Archive for Reflections
Consideration – Reaching Your Friends Clients and Employees
Posted by: | CommentsConsider this, one of the most important of motivators in a relationship, whether personal or professional, at work with your client/customers or at home with friends and family, is consideration. Employees report that the best friends and managers they ever had were people who considered their thoughts, cared about their feeling and about them as people as well as friends. These friends and managers were considerate enough to take the time to ask them questions about their lives, and to listen patiently while they talked.
The flip side of this consideration motivator is the demotivating feeling that the boss is inconsiderate and/or doesn’t care. This is almost invariably expressed in a lack of recognition, a lack of appreciation and a general failure to pay attention to the employee over time.
Consider this, the amount of time that you spend talking to and listening to a friend, family member, employee (or even a client) is a signal to that person that he or she is considered important to you, to the family and/or to the company.
To empower and motivate your customers, your suppliers, your friends and so on, you simply need to be a genuine, considerate, positive and cheerful person. Develop a positive thoughtful attitude. Insure that you are easygoing, friendly, patient, and open minded.
Remember, everyone is primarily emotional. Everything that people do, or refrain from doing, is triggered by their deeper emotions. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to consider and connect with their higher and more positive emotions so they feel so good about you.
Here are two things you can to work these ideas into Your Success At Last:
- First, get out of your house or office and go mingle with your clients, coworkers, friends & family. Ask them about their personal lives and concerns, and then listen considerately to the answer. You might be amazed at what you hear!
- Second, resolve to be a genuinely positive & thoughtful person under all circumstances. Be the kind of person people feel happy being around and working with.
Think Successfully & Take Action!
Tracy Brinkmann
One of Today’s TOP Motivated Coaches & Author of Success Atlas Programs
Memorial Day Gratitude
Posted by: | CommentsTime Management and the 26 Hour Day
Posted by: | CommentsOne of the most perplexing, yet one of the most understandable rules of the world – to me is – your outer life trends into the direction of your inner life. It makes perfect sense to realize that how I feel inside is going to impact how I handle things, people and situations I encounter. But the perplexing side is that the very same rule tends to keeps you from seeing things as they are. Instead your perception of how things are is colored by the direction of your inner life. However, I have good news! If you want to change what is going on in the world around you, whether that be your work life, home life, relationships or rewards then you need to change what is going on inside you – and this is the single factor in your entire life over which you have complete control!
I can hear you now “Wait a minute Tracy I thought this was to be about time management not a touchy feely emotional post.” Well the starting line of time management is desire and motivation. After all, I have found that most of us feel that our time management habits could use some (or a lot of) improving – which is probably why your still reading this article. The kinds of people that take the time to read an article on time management have the desire so that leaves motivation. The key to motivation is the ‘motive,’ or more plainly the benefits. If you want to motive or fuel that desire to enhance your time management skills then focus on the benefits you will enjoy.
Wouldn’t it be great to have an extra two hours per day? Could you get more done with a 26 hour day? Of course you could. Think about how that little bit of time would add up… let’s see: Two hours a day times five days in a week (because you want to take the weekend off) equals ten extra hours per week. Now take the ten hours and multiply that times fifty weeks (Because you want to take a two week vacation) and you get FIVE HUNDRED extra productive hours each and every year. WOW – if you have a forty hour work week then you have just gained twenty four more weeks – WOW AGAIN that is three months. So I ask you again – wouldn’t it be great to have an extra two hours per day? Do you think those three extra months per year would change your life?
Okay okay I can feel the energy coming thought the website – I can almost hear you saying “HOW?” How can you get an extra two hours per day turning your 24 hour day into a 26 hour day? Well here are a couple time management tips to get you those three extra months a year:
- Spend a few minute every hour and track where you are spending your time
set your computer, cell l phone or egg timer to go off every 60-90 minutes then immediately make a few notes about where you spend that last batch of time. - Review your list and see where your ‘wasting time’ – a few of those areas might be extended times chatting it up with fellow associates, television, personal phone calls, etc.
- Where are you waiting and doing nothing, when you could be doing something? I personally bring notes, books, marketing material, speech topics, etc to doctors meeting and on road trips with me. That way whenever I have some downtime in an airport, at the dentist office or any where I can pull out something I need to get down and work on it. Heck I work while I am on the treadmill or stationary bike!
- PRIORITIZE – get the important done first! When you start your day ask yourself what I HAVE to get done today. Then set to getting it done – don’t go stray until it’s done or until it is at a point where you can no longer advance it further today.
- Delegate – sometimes it’s better to have someone else do it! I really learned this in the revamping of my website – I can and could do it. But it would not only take me twice as long but the results would be half as good as someone who specialized in website set up. So I bartered some services and got what would have taken me a week or two, done in two days.
- Set Limits – there will be routine and/or regular tasks that you need to do, i.e. read and respond to emails, make phone calls, review reports etc. Set yourself a reasonable time limit to execute these tasks then stick to it. You will find that if you tell yourself – SELF you only have 45 minutes to do this that you will be far more focused at the task at hand.
When you utilize some of these tips to leverage the power of time management and get a sense of control over your time, yourself, your work and your life you will begin to feel like the master of your own destiny. This will positively feed your self esteem and push you to new heights – these powerful positive feelings will have a definite impact on other areas of your life. I mean think about it, you will have more time to spend as you choose. You can spend it with your family, friends or other loved ones as YOU choose. You will have the time you desire and deserve to build your business, your relationships or yourself both personally and/or professionally. So follow the time management tips here and become a master of your own time so that you can get that extra three months every year to chase your heart’s greatest desire!
Think Successfully & Take Action!
Tracy Brinkmann
I Believe You Have An Attitude
Posted by: | CommentsI am writing this today to remind you successful people that the human race is the only species that comes into this world in a natural state of discontent with that world. Look around – the other creatures you see about you are guided by instinct alone. We however have been given a God-like power to shape our life and thus our destiny. Moreover, this is just what we do each day of our lives, as we put into play actions & ideas that will determine the state and significance of our tomorrows.
For some, these ideas lead to extraordinary achievement. But for most, it leads to a middle ground where they mull around taking their life’s cues from those around them – not questioning why or how – nor considering the consequences of their actions be they good or bad. For still others, their actions & ides lead to recurring disappointment and problems. This leaves these folks to spend their days at the bottom of the socioeconomic PYRAMID.
You see the ignorant would have you believe achievement or failure is a matter of luck, or circumstances, or fate, or the breaks, or any of the old tiresome wife’s tales. Let that be the excuse for the ignorant I say. Success is simple matter of following a commonsense standard of rules or guidelines that anyone can follow.
I think we would all agree that we all want good results from our lives. Be it in our home life, our career or in our friendships – and the most important single factor to that success – the one factor that will guarantee good results day and day out is our attitude! And, I believe you have an attitude.
Attitude is defined as “a position or bearing as indicating action, feeling or mood.” I can think of no truer definition of attitude for it is your actions, feelings, and moods, which determine the actions, feelings, and moods of those around you
The world is a stage is what many say. Perhaps that is true – but I feel more strongly that the world is a mirror – often a cruel mirror that reflects back to us the actions, feels, and moods that we carry around. Our attitude tells the world what we expect of it. If our attitude is cheerful and hopeful, then, it conveys to all that we expect the best in our dealings with our world. If it is a skeptical, pessimistic one then we will convey that as well. Moreover, we will receive that in return because of two reasons:
- Each of us tend to live up to the attitude you carry around
- Others give us, as far as their attitudes are concerned, what we expect.
The good news is we can control our attitude. We can put in place the attitude of our choice each morning. Actually, we do so whether we are aware of it or not. Unfortunately, most do not look at their attitudes in this way. Thus, they start their day off in neutral, poised and ready to react to the first stimuli that they encounter. If the first stimulus is positive then their attitude follows suit. If it is negative then they mimic that instead. They are attitudinal chameleons. We as successful people have to prevent ourselves from becoming an attitudinal chameleon.
Here are three ways you can attain, and maintain, a healthy attitude (and avoid becoming an attitudinal chameleon):
- Physiology
- Focus
- The Platinum Rule
- PHYSIOLOGY - Try a little exercise with me. Stand up and breathe deeply inhaling and exhaling fully. Then look up at the ceiling and smile, smile like an idiot or a child on Christmas morning. Now while still breathing deeply, looking up and smiling – get mad – go on get angry! You cannot do it. If you maintain the body posture I described you will be unable to get angry. How you carry your body affects your attitude – have a seat. Now am I saying walk around with your head held high, breathing deeply and grinning like an idiot? Sure why not it is far more attractive then a frown backed by slumped shoulders! But, seriously, walking around with your head low, your face long with a frown, and your breathing shallow will negatively affect your attitude. That is how physiology influences your attitude; use it to your advantage.
- FOCUS - During the course of your day your attitude can and will be impacted by the questions you ask yourself. If you ask the questions like “Why do I get the projects nobody wants?” Then your attitude will go downhill – quickly. If however you ask empowering questions, “How can I complete this project and enjoy the process?” Then your focus is changed and your attitude will be healthier for it. To avoid becoming an attitudinal chameleon what you need to do is develop some morning questions for yourself. A set of questions that will focus your mind on things YOU want to focus on. Some examples could be
- “What can I do today to build/strengthen my career?”
- “What am I proud of in my life?”
- “What am I confidant I can do?”
- “What can I do for my spouse/child/significant other to let them
know I care?Develop your own set of morning questions and answer them each morning. This will do wonders for your attitude as well as raise your awareness to things around you that will lend themselves to aid you in completing your goals.
- THE PLATNIUM RULE - We all know the golden rule and are well served to apply it. However, a person that wants to maintain his healthy attitude at its peak and become a moniker of success will apply the platinum rule. The platinum rule states “Do unto others as THEY want done unto them.”You see how you want to be treated is not specifically how everyone wants to be treated is it? If you go out with the servant’s attitude that your going to treat others in the manner THEY wish to be treated, then this will be reflected back to you – tenfold!
Remember – successful people come in all shapes and sizes, creeds, colors and backgrounds. However even in this diverse pool, they all have one thing in common – they expect more good out of life than bad. This positive expectation is reflected in their healthy attitude. So, in all the things you want, in all the goals you have set yourself upon, let your attitude reflect the fact that there are far more reasons why can have them, then not. Know there are far more reasons why you can reach your goals, then there are reasons to cause you to fail in the attempt.
Use your physiology, maintain your focus, and apply the platinum rule to attain and maintain your healthy attitude (and avoid becoming an attitudinal chameleon).
I believe you have an attitude!! However, is it the one you want?
Think Successfully & Take Action.
Tracy Brinkmann
One of Today’s Top Motivated Coaches & Author of Success Atlas Programs
Unconditional Acceptance of…YOU
Posted by: | CommentsStarting well before the years you can mentally recall your parents, siblings, friends and family were impacting your self-acceptance. As you grow older the primary driver of self-acceptance shifts to how positively you feel you, your style and your beliefs are accepted, by not only your parents, siblings, friends and family, but your boss, co-workers and other important people in your life as well.
Your own level of self-acceptance is determined largely by how well you feel you are accepted by the important people in your life. It is affected even more so by those attitudes you BELIEVE these important people have towards you. If you believe these key people in your life harbor poor or negative attitudes towards you then your self-esteem and self-acceptance is impacted negatively. If, however, your beliefs are that these key people in your life think highly of you and have a positive attitude towards you and your part in their life, then your self esteem and self acceptance is on the rise empowered by this belief.
This simple fact brings to light a simple truth; the cornerstone to building a solid healthy personality hinges on understanding yourself and your feelings. For you to genuinely stop being haunted by those ‘skeletons in your closet’ or those ghosts of the past, you must be able to unveil them to at least one person. This exercise of self- disclosure can enable you to get those ghosts, skeletons and nagging thoughts off your chest and out of your head – free that space between your ears to be focused on more productive and certainly far more enjoyable tasks. Now realize that you must only share these personal thoughts, experiences and feels with someone you trust implicitly. Some that will not make you feel uncomfortable, ashamed or guilty.
The next step in this acceptance exercise can only happen once you have taken the previously mentioned first step of self-disclosure. Zig Ziglar says “I have found in 100% of the cases, no exceptions, that people who will not take step number one… never take step number two.” So do not think you can skip the hard stuff to get to the easy steps and gain all the insight to a better life, love or business. Only when you share what your truly thinking and feeling to trusted person can you even hope to become aware of those thoughts, the emotions they carry and the impact they are having on your life. The other person doesn’t even have to offer up any comment to afford you the opportunity to begin to see the person you are and even more importantly, why you do some of the things you do.
Now comes the third and final step is self-acceptance. After you have shared you thoughts and feelings you begin to gain a new perspective on those things that have happened and how you reacted, and how your still reacting to them or because of them. With this new perspective you can arrive at self-acceptance. You can really look at what makes you tick, and accept you for the individual that you are. Individually unique with you own set of highs and low, fortes and failings, things you like and things you do not like or want to change. All of this makes you who you are today. When you are able to detach yourself from accusing everyone else in the world for who you are. Then you can admit to yourself (and others) that you are not perfect!! That is right, you are NOT perfect!! I am not perfect – the person who raised you is not perfect. Your boss, husband, wife, son, daughter, sister and that cashier at the grocery store all are not perfect. But those of us who can openly admit this fact, and realize we can take steps to improve our imperfections – will begin to enjoy a higher level of self-esteem and self-acceptance.
Still another powerful tool to pushing your levels of self-esteem and self-acceptance high is to sit down and review you accomplishments – big and small. Park yourself at your desk or kitchen table, with a blank pad of paper and go back as far as you can in your memory. Write down each and every accomplished you can recall. Do not set a level for the accomplishment – if you did it – write it down. Write down, “I graduated high school.” If you do not think that is an accomplishment – look at scores of kids and adults who have not attained it. Write down, “I learned how to sew.” Even the simple tasks take on a new meaning at some time. Ask the bachelor that does not know how to sew – when tears his best suit right before that important interview. Write each and every accomplishment that comes to mind. Do not stop writing until you cannot think of another thing.
Now that you have all your accomplishments, do the same thing with your unique talents, skills, and abilities. Write down all those things that you are good at, do exceptionally well or do only fairly well but love doing. Leave nothing off this list either. Write it all down. This list will usually encompass the core of your success (past, present or future) in your profession, as well as your personal life. Because if you are doing something you enjoy doing, and getting paid for it, then you will do it far better than someone who is just doing it for the paycheck.
Now review your list, adding anything new that comes to mind. Keep your list handy. Review it at least once a week for the next month. Keep your mind alive with your accomplishments and the things that you excel at, as well as the things you do well and love doing. This will do wonders for guiding your thoughts towards the future. As you think towards the future and the possibilities it holds. Realize that your potential is practically boundless. You can do what you want to do, go where you want to go. You can be who you want to be – to steal the words of Zig Ziglar once again. You can set those goals, both miniature and monstrous, to reach your dreams. You can device the plans around those goals. The plans that tap your skills, abilities and past accomplishments. The plans to move you methodically towards the realization of your dreams and the person you wish to become. The plans to over come the largest obstacle you will ever face – yourself.
Your Successs At Last Checklist
___ Sit down with trusted confidant and share with them, honestly, on and topic that has been on your mind. Perhaps even start out with something small and work you way into those larger concerns.
___ At you share with your confidant, develop your new perspective. Even detach yourself and look at the matter as if it were happening to someone else. What guidance would you give?
___ Build your list of accomplishment, unique talents, skills, and abilities
___ Keep your list handy and review it at least once a week for the next month. Feel the pride of those accomplishments. Jog your memory to the fact that you have in fact done well, can and will do so again and again and again.
“You will be amazed at the things you will accomplish the moment you BELIEVE you can accomplish them. For once you believe in yourself you have the first secret of success.”
Think Successfull & Take Action!
Tracy Brinkmann
One o Today’s TOP Motivated Coaches & Author of Success Atlas Programs
What Is Draining Your Resource Pool?
Posted by: | CommentsImagine that your body is a car. Your fuel is obviously the food you put inside it, much like the gasoline you pump into the tank of any Ford, Chevy or Dodge etc. This fuel is converted into energy to propel you along your life’s course, physically and mentally. The car uses the spinning motion of the engine to generate electricity for the lights, radio, power windows, power brakes, sensors, air conditioning, safety equipment and so on. When you use more and more of these pieces of equipment on your car, your fuel is depleted faster and faster. Most of us have experienced the fuel drain when driving a long distance running the air conditioning on full blast versus how much fuel is used when the air conditioning on is not on. Or the drain on the engine when climbing a steep hill with air conditioning on versus much easier the car seems to negotiate that same hill without the air conditioning on.
These same principles work on you in your daily life. As you go though your daily activities your level of energy needs rise along with your fuel consumption. If your working hard on a stressful job you use up energy quickly and your fuel level decreases. Pausing for a good meal, pumping fuel back into your ‘tank’ raises your level back up. But one thing we need to know is that it is not always what we do that has a drain on your pool of fuel.
Every action you take of course has a drain in your pool of resources. But one thing many folks do not consider is actions you do not take can have a serious drain on your fuel tank, mentally, and emotionally. Taking away energy that could be put to far more productive use. Think about if for a moment, you get up early, take an invigorating shower, and you are off to work. You listen to good music or positive motivational material on the way to work. You are feeling great as you pull up to the office. Getting to the door you open it and there it is, the disorganized room that you have been meaning to clean up for some time. This instantly has a depleting effect on your energy reserves, bringing them down. To build on this, on your way to lunch later you remember that you need to get your oil changed, more than seven hundred miles ago. More energy gets drained away.
These are only a couple simple examples. What if you have parents that live more than a thousand miles away and you realize that they are not going to be around much longer? Or, you are working on that big project and keep putting off that one task that really is not the most appealing to you, yet is critical to the completion of the project. These are just a couple more things that will drain your energy away and yet you are not ‘doing’ anything. So you can see it is not only what you do that depletes your energy, there is also what you do not do. They distract you, make you feel guilty, and siphon away at your fuel reserves. All this energy would be far better used on accomplishing your goals.
If you flip open the hood of your car you will see power cords and fuel lines connecting the engine to all the individual components of your car. This same principle works in your life, all those inactivitys have a ‘power cord’ to them draining your battery of its precious resources. Watt by watt, gallon by gallon all these power cords and fuel lines to things like unreturned phone calls, needed oil changes, disorganized desks and homes, unappealing yet necessary tasks undone, late bills etc., all of these will slowly (or often quickly) deplete your fuel tank. What you need to do is sit down and identify and eliminate all this drainage from your life. Below I am including a few things that are common drains on your energy resources:
- Spending too many hours in front of the Television
- Car needs an oil change or other service/repair
- Disorganized desk, office, home, garage
- Clothing that is tattered or in need of update
- Home décor that does not nurture your values/preferences
- Negative people
- Not being in a supportive relationship
- Being in a relationship that needs to end
- Working with people that result in you compromising your values
- Lack of proper or needed office equipment
- Overwhelmed with the mass of information that is bombarding you
- Avoiding conflict or confrontation
- Consistently stressful work leaving you exhausted/unsatisfied
- Not enjoying your job
- No personal interests that stimulate your mind
- Having a health issue that you are not getting help with from a qualified professional
- Not getting regular physical/dental check-ups
- Partaking in food that is not good for you too often
- Too much month at the end of the money
- Paying bills late
- Paying taxes late
- No plan for your financial future
- Insufficient insurance coverage (life, home, auto etc)
These are but a few examples to get you started on your own list. Once you sit down and compile your personal list of items stealing from your energy pool, count how many there are. Now do you see where a lot of your energy is going? While you may not be taking action on these, you will still be expending energy on them by way of them stealing it from you. Suppose the list above was your list and each one of them represented two watts of power. Now if you only have one hundred watts to work with each day, these twenty-three items would be stealing forty-six watts from your daily one hundred. Forty six percent of your energy is depleted as a result of your inactivity, leaving you with only fifty-four of your original one hundred watts. This will obviously have a serious impact on what you can get accomplished in your activities towards your goals, dreams and desires.
But now that you realize these are stealing away from your ability to reach your goals. You can reapply some of that stolen energy to get them accomplished and cleared off of your to-do list. The simply action of beginning to work on these items, that are distracting and draining you, will give you a tremendous relief. As you take care of these one by one you will begin to additionally feel a sense of accomplishment and a boost in your energy. This boost will be a motivating force for you to take on and clear off the next item. The action on the next item will again fuel your relief, sense of accomplishment and give you yet another resulting energy boost. Through the action on each item the cycle will begin again, until you have pulled the plug on all your energy draining items.
Imagine what you will be able to do when you go from fifty-four watts up to ninety or even your full one hundred. You will feel better, you will work more effectively and efficiently and you will get more done towards your goals. Mostly I personally believe the biggest win is that you will enjoy your life ever so much more.
Think Successfully & Take Action!
Tracy Brinkmann
One of Today’s TOP Motivated Coaches & Author of Sucess Atlas Programs
Motivation is the Spark
Posted by: | Comments“Motivation is the spark that lights the fire of knowledge and fuels the engine of accomplishment. It maximizes and maintains momentum” – Zig Ziglar
Well I can think of no better way to fire up this post than with that very quote. It speaks so well to the truism of motivation being the enabler of our success. As you go through that article, and any other article the causes you a moments pause about your direction, ask yourself this question: Do you merely drift along the current of life like a leaf on a stream? Pushed along the ebb and flow without choice or reason. Or do you take change of your direction? Know this, the answer to this question has a major impact on your life, (both personal and professional) because life is filled with ups and downs. The trip along life’s road is loaded with pit-fills, quick stops, blind turns and incomplete paths. Then, on occasion after our trails, we are blessed with a period where there are smooth paved avenues, lined with beautiful trees and no obstacles. However, this to shall pass and the next barrier, obstacle and challenge will offer itself up.
Motivation is a critical ingredient to our resilience and ability to get back up when we have been knocked down (or out). When you are down the right attitude and motivation can and will be the difference between responding positively or reacting negatively. This difference has many impacts personal, professional and financial.
Let me give you simple example. Some years ago I moved to the suburbs of the great city of Atlanta. This growing metropolis has the same challenges around traffic that I’m sure most of you face if you have to journey into a major metropolitan area during peak traffic periods. Even though I am about the most upbeat and positive guy that you will meet (short of Zig of course). I have to admit that occasionally I have uttered discouraging comments about the traffic. Whacked the steering wheel of my car and barked out orders to the driver in front of me. All of which was a pure waste of time. Because after all of my banter, the traffic was still there, and so was I. However, now my emotions were running on the negative side so any little thing just irritated them all the more.
Now my typical commute can be about an hour each way. That’s two hours a day, five days a week, bringing us to about 500 hours a year with vacations etc. If I were to make this barking, whacking banter a daily routine, I would certainly be flirting with potential accidents as I challenged drivers around me in my irritated state. Let’s not forget the physical effects that these negative emotions bring about (headaches, high blood pressure etc.)
No for me the obvious thing to do is take advantage of this time to in a more positive manner. I have a full library of audio education and motivation on MP3and CD. As soon as I get in the car to start my commute I drop in my CD or put on my iPod and I’m off down the road to work, and up the road to success. I have reviewed the works of Zig Ziglar, Anthony Robbins, Brain Tracy, Napoleon Hill, and Dale Carnegie. I have taken 1 00s of hours in personal/professional development courses in subjects like e-commerce, goal setting, creativity, growing IQ the list goes on and on. This automobile university has served me well in numerous ways. Paying off in the motivation that has sparked ideas I have turned into actions in the real world.
FACT – the audios I listened to during these drive times never once said, “Tracy here is the solution to your problem.” Some of my audios gave me information others gave me some positive thoughts to ponder. A person, who wants to maximize their life, will schedule regular motivational input and regular educational input. This input will be about their job, about who they are or who they want to be, or even about something entirely new and unrelated to anything they do currently. These injections of new concepts, ideas, confidence-building thoughts, and opinions will energize you, building your momentum and your motivation, thus bringing you up emotionally! You learn more when you are up; you perform better when you are up and people will react to you more positively when you are up. So right now is the time to take out some motivational insurance. Take out your scheduler and schedule yourself regular intervals of motivational and educational input. Do this now – it will pay off in big rewards!
Lets take a look at the dictionary for the definition of motivation (motivate, motive)
Mo-ti-vate:
to provide with, or affect as, a motive; incite.
Mo-tive:
1 – an inner drive, impulse, etc. that causes one to act; incentive.
2 – of or causing motion
Combining your regular infusion of motivational material with your educational materials will provide the drive and impulse (motivational material) to set into motion the new concepts, ideas, confidence-building thoughts, and opinions (educational material) that will energize you. This will further build momentum and motivation, bringing you up higher! Are you seeing the pattern here?
You can not stand in front of the stove of life and say “Stove give me some heat and I’ll put some wood in you!” You will have to put some work into it first by stoking the fire that will warm your motivational soul.
Let me share with you 10 things you can do when you can’t seem to get motivated.
- Get some rest. One of the major de-motivators in today’s society is lack of rest. Go to bed an hour early so you catch up on your rest. Or you could take a nap instead. A good night’s sleep is essential to your level of effectiveness and motivation.
- Get some exercise. Take a walk, a jog, workout or whatever level of physical exercise you can partake in. Exercise gets your endorphins flowing and this will do wonders for how you feel. Not to mention you’ll be doing your body some good to. (be sure not to hurt yourself) – every day should start with your Hour of Power (more on that in another post).
- Tap the sap. Figure out what is sapping your energy and get rid of it.
- Pamper yourself. Take some time for you. This could be a mini-vacation (a few hours to a day or two) Get away from everything and enjoy yourself. Clear your head and come back refreshed.
- Review your goals. Review and remember why you are doing what you’re doing. If you decide now is not the time for a goal, them dump the goal. Remember you can always renew that goal again when the time is right.
- Play with it. Get out a calendar and leave yourself some cute notes or pictures (sticker work great here) about your goals and activities. Send yourself letters in the mail to keep you up and charged. Here is a way you can use those free things on the net. Places like Yahoo.com have free calendars that will send you notes and reminders. Make them fun!
- Use trusted advisers as a cheering section. You can have them send you notes (see #6 above). You want them to motivate you but don’t let them white wash the facts. Constructive criticism is key tool here. That way you are motivated to grow or keep growing.
- Find your song. We all have a song or songs that move us. Make yourself a Mp3 or CD full of these motivational songs. High-energy songs are best whether they are Bach or Backstreet Boys as long as they move YOU
- Listen to your motivational audios/CDs. Your car does not have to be the only place you go to get motivated.
- Hire some help. I hired a maid for my wife. I have a martial arts trainer and a personal success coach too. These coaches and trainers can help you accomplish those things you can’t handle alone.
Motivation enables you to effectively use not only recently acquired knowledge, but also it will ignite, incite and enable you put in motion, things that you thought were long ago forgotten. Science has shown us that inspirational information conveyed in an enthusiastic manner activates the pituitary gland, which releases neurotransmitters that enhances our energy, creativity, and endurance. Keep your motivation up with your regularly scheduled motivational injections (articles like this one are a good start). Keep your pool of knowledge growing so you have more wood to stoke that fire with.
“Your motivation will positively fuel your attitude. Your positive attitude builds the confidence necessary to be persistent. And of course we already know persistence pays off.” – Tracy Brinkmann
Think Successfully & Take Action!
Tracy Brinkman
One of Today’s Top Motivatated Coaches
Developing Passion
Posted by: | CommentsPassion for anything you want to have, be or do occurs at the very moment you get a peek at the potential for the goal. Whether your goal is self-improvement, a project, a mission or any other worthy objective.
My mission with these blog is to give you a peek at your own potential. A fleeting look at what you are able to have, to do and to become. Once I have accomplished that goal, there will be born within you a spark of passion. When you fan that spark it will grow into a burning desire that no one can stop. Those with a burning desire have persistence and they reach their goals, every time.
How do you develop passion? Well I was recently asked that question so I sat and thought about it for a while and came up the following:
1. Know what you truly want and develop a plan to get it.
During the course of my life a number of pivotal events have developed passion deep with me. The birth of my first daughter, the death of my second daughter, the birth of my third daughter, hearing the applause of an appreciative audience for the first time, the list goes on and on. While each of these events sparked a life changing passion, most of the time my passion comes from a careful review of my dreams, desires and goals. What do I want out of life? Where do I want to be in 1, 2 or 5 years? A careful review of your goals (long and short-term), and the development of a detailed plan (a Success Atlas)to attain them will do wonders do develop the passion you need.
You check out these previous posts for more Goal Setting tips:
10 Ways to Stay Focused on Your Goals
5 Tips to Map Out Clear Goals
Value of Goals – Goals of Value
3 Tips for Goal Setting
Ways to Climb Your Mountain
2. Daily action toward your goals.
Once you have completed step one, (remember in 100% of the cases I have found that anyone that will not take step one… will never get to step two) and developed the plans to reach your goals. Take DAILY steps towards their attainment. As you take these daily steps, your goal will become increasingly closer, increasingly more real, more vivid and more enticing. This will fuel your excitement, enthusiasm and your commitment to follow through on your goals until they are attained. A bonus gift here is, with each step you complete, each little success you achieve, your self-confidence and self-esteem will increase. It is a like a river feeding itself. Complete a step, feel better, gain confidence and passion, become more committed to your goal then take the next step towards the goal. Then you complete another step, feel better, gain confidence and passion, become more committed to your goal then take the next step towards it. Are you seeing the pattern here?
3. Direct your passion.
The next time you are passing a construction site take a moment to notice the immense power of the vehicles at work there, dump trucks, tractors, and cranes to name a few. Each weighing tons and able to move far more than their weight across a road, up hundreds of feet into the air or down the freeway at considerable speeds. The next time you see one of these powerful vehicles roaring down the highway, take a quick look at the driver behind the wheel. All 180-220 pounds of him (or her) are controlling all that power. What would happen if you were to remove that driver from the steering wheel? The power would be rendered useless or worse yet would roll on without regard to its surroundings wreaking havoc until it came to a crashing halt.
We need to be at the helm of our passion, making effective use of the power our passion holds, much like the driver of those massive vehicles. Effectively steering your passion synergizes all of your great qualities into a finely tuned ‘machine’. Each of these qualities working in harmony with the other. Creating an overall ‘power’ within you that is greater than each of your qualities individually. So bring your passion to focus on your goal.
History is filled with stories of average everyday men and women who have accomplished great things with little more than a passion in their hearts and a goal in their head. Apply your passion to goal, job, profession, family or to yourself and you will see the difference between just getting by and real success.
Then once you have that passion here are some post to help you keep it through all the trials and tribulations that world will throw at you:
Three More Ways to Stay Positive
Four Ways to Stay Highly Motivated
Think Successfully & Take Action.
Tracy Brinkmann
One of Today’s Top Motivated Coaches & Author of Success Atlas Programs
FREE Video reveals how I went from the
Streets of LA to running my own company!
View the Free Video and Learn More!
What is Personal Development?
Posted by: | CommentsThere are many people in our society today that are very unhappy with their lives for one reason or another. Whatever reason they have for being unhappy, there is undoubtedly a way to change it. Sometimes it requires a change in career, or situation. Other times it is simply a change in the way that people think. Sometimes, it is both. This is what personal development is all about.
Personal development is a path that you take to better your family situation, career, spirituality, emotional health, and every other aspect of your life. Essentially, personal development is about making conscious decisions about everything that you do, the way that you think, and the way that you react to situations. Personal development can help you obtain everything that you always dreamed of, and more, with the simple application of a few simple mind sets and tools.
One of the biggest steps toward personal development is a change of mind set. If you think that you can do better, you will. If you think that you are stuck in a dead end job, without family or friends to support you, and no prospects of a better future, you will ultimately be very unhappy. When you change your mind set to positive thinking, you will find that you put forth more effort into everything that you do, and you will have much better results.
Another one of the important steps toward personal development is to set obtainable goals. This is not to say that your dream is not obtainable. But if you constantly think about the goal of being a millionaire with a successful family, you will feel pretty hopeless as that goal seems so far out of reach. Setting obtainable goals simply means that you set goals that lead to the ultimate goal.
It is really about taking steps. When you decide that you need food in your refrigerator, it does not automatically appear. You must make a grocery list, go to the grocery store, shop for items, purchase them, bring them home, and put them in the fridge. Obtaining a large goal is much the same way. You will not get there overnight. It takes going through a series of steps, or smaller goals, to find your way.
Smaller goals also help you to see the bigger picture. Instead of thinking that you are never going to reach your final goal, you will see the progress that you are making as you complete each smaller, more obtainable goal. This will give you a sense of accomplishment, as well as help you to change your thinking to a more positive mind set.
For some, personal development is also a matter of moving beyond past failures and misfortune to see what is possible in the future. Often the negative comments made by friends and family over a life time can be difficult to overcome. Past failures, or just the feeling that one is a failure, are another major obstacle. There are ways to move beyond these obstacles.
- Personal development is really about making changes.
Finding WORTHWHILE resources to make changes, move past obstacles, set goals, and find happiness is not always easy – trust me I spent many a year on the hunt. But with all of the personal development books, articles, websites, and other resources available, personal development and happiness can be obtained. For those who need additional help or want to speed up their success moving past obstacles and making those changes, I would also suggest that personal development coach can also be of great worth. I do not say that to pitch you on coming to me – but rather as a choice in your success arsenal. Now if you choice to come to be for one of my coaching products or services – all the better. If not, find someone something that fits your style, and situation and get to Your Success At Last!
Think Successfully & Take Action!
Tracy Brinkmann
Once of Today’s Top Motivated Coaches & Author of Success Atlas Programs
http://YourSuccessAtLast.com
http://YourSuccessAtLast.com
FREE Video reveals how I went from the
Streets of LA to running my own company!
View the Free Video and Learn More!