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Motivation

The Beginners 13 Step Guide To Motivation

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Quite simply, one of the best ways to be successful is to ensure you are motivated. Forget the cheesy internet sales guys telling you about how they got rich in 30 days. What you really need is the real definition of motivation, which is your motive for action.

Clearly there is some action you want to take and the only way you will make that action a must is if you have a motive to do so. A goal is really just an action you want to take so that you can get to some type of feeling.

No important goal is going to be achieved in a small amount of time so what you require is a motive for action, to regularly work on that goal in the form of a habit. Habits will never last though unless you set them with a successful strategy that is reinforced by your motives / reasons.

The mistake that we all make is that we think motivation will last forever, but it doesn’t. One inspiring article like this will not keep you motivated long term. The only way to achieve long-term results and outcomes towards your goal is to really go deep on why you are doing what you’re doing.

Below are my thirteen beginner steps to stay motivated.

 

1. Pick your biggest goal that has the most fear

The challenge of motivation is that if the goal you are heading towards isn’t big enough or ugly enough, or important enough, there is a good chance you will quit. What keeps me motivated is the thrill of picking stupid, crazy, big goals that I have attached the most amount of fear to and then crushing them.

Let me give you a quick example. I recently took up public speaking through Toastmasters. I tried to do this last year but gave up after three shots because it was way too uncomfortable. My work career has been heavily focused on sales, and I can speak in front of people no problem.

Where the challenge comes for me is when it’s more formal, and there are lots more people; like fifty plus heads in the room. Back to Toastmasters, I didn’t originally cement in my mind clearly enough why I was doing it.

When I rejoined Toastmasters a second time, I linked up in my mind that if I am going to keep doing the entrepreneur / self-development blogging gig, at some point (if I want the message to get bigger) I am going to be asked to speak about the subject publically.

Now if I look at why I do what I do every day – to inspire the world through self-development and entrepreneurship – then my motivate for action becomes much more powerful. Now the fear I experience has true meaning, and so, therefore, I am motivated and much less likely to quit.

 

2. Immerse yourself in the goal to stay motivated

Now there is a further step that kept me moving towards my public speaking goal; it’s quite simply the art of immersion. To make my Toastmasters experience even greater, I decided that instead of attending fortnightly like everyone else, I was going to attend every week to gain full immersion.

By attending every week, it meant that I had to go to an earlier session starting at 7:15 am. This time slot takes real guts, but the benefit it has is that it’s testing my motivation to see if I am legitimate about my goal. The other benefit is that there are fewer people at the earlier session so on one week I have only a small audience, and then on the other week, I have a massive audience.

This change in audience numbers allows me to try riskier thinks with fewer people, and not so risky things with a larger audience to slowly build my confidence.

 

3. Use confidence to keep you motivated

In the previous point, I touched on confidence. The important part about confidence is that most people try and motivate themselves towards a goal too quickly. If you jump straight into the deep end on the first try, you will scare yourself away from your goal.

What I learnt with public speaking was to start small and build some confidence. When I get constructive feedback on each speech, it allows me to feel like I am improving. The better I feel about myself, the more motivated I feel to keep pushing through the fear.

The best example in my life of confidence is my previous fear of flying. The reason I say previous fear is that I have pretty much got rid of all the fear. The way I did this was by taking lots of small flights.

On the every first flight I used self-development tapes to keep my confidence levels high, and then I gradually needed the tapes less and less. Once I was able to fly solo in a calm state, I used the confidence I had built previously as the reason I was going to succeed.

 

4. Without growth, there is no motivation

If there is no growth towards your goal, then there is a good chance that the motivation will die off. The secret to sustained motivation is to constantly strive for some level of growth. As humans, we are obsessed with growing, and if something doesn’t grow then, it dies.

The concept of growth can be best demonstrated by video games. These days, the word gamification has become a popular topic. Gamification is really about thinking about a task as if it were a video game.

bAlmost every video game in history has some form of levels. As you move through the levels, you experience more and more growth.

The makers of video games know that if you can make someone experience growth, then you can get them addicted to spending their time and money playing the video games. Now for me, after doing Tony Robbins “Unleash The Power Within,” I learnt that growth is my highest valued human need.

Surprisingly, this is the case for a lot of us. So next time you lack motivation, ask yourself the question, “is there enough growth in the current way I am executing on this goal?”

 

5. Become obsessed with motivated people

Staying motivated involves having other people around you that are also highly motivated. Even though your goals and their goals may be totally different, sharing stories with each other of how you are getting to your individual goals will keep you motivated.

If you have a week when you are a bit off, and you ask another motivated person who has had a great week about how they feel, you should be able to use their story of success to power your own.

 

6. Just get started

Before I mentioned my fear of flying. One of the other keys to this fear and motivating myself to keep going was just to get started. The way I did this was to put my money on the line and just book a flight. It’s amazing how once you have spent the money and can’t get it back you just follow through.

Just recently, I booked my longest flight yet to Asia. There was a small amount of fear but rather than dwell on it, I just motivated myself by spending the money, and then moving to the next goal in my life.

By just getting started, you force the motivation process to begin, and you virtually guarantee yourself some level of success. The process of flying has now become a bit of a game for me, and I am always trying to one up myself from the previous journey. Not to mention I am getting hooked on the travel bug and getting to visit beautiful places in the world.

 

7. Make sure you keep at it

With any form of goal that requires motivation, there are going to be high’s and lows. My motivation varies all the time. Take blogging as an example; I try and write articles every single week but sometimes I fall into a rut.

Now if I just let the rut continue then I would give up blogging easily. The ruts not caused by my lack of passion for writing, it’s caused by the sometimes repetitive nature of writing. The key for me to be able not to give up is to keep myself motivated.

It’s also important to remember that nothing is permanent and all it takes is a little spark of inspiration to get going again. If you keep yourself open to those sparks of inspiration, then they are much more likely to enter your life at just the right time.

 

8. Make the most of inspiring states of mind

The other trick I use is to make the most of inspiration. This means that if I go and watch an inspiring movie or something really cool happens like I get acknowledged for some work I did and I am feeling on top of the world, I quickly get out my laptop and start writing.

Many of us don’t make the most of our empowering states. When we feel on fire, we need to use this time to follow our passion. The single most useful form of motivation is your state of mind. Now, if your state of mind isn’t great, then you can shift it by getting into a peak state.

 

9. Use public announcements as motivation

For those who have been reading my articles on Addicted2Success carefully, you will notice something that I do a lot; I often announce things I am going to do publically. The reason that I do this is because my network reads my articles, and once I say something publically I am committed.

Just like the stock market, public announcements create leverage and a rare form of motivation that doesn’t exist anywhere else. Once you say you are going to do something publically, it’s hard to back down.

The reason for this is that we don’t want to disappoint people or not deliver on a promise. When you commit something publically you are going to start to get asked how you’re tracking with that commitment.

Since mentioning public speaking, I now regularly have people asking me how I am going. Now I couldn’t be known around the place as the inspiring guy looking to change the world through Addicted2Success if I just gave up without a reason could I?

The previous sentence might sound a bit stupid but since blogging on here, people think I am some super human expert on success. The reality? I am as vulnerable and flawed as anyone else. The difference? I am happy to admit it and spend every day growing and self-motivating myself towards a higher level of success.

 

10. Track your success

I have mentioned growth a few times already, but growth alone is not enough. The reason is that unless you track your success, you won’t know if you are growing and, therefore, you won’t be motivated.

Tracking your success is best done by keeping it “simple stupid” (a saying I picked up). Just write down once a week how you feel you are tracking with your goal. It’s also important to capture the feelings you are experiencing because they form the foundations of your motivation.

Where possible, describe your progress in an uplifting way. This involves still mentioning the negative feelings you are experiencing, but just being consciously aware to put a positive, constructive spin on it. How do you truly know if you are motivated each day?

A simple test you can do is to reflect on how you wake up. If you are tired when you wake up but you still jump out of bed and get your day started then chances are you are motivated. If you take forever to wake up, and it’s a real challenge, then you’re unfortunately not motivated.

 

11. Experiment with a deadline

I am the sort of person that if there is no deadline, then I find it hard to stay motivated. One simple habit I use to overcome this is to implement forced deadlines. For example, right now I have around six articles ready to post up.

To ensure I keep writing more, I make sure that I purposely run out of unpublished articles frequently. This is achieved by posting lingering articles as quick as possible so that my mind starts saying, “you have nothing to post next week!”

I then add another simple form of motivation. This one is a little crazy. It’s the concept of death being a great form of motivation. So how I do this is I tell myself, “Tim if you were to die tomorrow then the articles that haven’t been released could be lost forever.”

So, I tell myself always to post articles that are ready in case something happens to me. The fear of never having my life’s work seen by the world keeps me motivated to write more.

The more I write, the better I get, and the more growth I experience coupled with the ability to give back and inspire others. What a phenomenal reason to live huh?

The other thing I noticed when there is no deadline is that I tend to not put things off, but do things slower than I should. I become more conscious of making the outcome perfect as opposed to just getting things done and learning from the mistakes along the way.

The best deadlines I use regularly are ones that have other people I respect tied to them. For example, if I have an interview booked with an influential person, I feel a sense of urgency to get everything done before the interview because I don’t want to let the person down, and because I care about delivering value to them to some extent.

 

12. Motivate yourself by thinking of the end feeling

If we thought about why many people want to drive Ferrari’s then, we would uncover pretty quickly that it’s not because they love driving a huge chunk of metal around that’s painted red. The reason they are motivated to work hard and buy a Ferrari is because of the feeling they think they will get from owning one.

This concept is a very influential part of motivation because you can skip the step of owning the Ferrari. What you need to do instead is motivate yourself through the feelings you will get by achieving your goal and driving that Ferrari.

The beauty is that you can experience these feelings even before you achieve the goal. So when you spend time on your goal, and you lack motivation, picture yourself having already achieved the goal and then try and create that feeling in the moment.

A quick example for me is holidays. While planning and organising a holiday can be a real drag for me, the way I overcome it is to picture myself lying on the beach at my favourite holiday destination. Then, when I am working through the actions required to make that holiday happen, I just introduced that relaxed, beach holiday feeling, into each of the tasks I need to complete.

This easy life hack may seem overly simplistic, but it really is one of the foundations of motivation that many of the greats use.

 

13. Get someone to push you

The last step to motivation for beginners is to get someone to push you. This person is usually in the form of a coach or mentor. Don’t pick your lover or a friend because there is a good chance that they will allow you to take shortcuts.

Try and get someone who is independent like a coach through Skype. Joel Brown and I do this for many clients, and we both are able to get people to take action because we are independent of the person we are coaching, and often have no prior connection or relationship.

One of the best sessions I have attended on coaching was run by a man named Scott Harris. Scott is best known for his work teaching Tony Robbins’s Business Mastery program, but he is also a brilliant coach. He teaches the importance of having someone push you and how motivation is not enough.

Motivation will only get you so far, and you need to be challenged in order to get the benefits of that magical feeling called growth. A coach or mentor will also ask you tough questions that will uncover your motive for action, and try and push you forward.

It’s easy to tell yourself to do something, but when you have someone else telling you at the same time, it’s a lot easier to fall into the sweet spot of motivation.

What motivates you? How do you stay motivated? Let me know in the comment section below or directly through my Twitter or Facebook Pages.
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Motivation

8 Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Be More Decisive

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Stop Procrastinating

Tackling Procrastination and Indecisiveness

Hi, Joel Brown here. As the person behind Addicted to Success and Mind Strong, I’m often asked about tackling procrastination and making swift, effective decisions. It’s a common struggle in today’s world, where distractions are endless.

Procrastination often creeps in when we’re bombarded with social media notifications, breaking news, and the hustle of daily life. This leads to a fear-driven indecision, where we’re paralyzed by the thought of failure or judgment.

 

Here’s a video breakdown of how to stop procrastinating and be more decisive if you are more of a visual person:

 

Embracing Speed and Momentum to Stop Procrastination

One of the most impactful lessons in my journey is understanding the role of speed in overcoming procrastination. A mentor of mine, a highly successful individual, always emphasized:

“Success loves speed, and money loves momentum.”

This principle is crucial in combating procrastination. It’s about seizing opportunities quickly, not just for financial gain, but for the invaluable experiences and connections they bring.

 

Understanding Analysis Paralysis: A Key to Overcoming Procrastination

A major hurdle in decision-making is what’s commonly known as analysis paralysis, a significant form of procrastination. It happens when our decision-making process, governed by the prefrontal cortex, gets overwhelmed. To break free from this form of procrastination, try calming techniques like deep breathing. It’s surprising how such simple steps can clear a cluttered mind and help you move past procrastination.

 

The Long-Term Effects of Procrastination and Indecision

Procrastination isn’t just about putting off decisions; it can lead to a reduced sense of life satisfaction over time.

In a conversation I had with Tony Robbins, we discussed how the quality of our lives hinges on the quality of our decisions.

Therefore, overcoming procrastination and indecision is vital for a fulfilling life.

 

My Top Strategies for Beating Procrastination

  1. Seek Guidance from the Experienced: To combat procrastination, connect with people who’ve achieved the goals you’re aiming for. Their experience can be a guiding light when you’re stuck in indecision.
  2. Use Deadlines as Anti-Procrastination Tools: Setting deadlines is a powerful way to break the cycle of procrastination. They create a sense of urgency that pushes you into action.
  3. Accept Imperfection to Move Past Procrastination: Understand that no one is perfect, and that includes you. Accepting this can alleviate the pressure that often leads to procrastination.

 

Identify Your Procrastination Type to Find Solutions

Procrastination manifests in various forms. I’ve developed a quiz (find it at mindstrongacademy.com/quiz) to help you identify your specific type of procrastination. Understanding your personal procrastination style is a crucial step in addressing it effectively.

 

Additional Tips on Making Quality Decisions and Beating Procrastination

When it comes to decision-making, it’s important to not get too bogged down in analyzing pros and cons. While analysis is important, excessive scrutiny can lead to procrastination. Trusting your intuition often plays a crucial role in breaking free from procrastination.

 

Handling Major Life Choices Without Procrastination

For significant decisions in life, whether in your career or personal relationships, procrastination can be particularly challenging.

To address this, break down these big decisions into smaller steps. Assess the potential outcomes realistically to understand that often, the fear of a negative outcome is more intimidating than the actual consequences.

 

Conclusion: Your Journey Away from Procrastination Begins Now

To wrap up, remember that overcoming procrastination and indecision is about understanding your own patterns, seeking wise counsel, setting deadlines, and embracing your imperfections. It’s time to start making those impactful decisions and enjoying the journey of life.

Whether it’s through the Mind Strong Academy or my procrastination quiz, I’m here to guide you on your path to decisive action.

I believe in your ability to conquer procrastination and live a life of purposeful decisions.

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Change Your Mindset

Unlocking Success: Subconscious Reprogramming, Mindset, and Transformative Strategies for Improved Wellbeing and Business Performance

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brittany victoria

What if I told you that the negative thoughts or self-limiting beliefs that you may have, are not actually yours?

In this article, I will discuss subconscious programming and how it can be reprogrammed in a way that allows you to reach your greatest potential. I will also provide tips on how you can integrate this information as a leader within the workplace.

The subconscious mind is shaped before we begin forming our own conscious thoughts, and these conscious thoughts are influenced by the subconscious mind. This means that even the thoughts that you’re consciously having, are merely an extension of that pre-existing conditioning. 

When something becomes deeply ingrained within your mind through repetition, and there are other supporting thoughts that reinforce it, you will identify this information as your truth. These repeated thoughts become beliefs, and your actions will align to support and validate these beliefs.

The Importance of Observing Your Thoughts

If you continuously tell yourself that you aren’t capable or good enough, how likely are you to put in the effort to challenge this narrative? If you’ve always been a procrastinator and tell yourself that you always will be, you’re going to continue procrastinating. If you run into an obstacle and don’t believe you can overcome it, you’re not going to look for solutions or try your best to resolve it.

It’s extremely important for you to become an observer of your thoughts and understand the impacts of how those thoughts can impact your life, relationships, and overall outlook on life.

Here are some questions to help guide you:

– What are your recurring negative thoughts, and how are they impacting your performance and relationships? 


– How have these thoughts held you back from achieving your goals and living the life that you’ve always dreamed of? 


– What have these thoughts already cost you and what else will they cost you if they don’t change?

Societal conditioning, influenced by a lower level of collective consciousness, has made the experience of debilitating thoughts highly prevalent. It’s not your fault that you have them, but it is your responsibility to change them and choose better ones.

The Subconscious Must Be Reprogrammed 

Reprogramming the subconscious involves positive affirmations, visualization, and consistent repetition to replace negative beliefs with positive ones. You have to become aware of the thoughts that make you feel bad and do not serve your best interest.

What are the growth-oriented thoughts that would you rather have instead? Any time that a debilitating thought crosses your mind, always correct it with new thought that uplifts, encourages and empowers you. Be consistent, be patient and understand that your logical mind will not make this process easy for you at first.

Being Delusional vs. Consciously Creating a Better Reality for Yourself 

By definition, the term delusional means “holding false beliefs or judgments about external reality that are held despite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary”. When you have held onto debilitating beliefs for so long and your previous actions have served as evidence to confirm their truth, it is inevitable that your logical mind will deem your new thoughts as delusional. This is where embracing change tends to become most challenging, as it involves confronting this resistance with unwavering commitment. 

 

What you have to understand is that your former beliefs and former actions do not dictate your future, unless they remain the same. As the old beliefs become obsolete and new beliefs take their place, there will also be new aligned actions that produce different results, and this will serve as evidence to support your new truth. That being said, the most delusional thing that anyone can do is elect to keep an unfavorable mindset that was programmed for them by external factors and willingly relinquish their own personal power as a result of it.

Success is Fundamentally Rooted in the Mindset

How we show up for ourselves and others, communicate with employees, and perform in business are deeply connected to our mindset and everything that has shaped it. Let’s delve into these interconnected aspects and explore five transformative tips that will catalyze positive change in the workplace. 

 

A growth-oriented mindset encourages resilience, adaptability, and a willingness to embrace challenges. On the other hand, a fixed mindset hinders progress and limits potential.

Tip 1: Embrace a Growth Mindset

  • Establish the belief that abilities can be developed.
  • View challenges as opportunities for learning and improvement.
  • Cultivate a positive attitude toward continuous growth and development.

Unpacking Trauma and Navigating the Impact

Unresolved trauma can cast a long shadow over our personal and professional lives. It shapes our reactions, influences decision-making, and impacts our interactions with others. Acknowledging and addressing trauma is essential for creating a healthier, more productive work environment.

 

Tip 2: Prioritize Trauma-Informed Leadership

  • Cultivate empathy and understanding for individual experiences.
  • Provide a safe space for open communication about trauma.
  • Implement support systems and resources for employees dealing with trauma.

 

Elevate Relationships and Sales Performance

To enhance relationships, communication, and sales performance, a holistic approach that intertwines mindset and trauma-informed practices is key.

 

Tip 3: Implement Empathy-Driven Communication

  • Train teams in active listening and empathetic communication.
  • Create an environment where open dialogue is encouraged.
  • Recognize and validate diverse perspectives, creating a culture of inclusivity.

Tip 4: Invest in Professional Development

  • Offer continuous learning opportunities for employees.
  • Develop leadership skills to enhance communication and relationship-building.
  • Prioritize sales training programs that align with evolving market dynamics.

Tip 5: Maintain a Positive Work Culture

  • Create a workplace where employees feel valued and appreciated.
  • Implement recognition programs to celebrate achievements.
  • Encourage a balance between professional and personal well-being.

By embracing a growth mindset, acknowledging and addressing trauma, and implementing empathetic, integrated strategies, individuals and organizations can create a transformative ripple effect. In this interconnected web of personal and professional growth, how we show up truly matters, influencing the outcomes we achieve and the impact we leave on those around us.

 

Enjoy the Journey 

As you embark on the empowering journey of subconscious reprogramming, remember that change takes time, and self-compassion is your greatest ally. Surround yourself with positive influences, whether it be supportive friends, inspirational books, or mindfulness practices. Seek guidance from mentors who have walked a similar path and found success in reshaping their mindset. Embrace the discomfort that may arise during this process, for it signifies the shedding of old layers to make way for the new. Reflect on your progress regularly, celebrating even the smallest victories, and be patient with yourself as you navigate the intricacies of transformation. 

In the spirit of rewriting your narrative, I encourage you to take the first step today. Commit to a daily practice of positive affirmations, visualize your desired reality, and consistently challenge self-limiting beliefs. If you would like support along the way, consider joining like-minded communities, Facebook groups, and curate your social media to reflect these new changes you want to embody.

Remember, thoughts become actions, and actions reinforce beliefs. It’s never too late to embark on an empowering journey to reprogram your mind, and achieve the life you have always dreamed of!

For more tips and strategies on how to improve your mindset, follow me at @bigdivineenergy.

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Change Your Mindset

5 Ways To Achieve Your Goals (With Examples)

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Accomplishing mountians

Setting goals is a crucial first step, whether you’re striving to reach personal or professional milestones. However, achieving those goals requires planning, determination, and focus. In this post, we’ll discuss five actionable strategies that can help you achieve your goals in 2023, and we’ll provide real-life examples to inspire and motivate you. By implementing these tips, you can train your brain to achieve your goals and make meaningful progress toward your aspirations.

1. Write Down Your Goals

The first thing needed to achieve a goal is to have one. A goal becomes very clear and precise once you have written it down most simply and easily to remember.

Here are some examples:

  • I am the world’s best dancer!
  • I am the greatest athlete!
  • I have created the world’s most innovative tech company!

They are all written with the belief that these things have already happened. Once you start believing it has already happened, other people too can sense your confidence and things start happening.

“If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy and inspires your hopes.” — Andrew Carnegie

2. The One Page Plan

A simple one-page plan to accompany your goal is much more powerful than a detailed 30-page plan. After you have written your clear goal – write down all the things you will have to do to achieve it. Make it as simple and direct as possible so that you can refer to it every day and take action. A simple plan is easier to follow and keep up with.

3. Get The Right Skills

Once you have a clear goal that has been inked into your mind, and a clear plan in place, it is very important to invest in the skills you need to achieve your goal.

So for example, if you want to become a movie star, you should immediately start developing your acting skills. Observe how other actors perform, join an acting class, read about acting, and most importantly, start honing your craft by joining a local theatre group and going for as many auditions as you can. Practice is very important for mastering any skill.

Struggling To Achieve Your Goals? Here Are 9 Possible Reasons Why! 

4. Surround Yourself With The Best People

The best way to achieve our goals is to make sure we have the best people supporting us. People who succeed are always those who understand the power of people.

So let’s say your goal is to be an entrepreneur and you have developed your entrepreneurial skills, the next step would be to get the best people to join your team to help you achieve your goal. These would be people who you consider to be the best marketers capable of getting you the best customers and investors.

Once you have the best people supporting you, it becomes much easier and faster to achieve your goals.

“It takes tremendous discipline to control the influence, the power you have over other people’s lives.” – Clint Eastwood

5. Power of Faith

Nothing beats the power of faith and belief. Sometimes you might face challenges, sometimes things might not be going your way, and you might feel like giving up – these are the times when faith and belief will keep you going.

So many people give up, just a few inches away from victory. I am sure you are not one of them since you are investing time into self-development which gives the highest returns! Now go out there and start achieving your goals!

Need more motivation? Read our blogs on motivation and become your best self now!

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Change Your Mindset

5 Easy Ways to Find Motivation When You’re Feeling Stuck

One of the easiest and most beneficial ways to get motivated is to get up and get active

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Image Credit: Unsplash

We’ve all had those days when we feel like we just can’t get motivated to do anything. Whether it’s an important task that needs to be done or something we just don’t feel like doing, it can be hard to get going. (more…)

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