Self Motivational Focus Through Goal Setting

Posted on September 30th, 2008 by admin in self motivational

Although I said in my last self motivational post that its not goals but action that gets results we do need to have focus for our actions by setting goals in the first place. If you haven’t made a start to goal setting then take a blank sheet of paper, if you have made a start get out your existing goals and review them using this process. Set aside some quiet time to do this with no distractions from other people, phones or emails.

So start big by thinking of your life goals under a few headings eg family and relationships, business/career, financial, personal development. Under each heading list the things you want to achieve before you die, think big and inspire yourself. Don’t start off by saying I can never achieve such great things part of being self motivational is to dream a little and then you can do the reality check later. (however you may just inspire yourself enough to say yes I can reach for some of these big goals when it comes to the reality check).

Once you have these lists, and take plenty of time to create them, you then go back through them and do the reality check to narrow them down to no more than 3 main priorities under each category. Ask yourself, am I inspired enough to go for each of the potential goals on the list. If you are not inspired then it is unlikely that you will make a real go at achieving them. It is said that we can achieve anything we are inspired to aim for. All you have to do is

1 Decide what you want to achieve

2 Be clear about the price you will need to pay to achieve it

3 Pay the price

So as you go through your list realise that even if you are inspired to do something, if you are not prepared to pay the price eg work regularly on your self motivational techniques, do the training to obtain new skills, give up the time (from family and friends) etc then you will be unlikely to succeed.

Once you have settled on your top 3 priorities under each category what you need to do next is break them down into medium term objectives on a 3-5 year horizon. Then take these and break them down into short term objectives which you feel you can achieve over a 6-12 month period. Once you have achieved this prioritisation then a very useful self motivational technique I recommend is that you write the long term life goals and your intermediate and short objectives on cards and use these every morning to focus on your goals and objectives. It will give you a great start to the day and begin to move you towards achieving your goals.

Technorati Tags:

admin

Post Comment

Being Self Motivational Means Taking Action

Posted on September 29th, 2008 by admin in self motivational

To be self motivational yes you need clear goals and a step by step action plan but none of these have any value unless you take action. It is action that brings success and as we know success is self motivational in itself. How can we move from the visioning and planning phases into action? For many they are like rabbits frozen in the headlights of life. The pace of life is so fast they are numbed and feel unable to take even a hesitant step out into the fast flowing current of events happening around them.

Others have difficulty in being self motivational because they are perfectionists. Until all the ‘i’s are dotted and all the ‘t’s are crossed they are not prepared to risk themselves out there in that ‘jungle of life’. They will then procrastinate with an unbelievable level of skill to avoid taking any action. They then will have a long list of excuses as to why factors outside their control are preventing them from attaining their goals.

Very often it is a fear of failure that holds us back. So if we don’t take action then nothing can go wrong and we can’t be criticised. This barrier to being self motivational is often found on people who have been heavily criticised as a child and have grown up with little or no encouragement to succeed. All their failures are highlighted in the glare of full publicity. While their successes are ignored or denied.

How do I know all this because I, like many others, was guilty of falling for these lies that life serves up to us. It was further reinforced through my work activity where the mantra of the day was “doing things right first time”. Once I learned that no successful person had ever been successful by doing it right first time I found a way forward. I learned that there are no successes or failures only outcomes. You either have the outcome you desired or an outcome which didn’t deliver the results you were looking for. This latter outcome is very useful in learning, if nothing else, what not to do next time to achieve the outcome I am looking for.

So therefore taking any action is better than taking no action at all as long as you are prepared to learn from the outcomes that haven’t yet achieved what you set out to do. We will discuss in future items on self motivational techniques about the focus you get from goals and targeting your efforts through clear action plans. But for now let us dip our toe in the water and feel what it is like to take action and don’t worry about the consequences. You will find it highly self motivational.

Technorati Tags:

admin

Post Comment