Are you a Procrastinator?
Posted by Louise on Mar 15, 2010
Do you put off ’til later what you should be attending to right away?
These Motivational Words are aimed at those who delay some important tasks until the last moment. Motivational Words will shine a powerful spotlight on the Procrastination Disease and provide a way to ensure it no longer undermines your future.
But first things first, lets pretend we are behavioural psychologists and we are pin-pointing the characteristics of The Procrastinator Personality. If you procrastinate you will be able to place a check mark beside many of these behavioural mannerisms:
* Non-essential activities fill our waking hours while important activities get pushed out of mind.
* Missed targets and deadlines are a recurring reality.
* Putting things off is habitual behaviour for you in that it is regular or ‘normal’ for you to have several unstarted or incomplete tasks needing your attention.
* You probably experience anxiety which you dislike and resent, yet it takes fairly high levels of pressure (i.e. a close deadline) to force you to take action.
* You may not be particularly focused and clear on what you want. This ‘scattered’ mindset allows you to lose sight of important goals and deadlines. Procrastination and being a bit of a dreamer often go hand in hand.
* Procrastination and low self-esteem are intimate bed-fellows, you can’t have one without the other.
If you recognise even two of these behavioural markers of the Procrastinator Personality, then your life is not as great as it could be. You are short-changing yourself. Instead of developing a calm, focused and persistent personality, you are allowing the procrastination habit to sabotage your chances of peace and calm as well as putting your personal success rate into the high risk category.
Congratulations then on admitting that procrastination is a self-defeating habit. Admitting procrastination is the first step in overcoming the problem. The next issue of Motivational Words will provide solutions for dealing with this nasty habit. In the meantime, take action. I personally recommend a six-week stint of goal-setting. It takes six weeks to break a habit, and focusing on your important tasks and goals will simultaneously eliminate scatteredness and procrastination.
The next issue of Motivational Words deals with how to overcome the procrastination habit.
P.S. If you have anything to share, such as a story that illustrates the high price you have paid for procrastination, be sure to leave a comment at the end of the Motivational Words page. The best way to change is by helping someone else!
Learn the Secret of How to Have It All
Posted by Louise on Mar 3, 2010
What’s the Secret? How will understanding the power of this secret enable you to take giant strides in the direction of your dreams? This edition of Motivational Words will reveal the power of ‘secret’ knowledge.
Everyone is using the word ‘secret’ nowadays. Advertisers love it as it magnetises customers. Personal empowerment gurus know the emotive pull of sharing ‘secrets’. It sets us apart, initiates us into special spheres of knowledge. Dan Brown’s “Da Vinci Code” played on our desire to find out secrets that have been withheld from mainstream consumption.
So let’s demystify the word ‘secret’. First of all, there is no secret. It is a misnomer, albeit a powerful motivational word, for learning a technique, method, recipe or knowledge bite that works, that most people fail to utilise. So it remains a powerful force harnessed by a select few.
Here’s the secret: People who write goals down are far more likely to realise them than those who don’t. People who write their goals down, and then devise action steps to achieve their goals are even more likely to hit their targets. People who write down goals, take consistent action steps today and every day are almost certain to reach their goals. Add a strong motivation, a clear vision of the desired outcome and you have an unstoppable momentum.
Goal setting followed by persistent action steps is the single most important ‘secret’ you can ever learn. It is the key to living the life of your dreams. It is the key to unstoppable motivation. It is the key to unlimited success, wealth, health, happiness……. Think about this for it is true. You can achieve anything you want if you make it a goal, and take consistent, persistent steps every single day towards it.
How could such a simple concept be considered a secret? Simple. Because only about 2% of all the people on this planet will ever utilise this knowledge. The remaining 98% may set a goal or two, but they don’t think beyond that. No alarm bells ring when they fail to take consistent, persistent actions. So the powerful secret of how to be 100% successful at anything you want remains a secret.
Only 2% of us will understand the full ramifications of ignoring this secret. That 2%, armed with secret, insider knowledge will set the stage for their lives, and become the authors of their own life story. The rest of us are doomed to follow someone else’s script, because we failed to write our own.
Remember the secret unveiled to you in these Motivational Words. Set a goal and take action to achieve your goal at every opportunity. When you reach your goal, set another one. Onwards and upwards. A simple, mould-breaking secret that hardly anyone avails of. It costs nothing; it’s free.
If these Motivational Words struck a chord for you, do someone you love a favour: pass them on. Tell them the secret. Set a goal that’s important to you and then set about achieving it. A Simple Secret. It will change your life every time you use it. It is 100% guaranteed to work every time you use it.
If you want to share your goal and the steps you are taking today to achieve your first dream, tell me about it. Just write your comment in the comment box at the end of the Motivational Words page. In the meantime, I wish you great momentum with realising the life of your dreams.
Motivational Words: Whatever happens, you must stay motivated
Posted by Louise on Feb 16, 2010
This session of Motivational Words aims to re-motivate you should you start to waver. One of the toughest challenges is to stay on track, relentlessly hitting our chosen targets, even when internal or external circumstances are cause for distraction.
Let’s face it. It isn’t difficult to find reasons to take time out from our pressing goals – taking time to smell the roses, as my mother would call it. I choose to see these times as tests of character. How important is it to you to achieve your goal(s)? Most things that are genuinely worthwhile will take a whole lot of effort, energy, commitment and persistence to attain.
This Motivational Words quote is by Carl Gustav Jung (1875 – 1961), a leading light in analytical psychology, one of Europe’s most influential thinkers:
“Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.”
This quotation strikes deep in my soul for my True Self knows this to be absolutely true. It is so tempting to ‘dream’ of how great life will be when we have finally achieved such and such a goal. But there is a yawning gap between ‘dreams’ and ‘reality’. Step into the dream for a moment and recognise a dream for the sham it is. A dream is a picture of what life could be like if you achieve those plans of yours. Remember: there are no short cuts. If we want to achieve important goals, worthwhile targets, the only certain way to achieve those goals is to take one step at a time until we reach them.
Carl Jung’s inspirational words are a wake up call for those on the path to personal success. Those who ‘dream’ indulge in self-delusion. The difference between a dream and a vision is the former is pure fiction while the latter, your vision, is a concrete image of your destiny. Dreams are illusions, visions are backed by utter conviction. Visions are unshakable.
Take these motivational words to heart. If you are wavering, take time to reconnect with your heart, the seat of your motivation. Listen to what your heart instructs you is the most direct path to achieving your highest potential. Awaken the vision within and then start taking consistent and persistent actions to attain that vision.
How to discover your Ideal Life (Part 2) – Getting in touch with your Inner Self
Posted by Louise on Feb 10, 2010
The aim of this installment (part 2) of Motivational Words is to encourage you to listen to all your inner voices. Usually we only listen to the dominant voices and this limits who and what we can be. An Ideal Life is truly without limitations.
Congratulations! You have taken the first step in the process of clarifying your Life’s Purpose. [And if you haven't yet written a list of dozens of things you want to achieve in the course of this lifetime, the crucial first step you need to take is to become aware of WHY you failed to take that first step into the journey of creating your Ideal Life. So........ reflect on what is holding you back from getting involved in the most exciting adventure......... discovering your True Purpose.]
Assuming you have already started writing your list of goals, things you want to experience, to learn, to achieve, to have, be and do in this lifetime, then the process is underway. Over the coming days you will notice subtle changes that alert you that the floodgates between the conscious and unconscious mind are opening.
* As you add to your goals list over the coming days you will observe different aspects of yourself beginning to express themselves through their goal suggestions. Perhaps the inner traveller will take command and inspire you to write of places you’d like to visit. That’s great. Just write them down.
* Perhaps you find that no more ideas surface. This, too, is excellent. Having no further superficial and obvious goals allows you to really dig around and explore. What if I…….? Would I like to…….? This pushes the boundaries. It challenges you to really open up to creative goals. For me, these moments of writer’s block heralded bursts of creative ideas that were hidden away deep inside me. It was at this point that my most meaningful goals emerged.
* Write down whatever comes. Don’t evaluate and don’t censure. True expression and genuine communication must be free and unchecked. You don’t have to act on every goal you generate, you just need to become aware of them. The bigger the picture at this point, the more inspiring your Life Purpose will be.
* Collect these ideas in an Inspiration Log. One thing I have learned through personal experience, if I don’t listen to my creative voice, I don’t get creative impulses. If I neglect my intuition, I lose contact with my intuitive self. If I ignore inner messages and suggestions, I cut myself off from my True Self. Give that creative genius free reign. Be sure to write it all down. It is fleeting and very precious. Listen to it and respect it. Ignore it and you silence your spirit, your soul.
* Be prepared to discover many voices within you. The vibrant artist. The helper. The wise soul. Your gentle, grounded soul-self. The romantic. And so on. Listen to all of these aspects of yourself. For only when you have the complete picture can you begin to plan a life that is wholesome, rewarding and complete.
This completes my motivational words for today. Be encouraged. Be inspired. Take the time to discover your Life’s Purpose – when you know it, you are on a path to personal fulfillment.
Motivational Words: How to Discover your Life’s Purpose (Part 1)
Posted by Louise on Feb 6, 2010
The purpose of this instalment of Motivational Words is to motivate and inspire you to discover your Life’s Purpose.
Last year I spent months discovering my Life’s Purpose. Knowing what I want from life has been a thrilling and inspiring journey. It is liberating and empowering to know what I want to be, do and have. As a result my life is speeding up. I know where I’m going, what I want and why. At last I have a plan.
I am a trained researcher and one of the benefits is knowing how to separate fact from fiction. While I worked on my Life Purpose, I learned a whole lot of highly useful information. Over the next Motivational Words sessions I will pass on the results of my research. I will show you some simple and effective techniques so you have a much clearer vision of what the precise mix of ingredients is to create a life that is optimal for you.
It’s your life. You alone are responsible for it. Are you ready to start discovering your Life Purpose?
First lets explode one myth. Finding your Life’s Purpose is a process, not a single step. While some people may have a clear calling, the majority of us aren’t automatically guided to one specific vocation to the exclusion of all else. That is why finding our Life Purpose, pinpointing the particular niche we hope will be the route to everything we want out of life, can be a challenge. But challenges can be great fun.
Here is your first challenge to put you in touch with your Life’s Purpose.
1) Get a notebook, a diary or some clean pages to brainstorm on.
2) Generate a list of your goals. Write down everything you would love to do.
3) Be absolutely open and write down everything that comes into your head. Don’t analyse or edit anything, just write down what comes. The idea is to harness your whole brain to generate ideas, and not permit those inner programs we all have to tell us what is sensible, reasonable or possible. To discover our Life’s Purpose we want to move beyond all limitations. For this exercise there are no limits, just possibilities.
4) The aim is to produce a list with dozens of goals or wishes. If you can only find a few goals, be patient. Carry the list with you and keep adding to it. The aim is to arrive at two hundred goals at least.
5) Last thing at night and first thing in the morning ask yourself what your goals are.
The aim of this motivational exercise is to set cognitive wheels in motion. It may take you a few brainstorming sessions to generate two hundred goals (or more). So be it. Start your personal voyage to discover your unique Life Purpose. It should be an inspirational process. Enjoy the journey!
In the next session learn what to do with the goals you have generated.
Creating My Ideal Life
Posted by Louise on Feb 1, 2010
This is the real life adventure of how I create my Ideal Life. You are now reading the first installment of my official online progress report. Why do this in a public arena? Because both research and personal experience tells me that making my intentions and actions public exponentially increase my probability of success.
The benefit to you, dear reader, is to provide a steady stream of motivational words, by drip-feeding ideas, techniques and expertise to inspire you to achieve your greatest potential also. If I can do it, so can you.
My current personal goals are:
1) financial freedom: earning €15,000 per month by Dec. 2010 working from home;
2) having my best-possible body by the end of 2010.
If my motivational words encourage and inspire you, you can log in any time to monitor my progress. Basically you get to cherry-pick: use the motivational techniques that work best for you and leave the rest. Furthermore, you can contribute to the pursuit of excellence by adding your own motivational comments, just by hitting the Contact Us button.
I have some strategies that are already delivering results and accelerating my successes. More about those in the next days.
First a sobering fact. Success experts agree that 97% of individuals FAIL to reach their targets. Will you be included in the 97%? Are you working ceaselessly but going precisely nowhere? Well, I am on the direct route to guaranteed success. I will be one of the 3% of super-achievers. Bear with me on this, and I’ll reveal all over the next installments of my Motivational Words blog.
My first step to my Ideal Life began two years ago when I stumbled upon a brainwave entrainment program. What’s that? I’ll explain tomorrow.
