Entrepreneur Traits Series — Motivation

Motivation is the psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal, that which gives purpose and direction to behavior when you want to be successful and it has to be internal motivation.

Even if it was possible to find someone else who could be in charge of your motivation, that would not be very useful since you are dependent externally for doing something.

It would only allow you to develop into relinquishing control of yourself; it would also not be good to build inner confidence which is needed to feel worthy.

Many of us wait for external support or motivation but the best way is to grab the bull by the horns, take charge, and start rebuilding ourselves, NOW…immediately.

Always realize that eventually everything is up to you and the onus rests squarely on you and nobody else is responsible and accountable for you, except you.

Successful people realize that everyone gets worn down from time to time and things are not fair sometimes but that’s the way it works. Being able to pull yourself back up, being able to reboot yourself, being able to energize yourself, helps you develop an important trait that nobody can help develop. It’s called your motivational spirit.

POINTERS ON DEVELOPING MOTIVATION

• As soon as you wake up, spend half an hour in quiet solitude without thinking much, just listening to the sound of silence
• Listen to music as you’re getting ready for work in the morning
• Start collecting motivational sayings or quotes that are meaningful to you. Showcase them around your home. I rely on the serenity prayer to help me get through the day, its perfect and helps bring perspective clearly.
• When you walk around, make a conscious effort to be active and move briskly with your head held high and your shoulders pushed back, remember to walk as if your back is made of hard board and cannot bend.
• Deliver a genuine compliment to someone every day. The act of complimenting has a reciprocal benefit. It makes the compliment-getter as well as the compliment-giver feel good.
• Successful people know that life is a game of reflections, whereby their beliefs and behaviors — their thoughts and their actions — eventually reflect back to them with amazing impact. Therefore, successful people know the incredible significance of the words they speak to themselves, about themselves.
• Action is what counts in life; it all starts with your thoughts. So, monitor those thoughts, as they will dictate your actions. Then watch your actions, because they turn into your habits. Of course you must examine your habits, because they work together to determine your character, and your character — without question — eventually determines your life line and fate as they call it.
• Always be in the process of learning something new. It doesn’t matter if it’s something unimportant or something fanciful, just make it a point to keep learning and doing something new.
• Smile as you wake up and start your day. You really can make a choice to be happy as you start the day. Then, as you take your first look into a mirror, smile again and enjoy it.
• Start getting into the habit of dealing with the most stressful things as early as possible each day. In other words, get it over with so you can feel a sense of accomplishment and move on and get to the easier things later so that your mind is calm and clear before you end the day.
• Work really hard at staying away from negative conversations like gossiping, bad-mouthing or complaining. I do know it’s hard to do and for some of us, it’s the way we stay connected and become popular but believe me when I say this, by avoiding negativity , you will become much more focused and chilled out.
• Glisten with enthusiasm. Make sure you show genuine interest in anything that you do, look at it as a learning opportunity.
• Birds of same feather flock together. Successful people always connect with someone who is supportive, positive, and successful and typically stay away from negative people.
• Examine the negative forces in your life and do everything in your power to eliminate them. For example, make a conscientious effort to avoid dwelling on and perpetuating bad news, hanging around with chronically negative people, associating with consistently angry co-workers.
• Change your “if” language to “when” language. It’s not, if I get through this, then my life will be great. It’s when I get through this, my life will be great.
• Check your goals and understand that if one goal area of your life is lagging or faltering, you can concentrate, for now, on getting closer to achieving success in another goal area. Remember if all your about is your work, you can’t be good at your work. So, recheck your goals in becoming a holistic person. Look at money, spirituality, mental faculty development, physical fitness, social circle and having fun.
• Cultivate a hobby or start reading or writing or doing something which will get you off the work aspect which so dominates all our lives.
• Successful people work on SMART goals and objectives; they look for simple, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely goals and objectives and work on them with focus.
• It’s an extreme waste of time to wait for your ship to come in if you have neglected to send one out to begin with. Sending out your ship begins with setting those personal and professional goals.