Our goal this month has been to remind ourselves how important it is to influence ourselves on a regular basis to stay motivated to do the right things at the right time.
Plus if we do not learn the skills of motivation how can we get our support team motivated to do whatever it takes in our businesses . Learning the art of self-motivation is one of the most powerful and rewarding gifts you can give yourself . Until now, you may have depended on others to motivate you, but the truth is — all motivation comes from within . In fact, the difference between a successful person and an average person is their degree of motivation . One of the first steps toward developing self-motivation is to create desire . Napoleon Hill, author of the most popular success books in our time, Think and Grow Rich and Laws of Success, said, “The starting point of all achievement is desire . Keep this constantly in mind . Weak desire brings weak results, just as a small amount of fire makes a small amount of heat .”
Think about it . In order to use your life energy in the most effective way you must tap into your deepest motivation, which is your desires. And when your desire strengthens, your motivation increases ten fold. Your desires are a critical factor in what you accomplish in life. Most of us have been taught to not honor our deepest desires, but to follow more traditional safe paths.
Not too long ago I took my next door neighbor, Mrs . Holly, out to dinner . In the midst of our conversation, she said, “It’s never your mistakes that eat you alive — it’s the missed opportunities . Mistakes are simply chances to try again, but missed opportunities are lost forever and remain to haunt you .” As a young woman in the early 1950’s, Mrs . Holly had a passionate desire to become an artist, but no one in her family believed she had talent . Eventually she gave up her heart’s desire, to become a housewife like most women of her day . Today, she still gets teary-eyed when she talks about it . What’s more, she said, if she were young again, nothing on earth could stop her from going abroad and becoming an artist . As Pearl Buck said, “There were many ways of breaking a heart… but what really broke a heart was taking away its dream — whatever that dream might be .”
The truth for many of us is that the passionate desire to live out our dreams has been forgotten . All too often, we have put them on a shelf to care for others’ needs and desires . We are the cheerleaders and supporters of others, yet we haven’t given ourselves permission to go for our own dreams and desires . Don’t let yourself be another Mrs . Holly, with memories of what you wanted to do, but didn’t because of circumstances . Life is too short to not look honestly at yourself and ask, “What do I want? What desires do I have that I have not yet fulfilled?” What can you do today to really live your life, not just exist?
You need to listen to the inner you, reawaken your deepest desires and begin to take specific action toward fulfilling them — no matter how long it takes . Remember, destiny is not a matter of chance — it’s a matter of choice . Your power to be rich starts with the desire to use your talents, skills and abilities in ways that make you happy . I love the old saying “Success is not a still picture, it’s a moving picture .” It says to me that success is the way you live your life, its what you do every day that counts .
