The most important factor that goes into determining one’s success is what goes on in his/her mind.

Where you are today and what you are today is because of your own mental attitude towards yourself and others. And you alone can change it. All that is needed is a change of your attitude.

The mental attitude that you carry is actually more important than it seems.  It could be affecting your life without your knowledge.

Your mental attitude could either take you up the path of success or down the depths of failure.

 And changing it is only in your hands.

In this session, we shall see what the correct mental attitude actually is. Chances are that you already have it. If you haven’t, no worries!

You can always acquire it!

We already know how important motivation is and how it can work wonders in one’s life. We shall further talk about this activity that gets you off your butt and kick starts you into action.

Attitude – A little thing in life that makes a Big difference

“It’s not what happens to you that determines how far you will go in life; it is how you handle what happens to you.” – Zig Ziglar

Whatever you do in life, it is the attitude that you have before, during, and after doing it that determines your success or failure.

There is but a simple rule that you should apply to your thinking in everything you do.

Think Positively and you will get positive results.

 Think Negatively and you will get negative results.

 It’s as simple as that!

Ok, now that that’s clear, complete this exercise.  The exercise will enable you to understand the thoughts of positive and negative people.

Think of the different people you know well – your friends, relatives and colleagues.

Classify all these people under two heads – negative thinkers and positive thinkers. As you know them well, this shouldn’t be a very difficult task.

There must be something which made you feel that they are positive-minded or negative-minded. Something that they said, or their reaction to something, etc.

Write out all those words that describe why you feel that the people under the heading ‘positive people’ are positive.

Now prepare another list. Here you have to classify the same people listed before into the two categories – successful and non-successful. Remember, it is your perception of whether they are a success or not.

What do they say? How do they act? What do they do?

Now look at the two tables you have.

In all probability, you will find that most of the people you categorized as successful people are those who are positive-minded. Similarly, most of the people rated as unsuccessful will belong to the negative thinking lot!

Now you see!

Successful people in life are always positive people

They are the people who

– know what they want

– are optimistic

– expect the best

– expect to win

Negative people in turn, are pessimistic. They look for the worst in everything and expect to fail. These people tend to moan and complain a lot, and always try to put people down.

The way both positive and negative people handle problems is very different.

While positive-minded persons will look for solutions to the problems and a means to proceed further, the negative-minded persons will lose confidence. They will criticize themselves for having chosen that path and will be convinced that he is beaten even before he starts.

Everything that you choose to think, affects your life. The one thing that can bring success or failure in one’s life is attitude.

A positive mind attracts opportunities for success while a negative mind fends them off. In fact, a negative-minded person doesn’t even take up the opportunities that come along. Why? He is busy focusing on the next time he is going to fail.

“Whatever your mind can conceive and believe, your mind can achieve”

• Napoleon Hill

Your greatest potential asset is your ability to believe.  The only problem is that you can’t benefit from it unless you have what is required- a positive attitude.  Successful people are positive people.

Now ask yourself this-

Am I one of them? Do I think positively?

 No matter what mindset you have, there are ways to change it. There are techniques that you could apply to cultivate positive habits in yourself.

These techniques have helped people form and keep a positive mental attitude. It has bettered their lives. If it worked for them, why won’t it work for you?

HOW TO FORM AND KEEP A POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE

 To get e positive mental attitude, first of all what you need to do is think and act on the “CAN DO” approach of every activity instead of the “NO CAN’T DO” approach.

Smile

Go back to the lists about positive and negative people that you had created before. Look at the positive people listed on it.

Mull over this:

Don’t these people smile and laugh a lot more and appear happier than the negative thinkers?

It may seem very silly, but there is a lot of power associated with a smile. A smile is always returned with a smile.

Follow this rule – Smile more often!

That doesn’t mean you have to walk around with a silly grin on your face all the time. Smile when you speak to someone, smile as you walk down the street, smile when looking at yourself in the mirror, smile even when speaking on the phone.

You will be amazed by the good feeling that it generates within you. You feel better and project a positive image to others, which attracts opportunities and more people towards you.

Remember, positive people are happy people and negative people are not.

Happy people seem to be more attractive and pleasant to others compared to gloomy people. Isn’t this an added bonus for you?

Pat people on the back

 There are many people we see in life who jump at the chance of criticizing a person when something goes wrong. Moreover, these people don’t even acknowledge you when you are right!

To create and reflect a positive mental attitude, start complimenting people. If you already have the habit, increase the number of times you do it.

If your partner buys a new piece of clothing and looks attractive, don’t just notice that. Tell them so!

You don’t lose anything by complimenting someone, do you? And anyway, a compliment never goes waste.

So, compliment your staff and colleagues on their work.  Compliment your child on making it to the football team.

The general idea is that you feel good by making others feel good and it enhances your Positive Mental Attitude. What more, you also enhance the Positive Mental Attitude of the people you compliment!

Merely complimenting people is not enough. The way we treat them is also important.

Follow this Rule – Treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves

 This involves treating everyone as though he/she is the most important person in the world- because to him or her it stands true!

The laws of Success state that whatever you hand out in life, you get back at least ten times as much of it.

Connect this rule to life. If you make other people feel worthwhile, useful and valuable, you too are bound to be treated in the same manner- ten times as much.

Now comes a warning.

When you compliment people and treat them with respect, be sure that you are doing so genuinely. You must mean what you say.

Believe, conceive and achieve

 Start believing that success to you is inevitable.

Whatever task you are given, picture success in your mind. Burn the thought into your subconscious mind. Keep yourself focused on the outcome that you want to achieve in what you do. The mind can achieve anything that it believes and conceives.

You will be surprised to know that there is a giant asleep within yourself. You can direct him to do anything that you want.

You have no idea what you are capable of. Don’t underestimate yourself. Believe it, the power of your mind and imagination is truly exceptional.

You can think your way to almost anything in life – success, happiness, illness and even death.

Use it for a fulfilled life!

Good luck

Now what have we done so far?  Identified some goals that could get you juiced up and charged.

Saw ways in which changing becomes a must for you. Saw techniques to help you weed out the ‘clutter’ and excess ‘baggage’ in your life that bogs you down.

That’s a lot!

In this session we are going to do some soul searching.

Let’s look at your LIFE’S PURPOSE.

Understand that you have just one chance to experience this physical life. One chance to do what you yearn for, what gives you fulfillment and joy.

This session is primarily meant to look at that.

What is success?

Is there anyone who doesn’t want to be successful in what they do?

Have you heard of anyone who participates in a competition in order to lose? Obviously everyone competes to win. They all want to succeed in everything they do. The emphasis is on giving your best in everything you do.

And with success come happiness, fulfillment, rewards, money and the other things that everyone looks forward to achieving.

Success is different for different people. It can’t be given an accurate definition as such.

So it differs for all.

Moreover, it changes as well. Your definition of success may be something today and something else the next week.

What goes without saying is that everyone wants to be successful and nothing in life is better than success!

So now, take some time to think what success means to you.

Write your definition of what success is, on a piece of paper.

Know where you are going in life

Looking for direction and momentum to move forward in life? Firstly, create a vision and mission based on what you expect out of life.

People with low confidence levels generally find themselves stuck in a rut as they lack direction and purpose in life, and thus tend to drift along with the flow. They let things happen to them instead of going forward and making them happen.

If you have a clear and compelling vision in life, you will feel good about yourself. It feels much better if you know where you are headed next in life and the purpose of it all.

So ask yourself this question:

What do you really want to get out of life?

A true mission in one’s life should define the purpose of their existence.

Ok then…its time to do some soul searching! Let’s start off by asking yourselves the following questions. They will give you an idea of why you are here and what you are all about.

• When you were a child, what did you want to be once you grew up?
• Who were the three people who had the biggest influence on your life, and why?
• If you have the freedom to do anything you want as a living and someone is willing to pay you well, what will you choose?
• What do you consider as the top three achievements in your life so far?
• Think of a moment when you are the happiest you can ever be in your life. What are you doing that is making you so happy?
• Name three people that you admire the most
• Why is it that you admire them? What special characteristics and qualities do they have?
• Have you ever done anything for someone less fortunate than yourself?
• If yes, what was it? If no, why is it?
• What do you think are your greatest strengths?
• What more can you do in life to maximize your strengths?
• Is there anything that you would be willing to put everything on the line for?
• What would it be and why?
• If you are given your time over again, what would you have done so far?
• Is there something currently in your life that you are very pleased with?
• What results are you currently having in your life that you aren’t pleased with?
• If there is a piece of wisdom that you have learned from your life to date, and could pass on to the whole world, what would that possibly be?
• What do you value the most in your life?
• What is it that you would really like to do with your life?

The whole point behind asking yourself these questions is to make you ponder on such lines as, what you want and what you wanted in your life.

So, answer the questions and create your own mission statement below.

Some time and thought has to be put into the creation of a mission statement. They shouldn’t be rushed.

A mission statement is not something that is jotted down on a ‘to do’ list to be fitted between dinner and bedtime.

On the contrary, try getting away from your routine environment.

Your mission in life is something that is very important to you. So take some time making it. Go for a walk or take a short break. It will help you to think clearly.

People normally tend to have materialistic goals and want ‘things’ if they do not have a clear mission in life.

Once they have achieved, achieved and achieved some more, they begin to wonder, “Is that all there is?”

Success without fulfillment is a mere failure – Tony Robbins

What is the point in achieving success, if it does not give you the sense of satisfaction and fulfillment?

Let’s find out how you would like your life to be in the end. This will help broaden your perspective about your objectives in life.

A way to find out is writing your own obituary! Scary as it may sound, writing your own obituary is a clever tactic that puts you into thinking what you want to do in your lifetime.

Assume for a moment that you have reached the final moments of your life and are looking at it backwards.

You are thinking about all your achievements, your deeds in life worth remembering, things that you have done for others, etc.

What are thing you would like to be remembered for when you are gone?

Go ahead and write your obituary. What was your life all about? What difference did it make?

That was tough, wasn’t it? Ok come back to the present.

Think over carefully. Look deep into your mind and find out what it is that would make you feel really happy and at the same time it adds value to your life. Let all your current thoughts dissolve and let the inner secrets reveal themselves.

You have a whole week to experiment.

This week’s session is comparatively shorter than the previous ones.

It is to help you get things done and to make your life clutter-free. Once your life is cleared of all the clutter, it becomes easier to control.

The more the control, the more motivated you feel.

De-clutter your life and improve your motivation!

Many people carry around with them a lot of excess ‘luggage’ or ‘clutter’.

The emotional tensions and regrets make a major part of this clutter. The ‘if only’s and ‘why this happened’s along with ‘could have’s  could be aplenty.

Do away with this excess baggage!  Either you make a move to do something about the incomplete situations you face in life or find a closure. Nursing and feeding your regrets and making a mental list of ‘should have’s gets you down and down.

Now, take a good look at yourself.

Are you like this?

Do you have a mental list of ‘if only’s and ‘should have’s cropping up every now and then?

Be honest with yourself. Because if you are like this, your confidence and motivation have probably been suffering.

The approach

So now, what do you have to do?  Get rid of this useless burden, that’s what!

How?

Begin with answering a series of questions and completing the following exercise:

What we are going to do is ‘complete’ certain tasks, draw a line under them and move on.

This is also known as ‘psychological completion’ or merely ‘completion’.

So coming up next is a series of questions that you could take to answering in one sitting or over a couple of hours or days. You can make the process formal by jotting down the answers rather than making a mental note of them.

Go ahead. Watch your confidence and motivation soar!

Putting up with….

• List out 10 things that you are putting up with at home
• List out 10 things that you are putting up with at work
• List out 10 things that you are putting up with, in any other area of your life
• Create an action plan to weed out/ communicate these things that you have been putting up with

Unfinished matters…

• List out all the things in your life that you feel are unresolved/unfinished
• Create an action plan meant to reduce this number
• Do you need to clear the air with anyone? If so, just do it! Life is too short!
• Is there someone you are supposed to call or keep in touch with but failed to find time for? If yes, do it. Call them or send an email to them right away!
• Let go of as many ‘coulds, woulds, shoulds, maybes and oughts’ from your life as you can.

Your standards…..

• Write down the standards that you have always told yourself to try matching. Now let go of them and create a new list. These should be the standards that you are going to have in your life from this day on.
• List out the names of 5 people that you admire the most and identify their qualities, their behavior and their way of life. What standards do they have? What are the standards that you could set for yourself, in order to be more like them?
• Remember, the standards set by others for themselves will be different from yours. Think of any 5 friends or colleagues. What standards have they set for themselves? How are they different from yours?

Did you know you that you had such a long list silently and without your being aware of it eating away your inner strengths?

How difficult it would be to move forward when you had such so many thoughts holding you back?

These exercises will help you focus on the here, the now and the future of your life.

You will now be able to break free from the clutch of those things that have been unnecessarily holding your attention. Leave all those things that knock your motivation. Just let go of them!

Now there is a lot for you to do this time, isn’t it!

Better make a start!

One look at where we are and then we will continue.

You will have with you a list of goals and the reasons WHY you feel you want to achieve them.

Now, take the list and read through the reasons.

Do they make you feel energized and motivated to achieve them?

The question is crucial, because if they do not, you have to either come forward with better reasons or ditch the goal altogether.

Why? Merely because you can achieve a goal only when it becomes an absolute MUST for you!

The underlying theory is that, it is the REASON WHY you are doing it, rather than the goal itself, that gets you into action.

Here are some examples of goals that you might include for yourself:

Losing weight

Running your own business

Gaining a better job or promotion

Owning a new car

Being more assertive

Having more time for your family and children

Earning more money

Learning to swim

Etc

The simplest form in which the setting and achieving of goals can be defined is this:

You must first decide what your GOAL actually is. Then define it in comprehensive detail. Next you must lay out the steps by which you intend to reach the goal and lastly you must fix a deadline or a time limit for you to achieve the goal.

There should be a reason to have a goal first of all or else there wouldn’t have been a goal at all!

Consider the process of setting a goal as going on a long distance car journey. It will make the whole concept much easier for you to understand.

Obviously you wouldn’t plan a journey unless you knew why and where you are going. Neither would you do it if you didn’t have a map to guide you.

Firstly you would have a clear idea of where and why you are going even before you got into the car. You could be going to visit relatives or going to the gym or shopping or for a wedding. The point is that you know where you were planning to go.

Secondly, you would have mapped out the route on how you were going to get to the place.

Thirdly, you will have allotted enough time for you to get to the destination.

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Well, goal setting in life involves exactly the same method – only, you are the car and your life is the journey. It’s as simple as that!

Merely a vague decision that you have to attain a goal or do a particular task yields no action. You have to have a clear-cut thinking.

If you were to ask someone on the street to define what their goals in life were, you would get vague responses like “I want to be rich”, “I want to be happy” and “I want to be famous”.

Don’t get fooled into thinking that these are goals.

They are just a generalization of what everybody desires.

A goal is something that can be defined to the tiniest detail. Once you have identified a goal and decide why you want to achieve it, the next step is to define it.

Consider that it is one of your goals to buy a new car. You have to define such things as the model, the color, the interiors, the price, and so on.

Make sure that you can picture the car you want to buy clearly in your mind instead of hanging on to a general and vague picture.

Be specific and precise.

HOW TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL – PLANNING AND ACTION

 Having established what your goal is and defined it in detail, the next step is to plan and break down into steps the path to attaining the goal.

Remember, any goal can be achieved. It is in your hands to make the task a lot simpler by breaking the goal into a lot of sub-goals.

The sub-goals will lead you to your main goal in a matter of time.

Example: GOAL – To lose weight

Think for a moment that you want to lose some weight. Suppose you weigh around 12 Stone. So first of all, you have to make the goal specific.

How much weight do you want to lose??

Lets make it 12 lbs in 8 weeks. Now, that’s what we call specific.

Following this we have break this goal into smaller goals. This is done by splitting the 8 weeks into shorter and smaller periods and setting corresponding smaller goals for them.

You could for example, set sub-goals of losing 1.5 lbs per week.

The method is very effective and makes the person involved more optimistic and hopeful of achieving the goal. Moreover the goal when broken down into smaller parts does not seem like a huge task.

The broken down goal should be written in an easily understandable form, best as a table. This can be put up on a wall where you can see it.

In this case, your chart will look something like this.

GOAL: TO LOSE WEIGHT

 SPECIFICS: 12 lbs in 8 weeks

WEIGHT AS ON xx/xx/01: 12 Stone

TARGET WEIGHT AS ON xx/xx/01: 154 lbs 2 lbs

Brainstorm all the activities that you have to do to achieve the goal and then club together activities that are of a similar nature.

For example:

Exercise

• What exercises should I do?
• How often should I exercise?
• Do I need a new kit?
• When will I exercise?

Diet

• What will I eat?
• Should there be a change in the cooking techniques?
• How many meals in a day can I have?
• What is the allowed calorie intake in a day?
• What changes in the shopping list?

Type of gym

• Where is the gym located?
• What are the prices?
• Does it suit my requirement?

You have to decide on such things as what days you will exercise, what exercise you will do and for how long.

You can also put down your exercise routine and healthy eating plan in a table like the one you earlier created. And most importantly, stick to it!

This method of breaking down a big goal into several small goals is called stair-stepping or chunking. It gives you the benefit of enjoying many small successes in the course of pursuing your final goal, rather than waiting to reach the main goal in the end.

The stair-stepping method is much like eating a pizza!

Let’s make it simpler.

Can you eat the whole pizza in one go? Obviously, you can’t!

If you tried eating an entire pizza in a single mouthful, you would choke. By cutting it into smaller slices, it is easier to eat and at the same time, more enjoyable.

Someone once said

“Success by the inch is a synch; by the yard it is hard”.

How true!

Break down your goals and you will see how much simpler they are for you to achieve!

Just concentrate on your sub-goals and your major goal will take care of itself.

GET THE TIMING RIGHT

One thing that’s as difficult as meeting deadlines is creating them. You have to set deadlines for yourself to achieve each goal.

Tomorrow. Later. Afterwards. Few words that are almost like synonyms of procrastination.

Many people are affected by this tendency to put off things for later. However, postponing things for tomorrow or next week only further extends to another tomorrow or another week.

In short, one word that you should take out of your life to be successful is PROCRASTINATION. Chuck it out!

There are so many forms of procrastination.

• One form of putting off things is by not choosing to do anything. You may want to do something and yet, thinking about all the procedures it involves, you may put it off by deciding not to do it at all!
• You may decide to do something, but don’t even start doing it.
• You start doing something, but do not continue it.
• You may continue the work, but do not finish it.

Set deadlines for yourself to achieve your goals. That way you don’t put things off until tomorrow.

TIMETABLE TO SUCCESS.

All you have to do is breakdown your goal, allot time and create deadlines for each.

Make it a point to make your goals achievable and realistic.

Instead of setting goals that exceed your ability, create goals that exploit your potential to the fullest, thus sealing the gap between potential and performance. This is important.

Success breeds success, they say. Be on the safer side. Set goals that you can achieve. This way you get the habit of succeeding as you attain each goal.

It boosts your confidence and helps you attain further goals.

The more measurable and realistic the goals are, the simpler it becomes to correct yourself incase you go off-track.

Don’t set unattainable tasks or make unrealistic demands on your workforce. It will only inflict damage to their motivation, self-esteem and confidence and end up in lesser productivity.

What happens when you set too-big-to-achieve tasks upon yourself is that you become de-motivated. You end up wondering, “What’s the point?” and ultimately give up.

There is a fine dividing line between goals that are easy to achieve and goals that are rather out of your reach.

You have to rely on your common sense, knowledge about your strengths and weaknesses, awareness about your potential to develop and also the age old theory of trial and error.

Goals should be specified for each and every part of your life.

Career, finance, possessions, ambitions, family, relationships, etc – each one is an important area of your life. Set goals for yourself in each of these areas – surely, you will get more rewarding and successful outcomes.

“An oral agreement isn’t worth the paper it is written on”

How true! Even in this context.

Here are a few tips that could be of help to you:

There is no point in just saying that you have a goal. Write it down. It serves as a commitment from your side to yourself.

Setting Goals

Check out this example…

What?

Lose 10 lbs in weight

Why?

It will instill greater confidence in me, enhance my self-esteem and will make me more attractive to women.

How?

Exercise, diet, allocating time, gym or home, etc.

Chunking

1. Finding a gym, planning exercise routine, kit, frequency of exercise
2. Nutrition
3. Time management and organization

Sub-goals

1. Lose 2 lbs per month
2. Buy 1 new item of clothing each month
3. Visit gym 4 times a week
4. Increase distance or resistance each time

Timelines

Major Goal attained within 5 months

Review

Is the plan working? What are the results? Do I need to adjust?

Adjust

 Let this be a strict rule for you:

Write down everything. Don’t just commit it all to your memory.

Started formulating your goals, haven’t you? You needn’t worry if you haven’t. We have exercises coming up in the next few pages that will help you do just that.

Take time to brainstorm each goal and WRITE down all the things that you need to do to achieve your goal.

These are some questions you could ask yourself:

What will you need?

Do you have the required experience?

Who can help you out?

What will you have to do?

Is there a cost?

Do you need any equipment?

Do you require any capital?

Divide all the actions into 3 or 4 main areas and then categorize them as sub-goals following which, set deadlines for each.

Then…?     What else?    GO FOR IT!!

As you will have set realistic and achievable sub-goals, achieving them would not be very difficult. Success in attaining the small goals will have you brimming with confidence and ready to do more, as you always win.

Moreover, it will also put you in the right frame of mind to achieve greater feats.

Other uses of goal attainment

 You could make use of goal attainment in your everyday life as well.

Suppose you are attending a course at work, have a clear idea of what you intend to achieve out of it and why. What are your goals and objectives?

Always think in advance. Planning is something that never goes futile.

Think over this.

First set goals. Then plan for the short term goals that will lead you to the main goal.

If you are playing a round of golf and you shot a 75 last time around, set yourself the target of 73.

If you bench-pressed 200 lbs at the gym, try next for 210.

Setting goals for yourself both for the short run and long run will reflect on your performance. You will do things better and more efficiently and the best in you will be brought out in everything that you do. What’s more? You will enjoy doing it too!

You will find more and more opportunities coming to you.

Goal attainment can do wonders.

Okay friends,   There is work for you to do!

If you don’t, then you are UNMOTIVATED to do it!!

The goal setting workshop that we are next going to do is in order to help you focus on what you want in the future. It is something that will, as the title says, get you up early and keep you up late at night.

You will know later on why we are doing this, but right now let’s plan out what you want in the future.

Remember how you, as a kid had the freedom to dream all you could and shout it out loud without embarrassing yourself? That time is here again. You have to dream now.

So dream on….. Big dreams… Little dreams…whatever it is. Don’t stop yourself!

Let there be no limits to your thinking.

Create your goals

To feel motivated you should have the surety that whatever you are doing is contributing to an end result.

In session 1, you saw what motivation actually is and how it works for you.

Aristotle has said, “Man is a goal seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals.” As such, the worst thing you can do is mistake activity for accomplishment. You will begin to wonder why you are not achieving anything and it is your confidence that takes a battering.

Have you got any goals mapped out for each area of your life?

No? It doesn’t matter. Just read on and complete this exercise.

Goal Creation Exercise:

Look at the following points.

• Career
• Relationships
• Fun
• Achievements
• Money
• Possessions

As you may have noticed, each one of them is a part of your life.

What you next have to do is take six pieces of paper- one for each of the six areas mentioned above and brainstorm over each for at least 3 minutes. Write down what you would like to have, achieve, and do in each area.

As mentioned before, don’t get embarrassed about how big the goals may seem. You have the freedom to dream, remember?

So, before we get down to laying down your goals for life, we want you to question yourself in every aspect possible. Explore every nook and corner of your conscience and those deep dark realms of your mind. Take your time, as you don’t want to end up with wishy-washy goals you probably won’t even relate to a month later. Think long term and think clear!

Don’t worry about how big the goals seem, just get them down and don’t think too much about them – just keep writing!

Completed?  Good!

Now you have with you six pieces of paper full of everything that you want to achieve for each area, right?

The next step is to write down on each, the approximate timescale within which you want to realistically achieve them. Categorize the goals into the following timescale categories:

• Less than 1 year
• 1-3 years
• 3 years plus

So now we have with us 6 lists of things we would like to achieve and the timeframe within which we wish to achieve them.

Now please take from each area, those goals for which you have allotted less than 1 year and select the top 2 for each sector.

This leaves you with 12 goals achievable within one year.

Making an action plan for achieving the goal can come later (not far off…it’s next week by the way). Before that, jot down some convincing reasons for why you feel that achieving the goal at the earliest is an absolute must for you.

MOTIVATION IS ALL ABOUT MAKING THINGS A MUST!

In the absence of any compelling reasons to implement the goals, there will be no motivation to achieve them.

You might have noticed how it is with children. Getting something done by them is difficult. So it is best to tempt them with rewards.

Any parent or teacher will tell you how very effective it is. Statements like “whoever finishes first gets a sweet” or “we can go for a movie if you clean up your room” or “a hike in pocket money for better marks” can work wonders!

As far as you are concerned, you have to be motivated much more. Merely a feeling of “I SHOULD” for your goals is not enough to get you out of bed or keep you up late.

Turn all your “I SHOULD DO THIS” goals to “I MUST DO THIS” goals.

So now, write down below, what the goal is and why you feel you MUST achieve it.

What pleasure will it give you?

What will you be able to do?

What will you miss out on if you don’t achieve it?

Why is it so important to you?

Why is the goal a MUST rather than a SHOULD?

Time to recap!

 So what were the steps?

• Brainstorm what you want in each area of your life
• Allot timescales for each – 1 year, 1-3 years, over 3 years
• Consider the less than 1 year goals
• Pick two from each of these
• Write down convincing reasons on what makes achieving them in less than a year, a must

Franklin D. Roosevelt once said …..

The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today

You just have to be honest to yourself and approach things with an open mind and see how everything falls in place.

That’s it for this time. Quite a lot of work for you to do, right?

In the next module we will take up your goals again. Then will be the time to create detailed plans for your goals!

So, ready to GET MOTIVATED??

First of all I want you to do two things.

One – Grab a piece of paper and write how you would define motivation. It is a common word we all use in daily life. How many of us have actually paused and thought what it really means?

Two  – Having defined motivation, write how you feel when you are motivated,, based on your definition.

Jot down such things as how you feel, what you think, and how you act when motivated. Additionally, give one or two examples of occasions when you have been motivated by someone or something.

Okay! Now let us see how the Chambers dictionary defines the word ‘motivate’. Here it goes:

1. to be the motive of something or someone
2. to cause or stimulate (a person) to act, to be the underlying cause of (an action)

• He is motivated to work hard by the chances of earning a promotion.

Simply put, motivation is just something that drives you to action.

Now, Write down all those things that you feel are stopping you from being motivated and taking action.

The Change Formula

 This is a simple equation that you can apply whenever you are faced with the responsibility of taking a decision as to whether something should be done or not.

This is how it goes…

D x V x P > C

 ­DISSATISFACTION WITH STATUS QUO

First of all, you must be really discontent with the way things are at present.

VISION

You should have a clear vision of the situation that you look forward to attaining through the change. You should also be clear as to why you want it.

PRACTICAL STEPS

You should be aware of the steps involved to implement the change. An action plan detailing the things you need to do has to be drawn up.

D x V x P is the formula of your desire for change.

COST OF CHANGING

What will you have to let go in order to make way for the change? How much will the change cost you? Will it affect your beliefs and ideologies?

The underlying rule is that you will proceed with the change only if your desire to change is greater than the costs of the change.

– Abraham Lincoln

This must be a quote you have heard a hundred times before. There is of course a kind of simplicity in the way these nine words convey a simple message – don’t put things off for later.

Are you one of those people who always put off things for later? Have there been times when you felt you lack the confidence and skill required to do a certain task? Well, you are not alone. This is a problem that almost everyone goes through at least sometime in their life.

“Get Motivated” is a 6 part course designed to motivate you in areas where you feel you fall short, and instill in you the confidence and self-belief to prevent you from putting off things for later.

Following this course, you will be brimming with confidence to do anything that is required of you. You will be poised to succeed wherever you face competition.

Motivation will provide that inner drive you need to achieve what you aim for. So look no further! Step into the world of confidence-building and see your dreams turn into reality.