we have accomplished (no matter how small).
As I look back over the course my life has taken, I realize that more than the years, and the experience they bring, resulted in where I am now. It was also my thankfulness that pushed open doors of opportunity, blessings and unique experiences. I am daily thankful for the lessons my parents taught me at an early age. Lessons that pulled me through some dark times in my life. I am thankful for close friends (thank you Robbie!) and a loving spouse (thank you Denise!) whose belief in me and my abilities NEVER faltered. I am thankful for the mentors that came into my life and impacted it even in the smallest way. I am thankful for the fortune 10 companies that I have worked with just as much as the companies with only 10 employees in their ranks. All of these brought me to where I am and to each and every one of those I am ever grateful.
I look around at the world today and see great things happening, about to happen or opportunities for them to happen. Of course I’m not so blind that I don’t see the concerns too, but to dwell only on that fact would narrow my mind on what the world has to offer. In my life time I have seen the downing of the Berlin wall, watched democracy win out over tyranny numerous times and seen New York City as well as the entire United States pull together in the worst of times to help their fellow man. No matter your country of origin, race, color, greed, background or culture all of you bring something unique to the table. You as a person, as a country and we all as a world should be thankful. Always come from a place of thanksgiving; look around and be truly thankful for what you already have and have done and you will see the wonders that come from one simple act.
Some tips on generating a thankful attitude:
• Sit down with a sheet of paper and a pen and write down how good you have it. Write down everything you are thankful for – no matter how small. Doing this will begin to develop healthy, positive thought patterns and mold your attitude into one that will be more thankful all of the time. If you have a spouse or children do this with them and you will be astounded by all the good things all of you can come up with.
• Look down instead of up. What I mean, is we spend so much time looking up the socio-economic chain to where we want to be, that we often loose sight of where we have been. Look down the chain, to past where you were to those less fortunate than yourself, and be thankful for what you have. Volunteer some of your time at a local shelter, home or food bank. You will feel better for having helped as well as be reminded first hand of all that you have to be thankful for.
• Give back monetarily. Pick a charity or organization that you believe in and give some of your hard earned money. In the book Money, Sex, and Power, Richard Foster says that “money desires to be loved, courted, desired and hoarded.” Giving back and giving away breaks the power that money can have over us. You will feel better for supporting an organization that you believe in and giving it away on a regular basis helps keep things in perspective.
Thankfulness is just that starting point, but it’s a great starting point. Being thankful will enable you to create more. Take the ability to create more and create more ideas for yourself than you need. If you have more than you need then you can share your ideas, even give them away. As the old saying goes, “Be fruitful and multiply.” That just doesn’t mean in the sense of population – it means in abundance as well. When you are thankful for what you have, and creating more ideas then you need that is one form of fruitful. With more ideas than you need you can share those ideas with others. You will be blessing your fellow man, your community and your world with your wealth of ideas. Once this starts you will be amazed at the results in abundance that will flow back to you. But it all begins with the simple act of being thankful. Be grateful for everything you already have, everything you have already accomplished and for everything you are about to accomplish.
Begin your act of thanksgiving this very day, then everyday afterwards – and watch the wonders begin to happen
Think Successfully (as well as thankfully) & Take Action!
Tracy Brinkmann
Motivated Lies to Reach the Truth
Posted by: | CommentsI remember an exercise I did in Toastmasters years ago to practice my selling skills. allegra non prescription The goal was to promote a product and its benefits to the audience, to motivate them to want to purchase or at least recommend the product to their friends. The product I decided to motivate my audience to buy (or buy into) was ME! So my goal was to make them want me. (OK, insert your giggle here)
My goal was to create a motivated presentation filled with intentional exaggerations, or pictures of the man it was my goal to eventually become both as a person and as a professional. But here is what I really found interesting about the project and the motivational message I want you to walk away from this post with. As I wrote the speech I found myself getting motivated by the speech as I wrote it. Then I found myself becoming even more motivated by the speech as I practiced it. So, guess what happened when I finally delivered this presentation to my audience. Yep you guessed it, I became even MORE motivated by its content as I shared it with my audience. Now, with me being so motivated by the content I was delivering do you think I gave a better presentation to my audience? You bet I did!
Most of us find it difficult to see the truth of who we could become over the course of our life. This difficulty is reinforced by so many things in our society. Sometime it is even reinforced by those close to us. How many times have you heard someone who cares for you say “You will never be able to….” Well for me it was a lot – but as I wrote that speech I inserted stories outlining what my future self had done to become the person I was selling to my audience. So I was creating a lie to reach the truth. The truth is I could become the person I was pitching (and have since I gave that speech 7+ years ago). But until I sat down and penned out this lie or fantasy I could not really “see” it.
You see, your subconscious mind does not know the difference between what you imagine or fantasize verses what has or is actually happening. If you vividly picture yourself getting that promotion, eating the tasty cake, or crossing the finish line first – your body will reach to that picture, literally. Think about it for a moment, have you ever thought about the smell or the taste of a ripe freshly picked lemon? Did you pause to imagine the smell that would waft up to your nose the moment you began to peel it, then the sprinkles of juice that would shoot around as you split the peel lemon apart. Finally that tart yet sweet flavor that would fill your mouth the moment it touched your tongue followed by the explosion of flavor that would fill your mouth as you bit into that sweet, juicy ripe lemon?
If you paused to let you mind go as you read that last paragraph I bet your mouth begin to generate a little extra saliva as you created the pictures in your mind via my words. You see your subconscious did not know you were just reading it. Rather it was reacting to the stimuli generated by your reading it. So use this to your advantage, by creating motivating lies or fantasies of the person you want to or need to become in order to reach your goals.
The research I have done on this panned out so well that it became the basis for my eBook “Write Your Success Story” – which by the way will be launched into a full video coaching course this weekend. So sit down and think up some motivating stories about who you would be motivated to become, the things you would like to do and the goals you would like to reach. As you do that you will find that these stories will create a map (or as I call it a Success Atlas) for reaching your goals and that map will stir the motivation within you to take the 1st step towards their accomplishment. After all, if you cannot and do not picture yourself in high regard, then you will never live or hold yourself in high regard. Like they say “Fake it, until you make it!” This would be one the time I would say it is ok to create a motivated lie in order to reach the truth!
Think Successfully & Take Action!
Tracy Brinkmann
One of Today’s TOP Motivated Coaches & Author of Success Atlas Programs
