Eight steps to push through any obstacle and motivate yourself at will
How would you like to learn the secret to overcoming any struggle, no
matter how tough?
It’s mile 23, you have 3 more left and your leg starts cramping or you
just quit your job, started your own business and suddenly you can’t
find any clients. What do you do?
Any worthy endeavor requires struggle and hardship. Whether you strive for athletic
mastery or professional success or you are just looking for that perfect partner, there
will be moments in your journey when you want to quit. Those are the moments that shape
character and separate successful people from failures.
Zig Ziglar once said, “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does
bathing, that’s why we recommend it daily.”
Motivation is the fuel that keeps our inner fire shining bright. It keeps us pushing through
those moments when all seems lost.
Follow these eight steps and you will never again be beaten by circumstance. These eight
steps will allow you to generate motivation at will and define the path to your destiny.
1. Exercise Daily
When Sir Richard Branson was asked about his secret to productivity, his response was
working out. And he runs a multi-billion dollar empire, so he probably knows what he is
talking about.
Researchers have also found that when people start exercising, even if it’s just once a
week, they start improving habits in other areas of lives as well. They start eating better,
they get more done at work and they show more patience in their relationships. James
Prochaska, a a researcher at the University of Rhode Island says “ exercise spills over.
There’s something about it that makes other good habits easier.”
Regular exercise is the quickest way to build confidence and increase motivation.
To get started on an exercise routine, find a local race, sign up for it and start training. It
could be a 5k, a triathlon, a half marathon or a bike race. It does not matter what the race
is, but by signing up for an event, you have a clear target to aim toward, you commit to it
by paying the event fees and it is a great way to meet other driven, motivated people like
yourself, which will help you with step 8 as well.
2. Practice stillness
In his research, Dr. Andrew Newberg found that those that engage in some form of
meditation have greater activity in the parts of the brain associated with focus and
attention than those that do not.
Meditation acts like a gym for the brain. It works out the conscious, thinking parts of the
brain and reduces activity in the emotional parts of our brain out of our control.
Bestselling author Jack Canfield attributes meditation to be the most important factor in
his success.
Ever since I began a daily meditation practice, I have been able to stay focused on
creating the life I want no matter how many times the struggles of entrepreneurship
present themselves. Meditation allows me to stay centered and silence the chaos that runs
through my mind about all the things I want to do in my business and my life.
At first, the practice might be difficult, especially since we are so conditioned to constant
distractions. To get started, for at least 10 minutes a day, close your eyes, breathe in for
four seconds and breathe out for four seconds. With no external distractions, just focus
your mind on your breathe. If your mind wanders, that is okay. It is to be expected at
first. If that happens, notice where your mind goes and bring it back to your breathing.
Your breath serves as an anchor for you to direct your mind.
After a few days of meditation, you may not notice any changes in your life. But rest
assured, in time, this exercise will produce noticeable benefits in your focus, drive and
motivation.
3. Appreciate everything, everywhere
I do not like going into New York City. Nothing against the city, I just don’t like densely
packed crowded areas. Probably a side effect of my experience in Iraq with the US
Marines.
Nonetheless, I have now found a way to enjoy the city by appreciating every little thing
about it. I tell myself things like “I appreciate the effort and the risk the people who
built this building must have taken,” or “I appreciate the planning and hard work that went
into organizing the streets in this massive city.”
By appreciating everything around me, I generate value from an experience that otherwise
provided none. This keeps me inspired and motivated throughout my day in the city.
To build your appreciation muscles, at the end of every day, write down 3 things you are
grateful for, 3 things you accomplished and why they are of value to you.
Dr. Martin Seligman found that after six months this simple exercise led to reduced
depression, increased happiness and an overall improvement in the quality of life for those
that did this every day.
4. Change your physiology
Studies have shown that the simple act of smiling when practiced over time actually
reduces depression.
Smiling then is not just a reflection of joy, it is an act that creates joy as well.
In her research, social psychologist Amy Cuddy discovered that practicing a “power pose,”
which is nothing more than standing tall with chin held high and arms and elbows out, for
just 120 seconds is enough to create a 20 percent increase in testosterone and a 25
percent decrease in the stress hormone cortisol.
The next time you feel your motivation waning, stand tall and proud. Despite what might be
going through your mind, shape your body in a manner that reflects someone who is
unstoppable. Act like you are all powerful and your mind will believe it to be so.
5. Choose an empowering meaning to your experience
Any experience of life has no inherent meaning. We assign meanings to our experiences and
those meanings shape our quality of life.
In the bestselling book, Man’s Search for Meaning, psychiatrist Victor Frankl documents
his experiences in a concentration camp during the Holocaust.
Within the depths of hell, Victor Frankl chose to find meaning to his suffering. He wrote
of his experience, “If there is a meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in
suffering. Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death. Without
suffering and death human life cannot be complete.”
As a result of the meaning he gave to his experience, he not only survived the horrors of a
concentration camp, he lived a full life after he got out as well.
The next time you go through any kind of struggle and feel defeated by it, assign a label to
your emotional state, then ask yourself what is the meaning you are assigning to the
experience that has led to that state. Once you are clear on the meaning you are choosing,
refocus your mind on the future you want to create, the future that lies on the other side
of the struggle. Feel the emotion that this future produces in you. From that place, ask
yourself what else can I make this mean.
Motivation is nothing more than a state of mind. By shifting the meaning you assign to
experiences, you will be able to generate the state of mind of your choice no matter what
circumstances present themselves around you.
6. Get immense clarity on what you want to create
Without clarity, our conscious brain gets confused by the paradox of choice. When it
doesn’t know what to do, it will do nothing. Nobel Prize winning psychologist, Daniel
Kahneman states “that if there are several ways of achieving the same goal, people will
eventually gravitate to the least demanding course of action. Laziness is built deep into our
nature.”
Having immense clarity of purpose, mission, vision and goals gives you a clear target to
strive toward.
To develop that clarity, know exactly what you want and by when you want it. Don’t set a
goal like I want more money. How much more do you want and by what day do you want it?
Get clear on all the visions for your life so you have a reason to stay motivated when you
experience struggle.
7. Create systems using preemptive strikes
Systems prevent the lazy part of our brain from sabotaging us. They turn motivation and
success itself into an automatic act that you no longer need to consciously generate.
In a hospital in Scotland, a British psychologist gave a group of elderly patients
recovering from hip or knee surgery a notepad detailing their rehabilitation schedule. In
the last section of the notepad, there were thirteen pages that instructed the patients to
write down their goals for the week with exact details of what they were going to do and
when.
In three months, the researcher discovered that the patients who planned out their week
with specific details were walking twice as fast as the ones that did not. They were moving
in and out of their chairs without assistance three times faster than those that did not.
When the psychologist examined the notebooks, he found that the patients that healed the
fastest had written down how they would handle obstacles they knew would come up. One
patient knew that getting up from the couch would be a painful experience, so he wrote out
in detail a plan to manage that pain ahead of time, such as taking the first step right away
to resist the desire to sit down.
Whatever goals you have in your life, write out a detailed plan for how you intend to go
about accomplishing them. If you know you get lazy after work and don’t feel like going to
the gym, put your gym clothes right in front of the door so that you almost trip over them
when you walk into the home. Have your wife or husband unplug the TV. Write down
exactly what exercise you will and what time you will do it. The key is to make it as easy
as possible to act in the face of resistance without letting your brain come in the way.
By doing this, motivation will no longer be an act of the will, it will be nothing more than a
natural part of your day.
8. Surround yourself with other driven people
Jim Rohn once said “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”
Your environment plays a significant role in shaping your destiny. Imagine if you wanted to
run a marathon and everyone around you, your neighbor, your spouse, your family and your
friends were training for a marathon as well, how much easier would it be for you to train
for one?
As I mentioned in step 1, find ways to network and be around people with similar passions,
dreams and desires. Success is a team sport, no one does it alone. Build your team and work
together to keep each other motivated during those moments of struggle.
That’s it. Eight steps practiced repeatedly and success will turn from un uncertainty to an
inevitability.
If you got any value from this post, share in the comments below one thing you are
struggling with in terms of generating motivation and one tip you have for others to stay
motivated when times are tough.
matter how tough?
It’s mile 23, you have 3 more left and your leg starts cramping or you
just quit your job, started your own business and suddenly you can’t
find any clients. What do you do?
Any worthy endeavor requires struggle and hardship. Whether you strive for athletic
mastery or professional success or you are just looking for that perfect partner, there
will be moments in your journey when you want to quit. Those are the moments that shape
character and separate successful people from failures.
Zig Ziglar once said, “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does
bathing, that’s why we recommend it daily.”
Motivation is the fuel that keeps our inner fire shining bright. It keeps us pushing through
those moments when all seems lost.
Follow these eight steps and you will never again be beaten by circumstance. These eight
steps will allow you to generate motivation at will and define the path to your destiny.
1. Exercise Daily
When Sir Richard Branson was asked about his secret to productivity, his response was
working out. And he runs a multi-billion dollar empire, so he probably knows what he is
talking about.
Researchers have also found that when people start exercising, even if it’s just once a
week, they start improving habits in other areas of lives as well. They start eating better,
they get more done at work and they show more patience in their relationships. James
Prochaska, a a researcher at the University of Rhode Island says “ exercise spills over.
There’s something about it that makes other good habits easier.”
Regular exercise is the quickest way to build confidence and increase motivation.
To get started on an exercise routine, find a local race, sign up for it and start training. It
could be a 5k, a triathlon, a half marathon or a bike race. It does not matter what the race
is, but by signing up for an event, you have a clear target to aim toward, you commit to it
by paying the event fees and it is a great way to meet other driven, motivated people like
yourself, which will help you with step 8 as well.
2. Practice stillness
In his research, Dr. Andrew Newberg found that those that engage in some form of
meditation have greater activity in the parts of the brain associated with focus and
attention than those that do not.
Meditation acts like a gym for the brain. It works out the conscious, thinking parts of the
brain and reduces activity in the emotional parts of our brain out of our control.
Bestselling author Jack Canfield attributes meditation to be the most important factor in
his success.
Ever since I began a daily meditation practice, I have been able to stay focused on
creating the life I want no matter how many times the struggles of entrepreneurship
present themselves. Meditation allows me to stay centered and silence the chaos that runs
through my mind about all the things I want to do in my business and my life.
At first, the practice might be difficult, especially since we are so conditioned to constant
distractions. To get started, for at least 10 minutes a day, close your eyes, breathe in for
four seconds and breathe out for four seconds. With no external distractions, just focus
your mind on your breathe. If your mind wanders, that is okay. It is to be expected at
first. If that happens, notice where your mind goes and bring it back to your breathing.
Your breath serves as an anchor for you to direct your mind.
After a few days of meditation, you may not notice any changes in your life. But rest
assured, in time, this exercise will produce noticeable benefits in your focus, drive and
motivation.
3. Appreciate everything, everywhere
I do not like going into New York City. Nothing against the city, I just don’t like densely
packed crowded areas. Probably a side effect of my experience in Iraq with the US
Marines.
Nonetheless, I have now found a way to enjoy the city by appreciating every little thing
about it. I tell myself things like “I appreciate the effort and the risk the people who
built this building must have taken,” or “I appreciate the planning and hard work that went
into organizing the streets in this massive city.”
By appreciating everything around me, I generate value from an experience that otherwise
provided none. This keeps me inspired and motivated throughout my day in the city.
To build your appreciation muscles, at the end of every day, write down 3 things you are
grateful for, 3 things you accomplished and why they are of value to you.
Dr. Martin Seligman found that after six months this simple exercise led to reduced
depression, increased happiness and an overall improvement in the quality of life for those
that did this every day.
4. Change your physiology
Studies have shown that the simple act of smiling when practiced over time actually
reduces depression.
Smiling then is not just a reflection of joy, it is an act that creates joy as well.
In her research, social psychologist Amy Cuddy discovered that practicing a “power pose,”
which is nothing more than standing tall with chin held high and arms and elbows out, for
just 120 seconds is enough to create a 20 percent increase in testosterone and a 25
percent decrease in the stress hormone cortisol.
The next time you feel your motivation waning, stand tall and proud. Despite what might be
going through your mind, shape your body in a manner that reflects someone who is
unstoppable. Act like you are all powerful and your mind will believe it to be so.
5. Choose an empowering meaning to your experience
Any experience of life has no inherent meaning. We assign meanings to our experiences and
those meanings shape our quality of life.
In the bestselling book, Man’s Search for Meaning, psychiatrist Victor Frankl documents
his experiences in a concentration camp during the Holocaust.
Within the depths of hell, Victor Frankl chose to find meaning to his suffering. He wrote
of his experience, “If there is a meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in
suffering. Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death. Without
suffering and death human life cannot be complete.”
As a result of the meaning he gave to his experience, he not only survived the horrors of a
concentration camp, he lived a full life after he got out as well.
The next time you go through any kind of struggle and feel defeated by it, assign a label to
your emotional state, then ask yourself what is the meaning you are assigning to the
experience that has led to that state. Once you are clear on the meaning you are choosing,
refocus your mind on the future you want to create, the future that lies on the other side
of the struggle. Feel the emotion that this future produces in you. From that place, ask
yourself what else can I make this mean.
Motivation is nothing more than a state of mind. By shifting the meaning you assign to
experiences, you will be able to generate the state of mind of your choice no matter what
circumstances present themselves around you.
6. Get immense clarity on what you want to create
Without clarity, our conscious brain gets confused by the paradox of choice. When it
doesn’t know what to do, it will do nothing. Nobel Prize winning psychologist, Daniel
Kahneman states “that if there are several ways of achieving the same goal, people will
eventually gravitate to the least demanding course of action. Laziness is built deep into our
nature.”
Having immense clarity of purpose, mission, vision and goals gives you a clear target to
strive toward.
To develop that clarity, know exactly what you want and by when you want it. Don’t set a
goal like I want more money. How much more do you want and by what day do you want it?
Get clear on all the visions for your life so you have a reason to stay motivated when you
experience struggle.
7. Create systems using preemptive strikes
Systems prevent the lazy part of our brain from sabotaging us. They turn motivation and
success itself into an automatic act that you no longer need to consciously generate.
In a hospital in Scotland, a British psychologist gave a group of elderly patients
recovering from hip or knee surgery a notepad detailing their rehabilitation schedule. In
the last section of the notepad, there were thirteen pages that instructed the patients to
write down their goals for the week with exact details of what they were going to do and
when.
In three months, the researcher discovered that the patients who planned out their week
with specific details were walking twice as fast as the ones that did not. They were moving
in and out of their chairs without assistance three times faster than those that did not.
When the psychologist examined the notebooks, he found that the patients that healed the
fastest had written down how they would handle obstacles they knew would come up. One
patient knew that getting up from the couch would be a painful experience, so he wrote out
in detail a plan to manage that pain ahead of time, such as taking the first step right away
to resist the desire to sit down.
Whatever goals you have in your life, write out a detailed plan for how you intend to go
about accomplishing them. If you know you get lazy after work and don’t feel like going to
the gym, put your gym clothes right in front of the door so that you almost trip over them
when you walk into the home. Have your wife or husband unplug the TV. Write down
exactly what exercise you will and what time you will do it. The key is to make it as easy
as possible to act in the face of resistance without letting your brain come in the way.
By doing this, motivation will no longer be an act of the will, it will be nothing more than a
natural part of your day.
8. Surround yourself with other driven people
Jim Rohn once said “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”
Your environment plays a significant role in shaping your destiny. Imagine if you wanted to
run a marathon and everyone around you, your neighbor, your spouse, your family and your
friends were training for a marathon as well, how much easier would it be for you to train
for one?
As I mentioned in step 1, find ways to network and be around people with similar passions,
dreams and desires. Success is a team sport, no one does it alone. Build your team and work
together to keep each other motivated during those moments of struggle.
That’s it. Eight steps practiced repeatedly and success will turn from un uncertainty to an
inevitability.
If you got any value from this post, share in the comments below one thing you are
struggling with in terms of generating motivation and one tip you have for others to stay
motivated when times are tough.
Comments
Post a Comment