I recently came across a quote by former US President Theodore Roosevelt which reminds me a lot about my role as a Leadership Coach:
“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure … than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”
For me this quote is about how much better it is to live a life in which you chase your dreams , even if you fail rather than never ever making any attempt.
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In my coaching role I meet both kinds of people.
I feel very honoured that I have spent time with people who have achieved great things in their chosen profession.
I’ve worked with people who have been promoted into senior leadership roles, entrepreneurs who have setup successful businesses and people who have been recognised as being among the best in the world.
But I have also met the opposite side, the people who have decided not to pursue their dream.
For every person who has achieved greatness there are many more who are currently living a life that is far from their potential. This is sad because life is incredibly precious and opportunities for greatness exist for everyone but only a few take advantage of the opportunities that life presents.
In my experience the difference between people who succeed and the people who don’t is self motivation.
It is easier to motivate others than to motivate oneself.
This crucial quality that drives people to take action and to fight through any obstacles in their way is what results in successful individuals.
Motivation is rare but it doesn’t have to be. In this article I will share with you some of the secrets of highly successful people and how they motivate themselves.
Feed the fire
We all possess a certain amount of motivation.
It’s a quality that is natural to everyone of us but in some it’s a spark and in others it’s a raging fire and like fire motivation can grow and spread, you just need to know how to feed the fire.
No matter how motivated you may be at this present moment you can become more driven, more focussed and more disciplined and when you do you can live a life that is worthy of you and here’s how to do it.
Get specific, very specific
When I coach people I ask them what they want to achieve and the common answers are things like “I want a promotion” or “I want to make more money” “I want to make a difference “and so on and with each answer.
I always ask them to tell me more about the goal and without question the people who are able to be specific about what they want are far more likely to achieve it.
If you want a promotion what job do you want, what would you do on your first day?
If you want more money then how much and what would be different in your life.
It’s rare that people are able to answer these questions because their dream is just that a dream yet in order for that dream to become a reality you need to get specific.
If you don’t know precisely what you want then it’s unlikely you will achieve it.
Successful people motivate themselves by having a vision that is so specific that it feels real and what feels real is achievable.
If you have a goal that you want to achieve then take time to write down your goal and then supply as much detail as possible.
It needs to be so accurate that your mind believes it is real.
Create real consequences
If given a choice between two paths, one easy and one difficult, it’s a natural instinct to go down the easiest path regardless of where that path will take you.
The unfortunate reality is that the easiest path never leads us to greatness, it will take us part of the way there but greatness always requires people to spend time on the difficult path. On this difficult path you will face failure and self doubt but this is a natural part of your journey.
This is why most people fail to reach their goals.
They only go as far as the easiest path takes them, yet successful people are prepared to go down the difficult path which takes them closer to their goal.
On your journey you will require that additional motivation to get you through the difficult path, the highly successful people I know find this extra drive by ensuring there are real consequences if they fail.
Ask yourself what happens if you fail, if the answer is nothing then at some stage you will struggle with motivation.
A hungry man will always be more motivated to act than the man who is well fed.
A popular tactic that I have seen is to create consequences by making a public commitment, tell people what you are going to achieve, not what you are aiming to do but instead what you will do.
A goal kept to yourself is a goal that will never be realised.
Focus on the small steps
You would be familiar with the saying about how every long journey starts with a single step, this is the mindset that highly successful people possess.
If you want to become highly motivated don’t focus on the destination instead focus on the journey and in particular the small steps you need to take.
When I work with authors, they very rarely have a target of writing a book instead their target is to write a page or two pages a day.
When you think about writing a book it seems like a big challenge and can easily seem daunting yet when you focus on writing just a page or two then it seems easily achievable.
Ask yourself what is the next small step you need to take in order to reach your goal, focussing in your goal will make you happy but focussing on the small steps will make you successful.
Build momentum
One of the most important aspects of motivation is momentum.
Success can easily become a habit yet so can failure.
In order to develop successful habits you need to do something every day in order to take you closer to your goal and I mean every day even if the next step is a small step you have to keep on moving, you need to build momentum. Just look at sports.
Have you seen a team that puts together a few wins and then they look unbeatable and then there are teams that go on a losing streak which they find difficult to break. The key is momentum.
It doesn’t matter how fast you go as long you are moving. If you have tasks to do tomorrow stop and ask yourself what is stopping you from doing them today, the more proactive you are, the more you will achieve. The more you achieve the more successful you will become and success comes confidence and with confidence you are able to achieve even more. This is momentum.
If you have a goal then in the words of Theodore Roosevelt don’t live in that grey twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.
Instead follow the path of highly motivated people and make your dream a reality and the first step is to take action now, not later, not tomorrow but this very moment.
Take action now and you will find that you won’t have to seek out motivation because motivation will come to you.
Feedback: maraia.vula@fijisun.com.fj
