Wealth Inspiration Blog

The key to mastering motivation is to know why you want to do something and being excited by that. If you just get up everyday so you can go to work to pay the bills you’re not going to be very excited.

What is it that Excites You!

What is it that excites you, what do you love or have a passion for? Many people get a lot of enjoyment from helping others, even on a small scale; it creates a bigger picture as to why we are here. Do you want to be the best parent or spouse you can be, artist, teacher, doctor, whatever it is, work at keeping it exciting. What you are really passionate about will give you a clue to your purpose and your purpose will give you the guidelines and boundaries for which to structure your life. If you can work out your purpose you have taken the first step to mastering motivation.

We all have days when we just don’t feel like doing anything and may even have felt like giving up, it’s perfectly normal. You want to be successful though and successful people will make an effort to look for something that will inspire and motivate them, to turn a down day into a motivating day. Whether it is audios, seminars, books, movies, or simply a well earned reward; whatever you can to do get back on track and stay motivated, use what works for you. It’s true that your motivation, no matter how great your purpose, can wane so giving yourself a daily dose of motivation will keep you going.

Knowing why you want to do something is the first step to staying motivated next you need to realize what the benefits will be. It’s a good idea to write everything down, write a list of all the benefits you will have by continuing to stay motivated and work on achieving your purpose. Breaking your purpose down into goals will give you some order and milestone checks along the way. Be aware though that a purpose is something that you may continue to work on for your whole life and that this is a good thing. It’s also why you need to recognize your achievements along the way as this will help keep you motivated as well.

What is it that You Desire

Another important ingredient to keep you motivated is desire. Desire can be all consuming it’s what gives you the strength to persevere with your goals. Desire can be explained by the words, determination, perseverance and focus. Just think of yourself in the first few months of a new love, you would do anything for that person and nothing is too much trouble. Usually at that time you couldn’t be happier you feel satisfied and fulfilled. Think of your purpose in that light, it’s about making the whole thing bigger than you. People feel satisfied and fulfilled when they are able to make a difference to others lives it’s a very rewarding experience, a win, win.

When obstacles come welcome them, you can overcome and you will be stronger for it. Let the obstacles that you face reveal a person of great strength and character, we all have it in us to be great. Helen Keller overcame being born deaf, dumb and blind, to her life was a daring adventure, yours can be to.

Your environment can also play a part in how motivated you feel. Can you remember a time when you felt really motivated? Where were you? Who were you with? What were you doing? What were you thinking? What were you motivated about? Do certain people inspire you? Do you spend enough time around them? What things can you do to motivate yourself on a bad day?

Tolls to Mastering Motivation

Maybe you could make a tape of some uplifting music or inspirational speakers. Collect a range of movies or books that fuel your desires. Spend some time in areas that help you to feel good such as beaches or parks. A few excellent motivators include Jamie McIntyre, Tony Robbins and Kurek Ashley. Some great books include ‘The Magic of Thinking Big’ by David J Schwartz PhD and ‘The Secret’ by Rhonda Byrne. Some motivating songs you might like are ‘Beautiful Day’ by U2 and ‘I Believe I Can Fly’ by R Kelly.

Arm yourself with some motivating tools, keep a plan and diary of your progress, reward your milestones and you will become a force to be reckoned with. Go for it.

Unless you’re extremely fortunate, you’ll be waiting forever for the best opportunities to fall into your lap, you need to be out there seizing and creating your own. For example you’re going to better improve your opportunities of finding the best investment property, stocks, job or whatever you may be interested in, if you’re out consistently looking for them. This might involve going to open houses every weekend, reading company reports, ringing around for desired jobs, searching for business opportunities or maybe turning your skills into an entrepreneurial venture.

It all about your Mindset

Making your own opportunities is about realising your full potential, it’s about building the character you need to create success and keep it in your life. I’m sure you have heard of people winning the lottery only to have spent or lost it in one to two years and be back where they started. As much as they wanted wealth they just weren’t prepared to cope with it. When you decide to go and make your own opportunities you are taking steps towards developing the mindset of a millionaire. Opportunities are everywhere but unless you are looking it could be a long wait for them to find you. It is also often the case that you may even miss an opportunity that’s right in front of you just because you aren’t taking any action. The ability to see opportunities is actually a developed personality attribute that can be explained in more detail by Dean Whittingham in his eBooks available at www.selfimprovementmindpower.com.

Something else we tend to do if we aren’t focusing on making opportunities, we tend to make excuses. There may be reasons in your life that make it more difficult for you than for some, but obstacles can always be overcome with the right attitude. An excuse gives you permission not to do or achieve something but if you recognise your obstacle as a reason you give yourself permission to find a solution. Making your own opportunities can take many forms and it simply means you find a way to achieve your goals by taking some form of positive action.

Ways to Make your Own Opportunities

I heard a story once of a redundant sales manager who wanted to find a high paying and rewarding job. So instead of just looking in the paper he decided to invest all his resources and advertise himself on national television at a peak viewing time. He received several job offers that same evening. Another story you may have heard was a young man printing his resume on a billboard and wearing it outside the offices in the area he wanted to work. If you want to purchase a certain type of property do you sit back and wait for the one you want to appear in the paper and then compete against the rest of the market? Or do you make up a small flyer and drop it in some letterboxes to find a willing seller?

Here is a short exercise you can do yourself or in a group to practise making your own opportunities.

• Write down what it is you want to achieve.
• Create a relaxed environment.
• Read out your objective or goal.
• Write down the first idea that comes to mind.
• Continue to do this, having a few friends or family to help makes it even better
  Read out each idea without criticism. Wild and crazy ideas are just as great as any others.
• Combine, alter or improve on any of the ideas. You will find they will gradually evolve. Continue to note these down.
• Continue for about 20 minutes.
• Discuss and evaluate how particular ideas could be put into practice.

Then go out and make it happen, but don’t forget some small rewards along the way are ok and help to keep it all balanced.

Everyone wants to achieve something in life, often though we don’t allow ourselves to be all we can be. We may have had experiences throughout our lives that have led us to believe we can’t do certain things. These feelings cause us to live our lives with much less than we want or could have. You were born and you have as much right as anyone to be here and achieve great things in your life. So decide today that your thoughts will change to ones of great expectations, grateful for whatever you have then set some goals and work your way towards them.

Don’t get disheartened by Shortcomings

Every now and then you may get disheartened when you’ve set a goal and the deadline is coming up and you’re nowhere near it or you’ve fallen short of what you wanted to achieve. For example if you set a goal of making $1,000,000 in 2 years and you find that you’ve only earned $200,000 after 1 year then you may need to re-evaluate your strategy but you shouldn’t lose sight of your ultimate goal if anything you should raise your standard.

Even if you feel that you can’t work any harder you probably can, but be honest when you make this assessment. Increase your efforts slightly and see what difference it makes, it may not always be possible to maintain it continually, but attempt to always improve your effort.

It has been scientifically determined that as adults we probably sleep a lot more than we really need to. If you find that you just can’t seem to get everything done in a day try waking up earlier each day. Go to bed at the same time but gradually increase your waking up time by 5 mins until you find yourself with an extra 15, 30 or even 60 minutes a day. Think of what you could do with that time, go for a run, meditate, read or anything that would improve your life. Time is not negotiable we all get the same amount each day it’s what we do with it that makes a difference.

Don’t get bogged down by negativity

Keeping your expectations high even when things don’t look so great certainly puts you on the right side of success. If you allow yourself to get bogged down by negative thoughts regarding your progress you will slow yourself down even more. Always know a solution can be found are you using all your resources, have you developed a network of people you can go to for information and advice? Have you remained open to learning and researching new methods to achieve your goal, could you do any further training that would help?

Maybe you do need a day off, take one, project yourself into the future promising yourself that once a certain task is completed you will reward yourself. Stay on your path to your goal, keep your expectations high no matter what, even if you don’t quite make it you are certainly closer than if you did nothing and you have learned a lot. You know a lot more about what it’s going to take to achieve your goal and if you never give up you’re already a winner.

The journey to success can have many distractions and obstacles that can lead you off course. There is a way to overcome the tempting detours and maintain the right path, have a plan and stick to it. Even if it starts off being extremely basic with just basic goals, milestones, strategies etc. the idea is to know where you’re going and work out what is required to get there. Once you get more involved you will be able to adjust and fine tune your plan to be more effective.

How to Turn a Goal into a Plan

For example your goal may just be to have $6,000 in savings in 6 months, you may work out that you need to work an extra 5 hrs of overtime a week, dine out only once a week and ride the bus to work twice a week, this would be your plan. Your milestone may be to ensure you have $3,000 at the end of 3 months and if not you may need to re-adjust your plan to be able to achieve your goal. Whatever the size or style of goal you may have, the same basic idea can be applied.

So the idea of having a plan is to find out what you have to do to achieve your goal. There are two types of plans short term and long term both require action. Some long term plans may need to be broken down into short term plans in order for them to have realistic steps. Looking too far ahead often results in inaction as you just can’t navigate your way from where you are to where you want to be. Breaking things down and focusing on achieving the short term stages will keep you moving and keep your long range goal in sight.

What’s a Plan Involve

All plans have some basic steps:-

• An Intention or goal
• What do you want to achieve?
• A method to achieve your goal
• What do you need to do? Make a list and prioritise, note down when you will begin.
• What resources are required?
• List all the resources you can foresee you will need. Education, information, skills, finance, equipment etc.
• Milestones, a review of progress and when that will be done
• Decide on some timeframes and dates for reviewing your progress have you achieved your chosen milestones as planned.
• Adjustments are any changes required to achieve your goal.
• As you progress through your plan you are able to assess your progress and make any necessary changes to keep you on track.

Plans are not carved in stone they are orderly but they must be flexible. As you make progress new ideas, resources or challenges will appear, at these times you can rework your plan and still know where and how you are going.

A final note on planning is to know why you want to achieve your goal. You may not think ‘why’ is part of your plan but why is your motivation. If you don’t have a why, then why have a plan. Don’t confuse your ‘why’ with your goal. Your goal might be financial security but your why is to do ‘whatever you want whenever you want’. Put your why right at the top of your plan. Then just follow all the steps you have put in place. You’re well on your way to a more successful life.

If you’re not already successful, or haven’t started on your journey to success, you’re probably sitting there saying to yourself, “I can’t be successful” or “There’s no use doing anything about it because…”, “…I have no money.”, “…I’m not good enough.”, “…I don’t know what to do.” whatever your reason may be, you need to get over it. Just for example, if Beethoven can be born deaf and go on to be one of the world’s greatest composers, and Joni Erickson who is paralysed from the neck down can learn to paint with her mouth and sell her paintings for millions, then I would really like to hear what is stopping you. Any setback can be overcome, you may need to adjust your approach now and again but if you want something bad enough, there is always a way.

Everyone has Success In them

There are so many examples of people overcoming such great odds to achieve things way above what any one would have expected of them. I’m sure you have felt, as I have at times, because of a tragedy or adversity that you just don’t want to get up in the morning or you wonder what is the point of everything we have to do. What makes people overcome such horrendous tragedies as many have and go on and live great lives? Whatever it is we all have it, it is in each of us, it is a gift we have been given and we must use it.

When we die our bodies may be gone but what we have done with our lives the people we have affected those things live on, make a choice to leave a positive legacy behind you. The more challenging your obstacle the greater your gift to the world can be. So please do not give up, do not make excuses, instead make a decision that you will find a way to overcome your burdens and turn them into victories. You may leave something great behind as Beethoven did or you may overcome a smaller challenge as simple as changing the way you think about yourself.

What’s Your Excuse?

Not every one has huge obstacles in their way some may be much smaller but just as dangerous on your road to success. Maybe you don’t like to speak in public and as this is a requirement in your job you either avoid it or give a poor performance, resulting in being overlooked for promotion. You can make excuses and do nothing to change this fear and thereby remain stuck or you can do something about it. You could consider joining a public speaking group, you could also examine your reason for having such a fear, most likely carried forward from a childhood experience. Work at changing your attitude and approach, learn to laugh at yourself and develop some tactics to help you deal with or overcome your fear.

Whatever you do or whatever your goals are they are the tools that will provide you with a rich and rewarding life. When your time comes to leave this world, as it must, leave it with a smile on your face knowing you gave it your all that you truly did live.

How do you see your life? Where have your thoughts and beliefs taken you? Are you where you want to be? Can you be doing any self improvement?

Get Someone Else’s Perspective

You are where you are because of the thoughts and beliefs you’ve had up till now. Is there something you want that just keeps eluding you? Look at your life from a different perspective, ask for some constructive feedback from someone you know who has what you want. Maybe it’s a great relationship or a better financial position, if they have it and you don’t you can be sure their thoughts or beliefs are going to be different to yours.

What if you changed some of the thoughts that run though your head everyday, questioned your beliefs or core values? What possibilities would you be opening up for yourself?

We do get stuck, stuck in safe or familiar territory even if we don’t like it. Changing your life is as simple as changing what you think, look at your life from a different perspective. It’s a definite possibility that you have more than a lot of other people. Look at your life from a gratitude perspective, be grateful for the people and things in your life no matter how small, and see what might change.

Do something Differently

Try something you have never tried before, maybe you have always felt you wanted to do something but there was always a reason not too. It’s easy to let yourself off with excuses like not enough time or money, or that dreaded fear of failure. The fact is we don’t have to get everything right the first time. When things go wrong as they sometimes will get some honest feedback from someone you trust and who is successful themselves. It could be something you’re missing that they may be able to pick up on, they may be able to throw some good ideas your way or just help you see another way of doing things.

You’re not expected to know everything either it’s OK to ask for help or to source an outsider’s expertise. Networking comes in handy here. The relationships you develop on your journey through life and to success can all potentially add value and you should always try to do the same. You don’t know what resources others have until you ask, they may have something that you are struggling to access right at their finger tips and vice versa. You may even be able to start a successful partnership with someone along the way.

Different Perspective of Yourself

You not only, sometimes, need another person’s different perspective but you do need to do this yourself, through your own eyes and on a regular basis. Step back, reflect on what you have accomplished so far, examine your milestones and ensure you are still heading in the right direction. Repositioning along the way to success is perfectly normal and to be expected. If you have been struggling with something specific, rather than continuing to battle this issue, reflect on what has not been working, and reposition yourself.

Looking at things from a different perspective, getting another person’s opinion or brainstorming with friends, family or colleagues can make a huge difference to your progress.

Determined Puppy!

Just thought I’d share this great video of a puppy showing some real determination. He has a goal and does what he can to achieve it. Taking a big risk while the other puppies just sit back and watch him.What a great lesson for us all. Enjoy

Thought I’d post a couple of great quotes I’ve enjoyed reading, hope you enjoy them as well.

“Wealth is not a matter of intelligence it’s a matter of inspiration.”
Jim Rohn

“Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is.”
Vince Lombardi

“Goals are the fuel in the furnace of achievement.”
Brian Tracy

“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.”
Robert Collier

“If you never quit, you’ll never fail.”
Unknown

“Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success.”
Dr. Joyce Brothers

“To succeed, you need to take that gut feeling in what you believe and act on it with all of your heart.”
Christy Borgeld

“When you know what you want,and you want it badly enough,you’ll find a way to get it .”
Jim Rohn

“Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve.”
Mary Kay Ash

“Mastering our Minds’ Manipulators” by John Bear 2001

Your life is a product of what you think; it’s not so much about what happens to you or what’s going on around you, but how you react. John Bear aims to raise our awareness on the basic principles that govern our lives. He covers many areas that affect the quality of our lives and discusses how becoming more aware of these, gives us the opportunity to make more informed, and therefore better, choices. Without this basic understanding and awareness the reason for many of the choices we make, and subsequently, the results of those choices cannot be understood.

What is it that governs our decisions? Why do we have to have the latest gadgets bought on credit? Buy designer clothes we can’t really afford knowing they are overpriced? What are the thoughts and impulses that drive us to succeed or not? Are we driven by fear and if so, fear of what? How do our choices impact the world around us?

The subjects raised may challenge your beliefs and if you decide to read this book require an open mind willing to give consideration to the thoughts put forth.

When we rely on sources outside of ourselves for our well-being we give away our own personal power. Governments, the media and institutions rely on this for their own gain above ours. Once they have won us over with promises and policies, it remains in their interest to only give information that benefits them and strengthens their position. Expanding your knowledge base and awareness through self education, exploring private investing and always questioning the information you are given is essential if you are to stand up and accept responsibility for your own life.

To sit back and complain about the state of your life, the economy or world has no effect except to leave you more exposed to the events that will happen. Remember it’s not about what happens to you, but how you respond that determines the outcome, at the time and in the future. John Bear looks deeply into how the governing bodies of politics, religions and the media use their power to manipulate our thinking, so that they will profit and be secure in their positions, whilst we flounder with no choice but to reach out to them for help.

‘Mastering our Minds’ Manipulators’ is an eye opening exploration into who we are, and what responsibilities we carry by being here. It encourages self education and awareness that allows you to make decisions in your life based on reaching out for the truth. You don’t have to accept everything you’re told, or believe that only one way is right. You will empower yourself by deciding you are no longer a victim of circumstance, ‘For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.’ Prov.23.7.

Arren

Goal setting is a great way to help you realise your ideal future, whether short or long term. It is also very powerful in motivating yourself to turn those goals of your ideal future into a reality.

By realising your ideal future and setting it as a goal, you’ll have a very effective means of determining where you need to concentrate your efforts, and if anything your doing is preventing you from getting what you want.

Effectively setting goals and achieving them is a great way to build confidence and motivation in other goals you set for yourself, and may inspire others to set goals for themselves.

WRITING DOWN YOUR GOALS
When writing down your goals you don’t have to have the perfect list the first time, you can do up several drafts, add on goals whenever you like, but is it usually is not very helpful to be crossing out or being flexible with goals you haven’t achieved. Instead re-think the goal, work out why you didn’t achieve it and then set goals to make up for your shortcomings.

There many different levels of goal setting. First there are the major goals you want to achieve in life, and then there are the minor goals which may be the required steps to achieve your major goals.

SETTING YOUR MAJOR LIFE GOALS
Major life goals are usually those which are what you ultimately want in life, such as getting your dream home, having a family, getting your dream job, or maybe not having to work at all. They can usually fall under these broad categories below:

• Personality:
• Career:
• Education:
• Family/Friends:
• Financial:
• Physical/Health:
• Pleasure/Lifestyle:
• Public Service/Charity:

If you’re having trouble coming up with some goals, try and think of and write down at least one thing for each of these categories above. For example for Public Service/Charity your goal might be “I will donate $50,000 to Children’s Hospitals by 10th September 2010.”

Now with this new list of your goals select the ones that you really feel strongly about and create a more exclusive list of significant goals. This should now be a list of your major goals, give them dates, elaborate on them, and revise them regularly.

Additional tips for ensuring more effective goal setting are:
• State each goal as a positive statement: For example “I will be happy” as opposed to “I won’t be miserable”.

• Be precise: To ensure you achieve your goal how you want it when you want it, you need to be precise. For example your goal might be “Finish Uni” now this could mean anything doesn’t say when, how, what course, what grades you’ll get, etc. If you where to set the goal as “I will graduate from University with a GPA of 6.0 in Bachelor of Engineering by November 2007” then your setting a much more effective goal and I’ve spoken how this has worked for me in
The Power of Thought.

• Set priorities: Prioritising is quite important in setting goals, especially if you have a lot of them. It will help you focus on the most and important and relevant ones at that time, and prevent you from getting overwhelmed by all the others.

• Write goals down: Carve them in stone if you have to, do what ever you can to enforce them into your head. Writing them down reading them, rewriting them again can be very effective in impressing your goals into your subconscious.

• Set goals you have control over: You don’t really want to dishearten yourself by setting goals you don’t achieve and this can happen with goals that you have no real control over. For example you may want a new car, it would be much more effective for you to set the goal that you’ll save enough money to buy your car by the end of the year, but wouldn’t be very effective if your goal was to have your parents save enough money to buy you a car as you most probably won’t have much control over what they save.

• Set realistic goals: There is nothing wrong with dreaming big, however you need to be able to appreciate the potential obstacles that you may face. For someone with no job no money and no career, that wants to be rich an unrealistic goal may be to make 1 million dollars in 24 hours, although I’m not doubting the possibilities a more realistic goal would maybe to make 1 million dollars in 5 years. And provided that the person acted towards that goal I have no doubt that they would achieve there goal in 5 years if not sooner.

If you’re not already setting goals I suggest you start, you will come to realise the power of them and find that with goal setting, belief and action you’ll be getting exactly what you want in life.