1,001 WAYS TO MOTIVATE YOURSELF & OTHERS

 1,001 WAYS TO MOTIVATE YOURSELF & OTHERS

The Roots of Motivation

Motivation is a force that creates behavior to fulfill a need.  It is not necessarily positive or negative, fulfilling or frustrating.  It can be all, some or none of these.  How often have you heard the phrase “Police are still searching for a motive”?  Yes, people can also be motivated to take negative actions.  Motivation is a powerful and complex force that causes us to act.  Motivation itself is not an observable phenomenon, but the force behind the resulting behavior.  One behavior can have many possible motives.

Basically there are two levels of motivation: survival and achievement.  Survival needs include safety, nourishment, shelter and procreation.  These fundamental physical needs must be fulfilled to satisfy our body’s daily requirements.  Once these basic needs are satisfied, we begin to look to other areas of need including achievement, emotional fulfillment, personal growth, and self worth.

The key to motivating a person into action lies in knowing which of these needs is most prominent in that person at a particular point in time.  Motivating forces are not universal.  They are subjective and can change at a moments notice as priorities change.  What motivates today may seem hollow and useless tomorrow.

WHAT MOTIVATES:

Below is a list of the emotions and needs that ignite people to action:-

Achievement	Acquisition	Advancement	Affiliation	Ambition
Balance	Belonging	Betrayal	Camaraderie	Challenge
Confidence	Consistency	Construction	Control	Co-operation
Defense	Desperation	Defense	Desperation	Education
Excitement	Fairness	Fear	Forgiveness	Freedom
Harmony	Hatred	Information	Involvement	Learning
Order	Peace	Politics	Power	Praise
Redemption	Respect	Responsibility	Resolution	Retention
Self worth	Sharing	Anger	Status	Stress Relief
Unity	Vanity	Change	Vision	Autonomy
Esteem	Happiness	Creation	Recognition	Self Improvement
Ego	Giving	Revenge	Love	Prestige

 

THEORIES OF MOTIVATION

There are several theories of motivation.  Here we will discuss only three types of motivational theories.

The Behavioral Theory, probably the most commonly known motivational theory, states that desired behaviors recur when reinforced and that people can be influenced to behave like others whom they see rewarded for such behavior.  According to the Behavioral Theory, one person can motivate another person simply by rewarding desirable behavior and punishing or ignoring undesirable behavior.

The Cognitive Theory suggests that people are most motivated by things that pique their curiosity and are interest or fun.  This theory relies heavily on intrinsic motivation and the desire of the individual to answer a question, fulfill a need or achieve competency in a subject.  It doesn’t however, account for the reasons that people endure intense or prolonged suffering (neither interesting nor fun) to achieve a goal.

The Humanistic View is based on idea that people have a fundamental drive to fulfill certain needs in a specific order.  The basic human needs, according to the theory, are physiological satiation, safety, belonging, esteem, self- actualization, understanding and aesthetic.    Somewhat similarly, the Achievement Theory states that people develop a need for achievement and seek to fulfill that need while avoiding the possibility of failure.

While each theory has merits and applies in many real-life cases, a blanket theory to motivate people in every situation is elusive.  Motivation depends upon having an understanding of people and their wants and needs.  Your ability to identify and fulfill these fundamental needs is the key to being a successful motivator.

KEY IDEAS

There are several key ideas that are essential to understand motivation.

Motivation is a force, positive or negative that causes us to act

Understanding the underlying motive behind the action is the key to motivating anyone, including you.

Every motive we have for action arises from a need and our desire to satisfy it.

Motives come in many forms and change throughout our lives.

Motivation is the act of encouraging someone to do something they need to do, but may not be able to initiate on their own.  Manipulation is the act of deceiving someone into doing something they might not otherwise do.

Motive can change during an activity.

To create a strong incentive, your reward for achieving a behavior must be directly tied to the motive for action

WAYS TO MOTIVE YOURSELF

“Knowing and doing are as different as night and day.”

The gap between knowing and doing is where great men and women are made or lost.  Most of us know what we have to do to achieve our dreams, but we have a hundred and one reasons not to act on our knowledge.  We don’t have enough money, we don’t have enough time, we don’t have the skills, we don’t have the materials, we don’t have the patience, we don’t have the courage, and on and on into eternity.

The reality is that with all of the energy we use to think up and justify those excuses, we could be half way to achieving our goals.  If only we had the motivation to get started on the “doing”.  Once we can motivate ourselves, we can motivate anyone.

INSPIRATION	APPLICATION
Failure is like driving down a dead end road and turning around to find a better route.	Make a habit of being enthusiastic.
Winners don’t have time to place blame; they’re too busy getting ready for the next challenge.	Ground yourself with solid principles so you don’t get distracted from your goal by trends or fads.
Sometimes how far you go is not as important as the direction you take.	Be prepared – your opportunity may come at any moment.
Intentions do not count, actions do.	Do your best at every stage of the game.
If you don‘t know where you want to go, no amount of planning will get you there.	Surround yourself with positive, enthusiastic people.
You are what you think you are.	Focus on becoming.
Problems are teachers not obstacles.	Don’t let yourself get trapped in other’s negativity.
Everyone is good at something.	Do what you love.
The first step determines the direction of the journey.	There is only one person you must answer to in the end – yourself.
Allow yourself to dream, it just may come true.	Tackle small problems before they grow into unmanageable situations.
Instead of saying “I can’t reach my goal because I don’t have X.” think about what you can do to get X or how you can achieve your goal without X.	Rather than viewing life an as endless sting of problems to be solved, view it as an unfolding mystery to be revealed.
INSPIRATION	APPLICATION
Nothing has control over your destiny but you.	There is someone, somewhere who can help you.  Find him or her.
Adversity is the wrapping paper of opportunity.	See your dreams as a preview of the future.
Practice doing small, unpleasant tasks so when the time comes for real sacrifice, you are well trained.	Never say No
The only thing stopping you is yourself.	Accept failure as part of success.
The future is where you will spend the rest of your life.	Ground yourself with solid principles so you don’t get distracted from your goal by trends or fads.
The joy of the journey is not so much in reaching the harbor as in anticipating wheat lies ahead	Find satisfaction in your daily life.  Don’t wait for your big break to come.
There is no guarantee that tomorrow will come.  Do it today.	Don’t let your weakness overshadow your strengths.
When your perception changes, the cloudy day turns sunny.	Define the reasons behind your goals.
Nothing is certain, so don’t bet on it.	Don’t get discouraged if it seems that nobody believes in you.  Start a trend by believing in yourself.
Appreciate what you have.	Meaningful goals produce meaningful results.
Experience, whether good or bad, is an asset.	Acknowledge that your destiny lies in your hands and you can make it or break it.
No matter how bad your situation is, you always have the freedom to discover something good about yourself.	It doesn’t matter how many times you fall; only how many times you get up.
What you are is more important than what you have been and what you aim to be is best of all.	Practice being motivated.  You may fail at first, but practice makes perfect.
Your goals must be clear but your guidelines must be flexible.	Choose quality over quantity.

 

 

WAYS TO MOTIVE YOUR CLIENTS & CUSTOMERS

INSPIRATION	APPLICATION
In the long run, honesty really is the best policy	Prove your commitment to excellence through your daily actions.
Hospitality is a welcome change in our frenzied life.	Believe in your products & always keep your promises.  Clients like consistency.
Why you do things and the way you do them is more important than what you do.	Keep customers happy even after you’ve finished your business with them.
A smile is the universal language.	Make your client’s primary objective your primary objective.
People are more likely to buy from you if they feel you understand their needs, than if they understand the features of your product or service.	If your client is a busy person, get right to the point.  Busy people are used to making quick decisions and don’t like to be “sold”.
Know the difference between simply treating people well and making them feel important.	Take the opportunity to personalize interactions with clients whenever possible.
Favour relationships over transactions.	Clients like consistency.
People like to business with people they like.	Treat clients like lifetime partners in your business.
People like to have the newest and the best, but they don’t necessarily want to be the first to have it.	When a customer is undecided, present two options and the basis for choosing each to motivate him to make a decision.
Meeting customer expectations is more important than your objective level of quality.	Provide customers with the opportunity to feel they have made a good decision.

WAYS TO MOTIVATE CHANGE

“The best time to change is before you are forced to”.

Change is one of the most frequently recurring, yet one of the most frightening aspects of human life.  The every act of living subjects us to ongoing change, both within and around us.  Change is a reality that cannot be avoided or ignored – much as some of us might try.

The best way to motivate yourself to change is to enthusiastically meet the change head on before it is forced upon you.  Change is often unpleasant or uncertain.  Having to face the unpleasant or the uncertain is best done in a positive state of mind, rather than when you are anxious or ill.

MOTIVATE YOURSELF	MOTIVE OTHERS
Never fear change	Create an atmosphere that is open to regular change.
To initiate a change, start with a step that will bring noticeable results, no matter how small.	Avoid implementing too many changes at once.
Nothing in life leaves you where it finds you.	Allow sufficient time to adjust to change.
Life is ongoing.  You will never have it under control, so stop trying.	Change is easiest to face when you go through it with someone at your side.
Change is an inevitable part of life.	Once a change is made, encourage people to stick to it and avoid the temptation to revert to older, more comfortable ways.
If you invite change within yourself, rather than being affected by change, is easier to deal with,	Allow for mistakes and delays when a change is implemented.  People quickly get frustrated if they fee you expect perfection from the start.
Don’t’ turn away from a possibility of change until you are objectively sure it has nothing to offer.	Point out the habits and excuses that are preventing change from occurring.
Try something new every day to develop a tolerance for the new and different.	Outline some sample scenarios of the potential results of the change.
Celebrate change. Be positive.	Change is easiest to face when you go through it with someone at your side.
It is usually easier to go with change than to fight against it.	Change is accepted best when there is a logical reason behind it.
Treat change as an honored guest.	Change is more acceptable when it does not appear irrevocable.
Remember that change has brought you to where you are now and will continue to help you grow if you handle it deftly.	Present a change in the most positive light, but don’t hesitate to communicate potential negatives.
You cannot change your actions without first changing how you think about those actions.	People change when they are good and ready to.  You will never change someone who is not ready.
If you stop changing, you stop living.	Provide opportunities to talk about an impending change to give people the chance to identify their feelings toward it.
Life is one-way journey.  No matter how badly you might want to go back, you cannot.	Designate concrete areas that will not be affected by the change to create a psychological safety zone.

WAYS TO MOTIVATE YOUR BOSS

“Credentials are easily replaceable, commitment and integrity are not.”

 

INSPIRATION	APPLICATION
If you cost your boss more than you earn for her, you won’t be around very long.	If you want your boss to back up your new ideas, be willing to share the credit.
It is not enough to get things done; you should be seen doing them.	Make your boss’ weaknesses your strengths and offer assistance.  You will become indispensable.
Knowledge is power.  Share it with your boss and your influence will increase measurably.	Your boss is not responsible for your personal problems-leave them at home where they belong.
A win-win situation is the ideal motivator.	Never steal your boss’s spotlight or beat her at her game.
Everyone wants something in life.  Do you know what makes your boss tick?	Be prepared to show that you have exhausted your resources before asking your boss for help.
Positive expectations usually lead to positive outcomes.	Give more than you have to.  Don’t be on time, be early.  Don’t meet requirements, exceed them.

 

WAYS TO MOTIVATE YOUR EMPLOYEES

INSPIRATION	APPLICATION
When you don’t care, they don’t care.	Treat others, as you want to be treated.
Successful motivation consists not of doing it to people but doing it with them.	Praise employees most frequently in areas of their work that they take most seriously.
The best way to develop respect and responsibility in employees is to give it to them.	Create a work place that is free of prejudice.
Those who play well together work well together.	Give each of your workers a special, personal mission.
When the work and the worker fit, there is no need for further motivation.	Apologize honestly for your mistakes.
Making request is generally preferable to giving orders.	Treat employees like responsible adults.
Always give credit where credit is due.	Make sure all employees take regular vacations to renew their spirit.
Too many rules impede morale.	Never assign two people to do the job of one; it promotes boredom, frustration and apathy.
Employees are most highly motivated when they feel they are appropriately compensated for what they produce.	Let talented employees feel they have the power to make a difference.
Employees feel secure, and therefore work best, when they trust their boss.	Give your employees a vision to strive for.

WAYS TO MOTIVATE YOUR TEAM

“Don’t tread on the process to reach the goal.”

INSPIRATION	APPLICATION
Competition is only motivating if there is a prospect of winning.	Don’t make promises or threats you don’t intend to keep.
Teams are made of team players not superstars.	Create an atmosphere in which individual team members are willing to make personal sacrifices for good of the team.
People respond best when they can make the best use of their talents.	Never stop teaching your team new and better winning skills.
As a team leader, your approach is a stronger motivator than your methods.	Push team members top their full potential but never forget to respect their dignity.
The reward of success must be shared equally among all team members whatever their level of contribution.	Use humor to dissolve interpersonal tension among team members.
Discipline allows people to act in concert based on common principles.	Point out errors without placing blame.

WAYS TO MOTIVATE DECISION MAKING

“Avoiding a decision is equal to deciding to do nothing.”

Accept the fact that nothing is certain and that no decision is perfect

Face your decision honestly.

You will never have enough information to decide flawlessly.

Leave your emotions and personal biases at the door when making critical decisions.

Every decision must include a plan of action to carry out the decision.

Once you decide, announce it.  This will spur you to action.

The more successful you become the more difficult decisions you will have to make.  Readily accept every opportunity to practice along the way.

Accept that decisions are made in reality and may require constraints, compromises or sacrifices.

Once you decide, set a specific start date within the next few days.

Make a habit of the act of making decisions.

WAYS TO MOTIVATE PRODUCTIVITY

“Motivation is the key to productivity.  Given two people of similar ability, the motivated person will always outperform the unmotivated person.”

INSPIRATION	APPLICATION
Seek problems because you need opportunities.	Every “emergency” that comes along distracts Don’g.
Being productive is one of the greatest intrinsic rewards.	Don’t allow people to waste your time with unsolicited sales calls, unwanted social visits, etc.
Life goes on whether you fail or succeed at any single task.	Stop waiting for the ideal time – it will never come.
You can do a lot with a little if that little is totally committed.	Identify and challenge negative thoughts that are blocking your ability to get your job done.
Working smart is always more productive than working hard.	Set priorities & if you aren’t blessed with self-discipline, pretend you are.
Once you get going, the going gets easier.	Don’t spend inordinate amounts of time on low priority tasks.
Doing without thing is as bad as thing without doing.	Reserve your work area for work only – not coffee breaks, reading or socializing.
A positive attitude is a poor substitute for actual preparation.	Learn to say no to task you don’t have time for or interest in.
Organization invites work.	When it’s done, forget it and move on.
Remember to say “thank you” to yourself.	Avoid announcing your plans in advance; it brings out the opposition in droves.
Effort alone is not enough; it must eventually produce measurable result.	Do it right the first time, even if it takes longer.
Well begun is half done?	Know the limits of your job.  Don’t waste time duplicating other people’s work.
Just because it doesn’t have to be done now, doesn’t mean you can’t do it now.	Do one thing at a time.
Activity is not the only necessity for productivity thinking can be immensely productive.	Delegate work that can be done by others, starting with the jobs you dislike most.

                                      

WORK LIKE YOUR DOG

        WORK LIKE YOUR DOG

Work like a dog is an inspiring call to the readers to "come out and play" at work. People spend more time working, thinking about work, and traveling to and from work than all other waking activities combined. Employees are asked to do more for less-making their work lives more exhausting and less satisfying.  Having more fun at work isn’t a fantasy. It is a smart and savvy strategy to becoming a more creative, productive, and dynamic employee. The author advises to take pleasure from tasks, reduce levels of stress and recharge their creative side.

This article divided  in to three parts, in the first part he described the work as a game, in the second he described how to turn problems into opportunities and the last he advised how to learn to laugh and play with life.

1.     The Game of Work: first of all we have to know the rules of the game and he compares our work like a game.  When our life at work serves us an ace, many of us act as if it's the end of the world. Even the smallest of problems or mistakes can get blown completely out of proportion. We spend all kinds of time and energy living in the past, analyzing, criticizing, making excuses, worrying, and generally making ourselves miserable. "Hey, nobody's perfect -- how can I learn from my mistakes if I never make any" the author wants everybody to say this to himself. Everybody has to see every situation as an opportunity to play, to celebrate and to learn how to work less, play more and earn more. "The better you feel about yourself, the less likely you are to take yourself too seriously and the more you are able to laugh at yourself and the things that may go wrong all around you." In fact, if you haven't been rejected recently, then you probably haven't been trying hard enough. The author explained beautifully our pet dogs spend their days along with you. Waiting for your order, showing enthusiasm in the work we give, doing the things just like play and many more things and advise us to have fun at work and do the work differently and celebrate the fun. And as rule of play we have to play fair game and he compares ethics as good business.

2.     Turn the problems into Opportunities: The author advises to change the way you view the world and see the flowers in the garbage. In this part he explains three secrets of stress reduction, one out of them is-every person has to rethink in the difficult situations to get rid of. He also explains three ways to turn fights into frolics. Everybody has to learn to be happy when unhappy things happen.

3. Learning to laugh and play with life: Surround your self with people who like to laugh and play, stay in touch with your friends and live in the movement but not for the movement. He tells two ways to practice having fun. The author disagrees with the proverb "Practice makes perfect, rather he tells that "Practice makes permanent." In other words, if we practice something enough, it becomes habitual. And if we want to live a good life, which is meaningful, joyful, and happy, we need lots and lots of practice. If you want to become more comfortable playing in your life think what can you change in your life?   And lastly the author advises us to take the pledge "I want you to lighten up on me already, will you! Now, let's go to work and have some fun".

HOW TO WIN IN LIFE

HOW TO WIN IN LIFE 

GIVE OTHERS WHAT THEY WANT AND THEY WILL GIVE YOU WHAT YOU WANT IN RETURN –The key word is ‘First’ – ‘If you win then I win’ should be central theme. Courtesy, Praise, empathy,  goodwill ,respect : we have all these in unlimited quantity to give  but sometimes are miser to use them

MOTIVATION- ‘the central idea’  : According to Maslow, the famous heirarchy of human wants and needs consists of five basic categories – Physiological needs, Safety needs,Social needs ,Ego needs and Self actualisation needs.Maslow points out that satisfaction of these needs   is not ,by itself . Motivation has long been recognised as vital to fulfillment of human potential. Motivation is the person’s inner drive and desire to obtain the next higher satisfaction..The ability to influence others and exercise personal power effectively both contribute to individual self esteem . Individuals must  first learn how to motivate themselves before they think of  to motivating others There is approach to the motivation and achievement through successful human relations in a unique and practical way .It is done with the knowledge that most people function in mainly three areas of life :

·        Their home environment                

·        Their social environment            

·        Their work environment

   . Ann Rand commented in one of his book “We are born unarmed. Our mind is our only weapon” We have unlimited potential if we only find a way to unlock the power that lies dormant in each one of us. Benjamin Franklin himself himself promoted this philosophy with his claim – “There is no problem that can not be solved with a pad of paper , a pen and little imagination.”

What most people  do not realise is that these innate and awesome mental powers are already in each one of us .By having faith in our capabilities , we can come up with solutions to life’s everyday problems by using our own ability to think

Ten principals of motivation   :

1.     Positive self image  

2.     Positive mental attitude 

3.     A Possibility thinking 

4.     A Positive perception of external events  

5.     Positive assertive behaviour    

6.     Personal commitment

7.     Effective one to one encounter skills    

8.     Unquestionable belief in self

9.     Creative use of subconscious mind   

10. Intense sincere desire to succeed

  The catalytic integration  of these powerful thoughts and feelings in the form of specific activities has been called  process plus  synergetic effect . Conceptually the ability to succeed in life (S) is directly proportional to one’s natural inborn potential for success (P) multiplied by one’s personal motivation factor (M). In other words , the degree of success one achieves in a particular pursuit primarily depends on the amount of personal motivation one acquires . All  high achievers have a high degree of self motivation .All the ten ingredients are necessary in order to achieve true success.

 

A successful organization is one that gets extraordinary effort out of ordinary people .A high level motivation in turn produces a high level performance .People are motivated to act in their own self interest and growth.

POSITIVE  & ASSERTIVE BEHAVIOUR   The term positive and assertive are complementary to each other. Positive implies affirmation and assertive implies active declaration . Assertion is simply the action of declaring yourself to others. You make things happen when you act rather than simply react. Positive-assertive behaviour is evident in open ,direct and honest personal communication.

     Your ego needs are your rewards   :Both people and organization can win ego related rewards as a result of successful human relations .The way people exercise personal power in their lives  is highly personal matter . Generally personality is the outside world’s summary view of the way a particular person uses his personal power to think ,act,  and  achieve his goals in life. This leads to a natural cause and effect relationship as follows  :

When you change your thinking 

          You change your beliefs    

                         When you change your beliefs

                                          You change your  expectations

                                                       

                        When  you change your   expectations

                                         You change your attitude  

                                                 When you change your attitude     

                                                            You change your behaviour   

                                                                            When You change your behaviour

                                                                                         You change your performance

                                                      When you change your performance           

                                                       

                                                           You change your life

         Success and happiness are dependent on your relationship with other people .Human relations is the art of dealing with people in such a way that everyone wins .Your self image is an integral part of your personality .The way you think about yourself is very much dependent on your ability to exercise personal power successfully in your life .Self image can unleash the strongest force within you –the creative powers of your subconscious mind .Because your behaviour is consistent with your self image , other people see you according to your own perceptions of yourself .

 Utilisation of  Brain power  :Albert Einstein ,who possessed one of the greatest minds of all times estimated that man uses only about two-tenths of one percent of his intellectual capacity .This should be no surprise when we realize people spend 99.9% of their time thinking what they did yesterday .The key to stimulating creative thought is to learn allow the subconscious mind to ‘let go’ thus permitting creative ideas and concepts come up to conscious level. Relaxation techniques such as imaging and meditation are necessary to facilitate this incredible effect .

  

 Appropriate behaviour , rational thinking and proper use of your ‘personal computer’ (your brain) will help in reducing stress in the life .There are some tips that can help in stimulating  one’s original thinking  :

o        Once decision is made, do not ever look back. Worry about decisions only before                   you make them

o       Concentrate on one problem at a time in order of priority. Don’t jam up your circuits.

o       Live for the moment  and concentrate on the problems in the present .

o       Be a good listener. Maintain eye contact at all times to increase effectiveness. Be  alert  and attentive to grasp the essence of what others say in terms of verbal and body language

o       Don’t set up mental roadblocks. Practise keeping an open mind without jumping to a biased conclusion.

o       Everything takes its own time.  Don’t expect instant results.

    

BE HAPPY WITH  YOURSELF  : Happiness results when one learns to respond  positively to everyday events and circumstances in the life. Happiness is simply having  pleasant thoughts. It is an acquired attitude of the mind. If you think about it ,you will realize that happiness is really a choice available with us all. Practiced as a  daily habit , it enables a person to rise above the petty problems of everyday life ,freeing valuable time and energy for more important activities of life.

GREATEST DEFEAT  BE THE REASON FOR THE GREATEST SUCCESS :The attitude of the person who loses determines how long will it take to win again. Many people take several years to fully recover from a major defeat without realizing that rational thought and clear thinking could have greatly assisted in viewing the event in a different light .No feeling or emotion , positive or negative can be directly controlled by will power alone. There is hope for everyone ! If you don’t appear to be heading towards where you want to go in life all is not lost. You need only program your subconscious mind with artificial winning experiences as effectively as real life experiences .Use your own resources, imagination, and knowledge in this assertive and purposeful way and confer success on yourself instead of waiting for circumstances  and environment to take care of you.

SUCCESSFUL GOAL SETTING  One should keep in mind the simple  PROBE  when formulating personal goals . Choose goals that are  :

 P –Practical 

           R- Reasonable      

                     O- Obtainable        

                                     B – Big        

                                            E – Exciting

The commitment to an idea or goal facilitates concentration of attention and effort .Goal formulation is applicable to both your personal life and professional career .

 

  DO COMMON  THINGS UNCOMMONLY WELL  : If one knows to do the following common things uncommonly well ,there is no limit to what one can accomplish in life :

1.     Have faith that you have within you the necessary personality traits , qualities ,and abilities that are consistent with ‘winning needs’

2.     Perceive yourself and external events in such a way that  they make you a more effective person.

3.     Learn and apply creative imaging techniques to input appropriate artificial experiences in to  your subconscious mind

4.     Exchange needs and rewards in one to  one encounters  fairly and evenly .

5.     Learn to use your subconscious mind in the present to cope with present problems .

                            THE POWER OF YOUR PERSONALITY 

 People who want to be effective in life need to have effective personalities. The personality is the vehicle through which you exercise your personal power display your individuality. There  are certain steps that are necessary  for people to change from what they are to what they want to be . A Chinese maxim says that  a walk of thousand miles begins with a single step. The first step in the personal development is increased awareness accompanied by an open mind .The second step is understanding . The third step is the  commitment and practice through repeated application . There are following attributes of a total winner :

o       The first attribute  of a total winner is his willingness to accept full responsibility for his past , present and his future .

o       The second attribute is attitude of optimism and positive expectation .He expects the best in life sees good even in bad .Optimists are simply people who have learned how to  discipline their attitudes .It is an acquired mental skill .

o       The third attribute is the intense , stimulating ,positive motivation  and an ability to motivate others Motivation is literally motive-in- action ; it is an emotion directed towards self fulfillment .

o       Positive – assertive behaviour is the next attribute .Positive implies constructive affirmation  and assertive implies active declaration .A winner is more a creator of his circumstances than a victim of them .Such behaviour is evident in personal communication that is open , direct and honest .

o       A total winner is also a good  communicator .He accepts  one hundred percent of his responsibility  for both sending and receiving messages .He realizes that if his ego needs are to be satisfied , he first has to satisfy the other person’s need in the process.

o       A total winner has abundant faith – in oneself, in others, in his organization , in his country ,and in God .Faith is the force of life .Abraham Lincoln once said , “To believe in the things you can see and touch is no belief at all  ; but to believe in the       unseen is a triumph and a blessing !”

o       A total winner can make a creative use of the subconscious mind . A total winner has developed the ability to imagine his future .Of all the creatures on earth , only human beings can imagine their future and believe it can happen . A winner’s only competition is himself and his own sense of excellence .

o       Total commitment and preseverence in seeking his goal is another attribute of a total winner .A winner formulates a game plan for his life  and sticks to it .

o       A total winner has the ability to change and adapt to new situations and challenges . He concentrates on rewards and desire of success rather than fear of failures.

o       The final attribute of a total winner is  his  effective use of all the above personality traits that when combined produce a synergetic effect . 

 All of yesterday’s impossibilities are only today’s realities, and any present impossibility is only the tip towards  the progress. A winner cultivates the fertile field of his mind  and sows the seeds of success .He spreads  his net wide open  and deep in the abundant seas and catches his bountiful rewards. A winner accepts his life as an experience that needs to be lived to the fullest. We can think the history and  recall  people who have changed the world and made it a better place to live in .This is the challenge we all face

                                     *************************

    

THINK LIKE A WINNER!

THINK LIKE A WINNER!

The aim of this article  is to help busy people overcome the time constraints in their lives that severely limit self-improvement.  It concentrates on the one most significant causal factor that determines all self-directed purposeful behavior; namely, the personal beliefs and their associated images that people hold about themselves and their abilities, and the expectations these beliefs in turn generate.

So,

          “If you want to get the result that      winners get, you must first think like a winner thinks!”

Consider the following cause-and -effect relationship to see how personal beliefs represent the very foundation of your life.

WHEN YOU CHANGE YOUR THINKING,

You change your beliefs;

When you change your beliefs,

You change your expectations,

When you change your expectations,

You change your attitude;

When you change your attitude,

You change your behavior;

When you change your behavior,

You change your performance;

When you change your performance,

       YOU CHANGE YOUR LIFE!

The rewards you receive in life do not come because of your potential.  They come as a result of your performance.  It is your performance, then, that you must focus on an ultimately improve upon.  There will always be impediments between what you want and what you’ve got.  Your attitude towards these temporary obstacles, rather than the obstacles themselves, will determine in the end whether you succeed or fail.     Attitudes are more important than facts.”  All success is “self”-centered.  As you will see, it must begin and be brought about from within.

 

The Challenge in Positive Thinking

Positive thinking is practical living.  Off all the choices available to you, it is the most productive and the most fulfilling.  Your reality is what you make it to be.  It is your perception of reality that will make all the difference in the way you think, the way you behave, and the way you perform.  You can learn to find the good even in the bad, thereby making the bad not so bad anymore.  “We know what we are but know not what we may be,” was the keen observation of William Shakespeare.

YOU ARE WHAT YOU THINK

“As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he, “The power, then, is within you.  Your ability to change your life lies in your capacity to think, and to think differently if you choose.  Thinking is the highest form of activity humans are capable of performing; yet few people really think.  Too often you trick yourself into believing you are thinking because you are aware of some mental activity going on in your mind.  “Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the probable reason why so few engage in it.  To a very large extent, all that you accomplish or fail to accomplish in life is a direct result of the images you hold in your mind. 

Your mind is the force behind the marvelous success system within you.  Whatever you believe, picture in your mind, and think about most the time, you eventually will bring into reality.  If you say to yourself can’t” “I am not worthy,” or “It will never happen to me,” then this is what you will tend to bring about.  By believing in scarcity, you will “see” scarcity, you will experience scarcity, and for you, there will be scarcity.

Scarcity is the mother of selfishness, jealousy, aggressiveness, and resentment.  All of its effects are negative.   Abundance is the mother of prosperity, creativity, kindness, and love.  All of its effects are positive.

RISK AND CHANGE

All change involves an element of risk – risk of the unknown and risk of failure.  But change, whether you like it or not, is inevitable.  To bring about change in self is not the easiest thing in the world to do.  It takes a great deal of desire, self-discipline, concentration, and effort-, which is why so few people actually change significantly in their lifetime.  If you have changed, it only means you have changed your particular manner of thinking.  If you have not, it only means you have not changed your p0articular manner of thinking.  This is your choice, a choice available to each of us.  It is never too late to begin living a more satisfying and more fulfilling life.  “Man is not the sum of what he is but the totality of what he might be.”

KEY FACTOR OF SUCCESS (FOS)

I.POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE:

 You must think about the attitude if you want to think like a winner.  Attitude is where all change and all success begins.  It is the filter through which you view the entire world and this determines the messages you get from everything you experience.  Your attitude decides who and what you are, and whether you respond to events under control or out of control.  You can alter and improve your attitude only by analyzing and changing your personal belief system.  This necessarily takes efforts.  “People and things do not upset us rather we upset ourselves by believing that they can upset us.”  “Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.”

The following quote by Charles Swindoll is titled “Attitude”: -

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.  Attitude, to me, is more important than facts.  It is more important than the past, then education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do.  It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill.  It will make or break a company… a church… a home.  The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.  We cannot change the past.  We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way.  We cannot change the inevitable.  The only thing we can do is playing on the one string we have, and that is our attitude.  I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it.  And so it is with you.  We are in charge of our Attitudes.

II.TOTAL BELIEF IN YOURSELF:

Have confidence in yourself.  Believe in your abilities, for you are who you think you are.  You have the necessary skills and abilities to accomplish great things.  You need only accept this fact to move ahead with your life.  There are two ways to slide easily through life; to believe everything or to doubt everything; both ways save us from thinking.  The following anonymous poem titled “Believe in yourself” helps put things in proper perspective:-

Believe in yourself! You’re divinely designed

Perfectly made for the work of mankind.

 

This truth you must cling to through danger and pain

The heights man has reached you can also attain.

Believe to the very last hour, for its true

That whatever you have been gifted to do.

Believe in yourself and step out unafraid

By misgivings and doubt be not easily swayed.

You’ve the right to succeed, the precision of skill

Which betokens the great, you can earn if you will!

The wisdom of ages is yours if you’ll read

But you’ve got to believe in yourself to succeed.

III.CHALLENGING GOALS

Our plans miscarry because they have not aim.  When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind.”  Among all living organisms on earth, only humans are born without a built-in software program for success.  Humans are free to imagine themselves as successes or failures, as winners or losers, or as positive or negative.  Of course, you get precisely what you see and dwell upon.    It has been said that once you have decided on a clear, focused goal for your life, you will have it because it will have you. A firmly entrenched goal literally forces you to stay on course until you reach your target.  “Goal setting is a thinking exercise that activates the natural success system within you.

IV.RESPONSIBLE BEHAVIOR:

People accept responsibility for those things that are going well in their life and forgo responsibility for those things that are going poorly.  If things at work are not ideal, it must be your boss who is at fault.  If things at home are not perfect, it must be your spouse who is to blame.  But this kind of thinking can lead nowhere.  There is a direct relationship between the amount of control you enjoy and the amount of responsibility you accept. Winners accept full responsibility for what they think, what they say, and what they do.  Hence they are able to control these aspects of their lives.  Losers always blame someone or something else for the results they achieve.  Since they are unable to control all the people and things around them, they are out of control and beyond help.  They blow with the wind and are manipulated by every chance and circumstance that comes their way.

Let’s list just some of the things that you can control.  You can control your thinking, beliefs, imaginations, goals, and associates, eat & exercise, environment, response to situations and circumstances, the joy & sadness.  The most prominent feature of all fully mature, high-achieving human beings is their willingness to accept full responsibility for all aspects of their lives.

V.TIME MANAGEMENT

Few people appreciate the true value of time, for time wasted is time lost forever.  Time is the only commodity allocated equally to all, whether rich or poor, male or female, wise or not so wise.  Time management involves setting priorities and disciplining yourself.  There is really no such thing as lack of time.  Everyone has sufficient time to do what has to be done, at least the most important things that really matter.   Time management is really self-management.  It is a thinking exercise that involves setting priorities and disciplining yourself in the use of time in order to derive maximum benefit.  Not having the time to carry out a specific task usually means you have not given sufficiently high priority to it.  The secret to finding the time to do the things that need to be done is to develop a real sense of urgency and commitment to the task, to really want rather than just wish to do it.  Two key pre-requisites of effective time management are:-

1.             A clear, focused goal that is measurable.

2. A detailed plan of action for its implementation on a daily basis

To be effective, you need to know what you have to do to get where you want to go.  You have to clearly identify the major goal that is important to you and formulate a master plan describing how you intend to go about achieving it.  Every goal requires a decision; every decision dictates a process; every process involves a plan; and every plan needs time for implementation.  Time must be controlled, since it is slipping away minute by minute, hour by hour.  Either you catch it and use it as it comes your way, or it passes you by.

VI.PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

One of life’s greatest challenges and hopes is to create and look forward to the next stage of personal development.  If you dedicate yourself to a program of personal growth and development, nothing can stop you from moving ahead in your life.  Whatever you end up accomplishing is a direct result of your efforts to improve yourself.  You can never be a failure without your consent.  Since no one can possibly care more about you than you care about yourself, the responsibility rests with you to set this process in motion, to take the initiative, and to make it happen.

Learning is a lifelong process.  “The education of man is never completed until he dies.”  Education involves both learning of the new and unlearning of the old, and it can start anytime.  If you haven’t yet started your own personal development program, now is the time to begin.  Personal development requires two things: an admission that you don’t know all you need to know in order to get ahead, and a commitment to begin learning these things.  Of course, it requires a certain amount of dedication and hard work, a willingness to sacrifice some short-term pleasures for long-term gain.  Winners always do what they have to do, when they have to do it, because they know this is the price of success.

Personal development involves working on yourself, on the key mental skills that you must contribute to the performance equation.  The more you improve yourself, the more you’ll like, respect, and believe in yourself.  You’ll begin to see yourself in a different light, and your mind will open up to new challenges and opportunities.  Opportunities and challenges always gravitate toward the person who believes in them.

VII. THINK ABOUT HEALTH

You must think health if you want to think like a winner!  You’re physical, mental, and spiritual health cannot be ignored except at your peril.  Poor health in any of these areas can cause your sickness, pain, depression and despair, not to mention a shorter lifespan.  You must work hard at maintaining a high level of health and accept responsibility for all of your actions that are health related.   There is no cure for a lifetime of bad health habits.  Exercise is only one key element of a successful health regimen.

VIII. CREATIVITY

All the objects you see are the result of the work of some creative human being.  In reality, you are looking not at “things,” but at thoughts manifested in their physical form.    It was a thought that created the chair you sits on, the pen you write with, and the light you read by.  It is people with ideas, dreams, and vision that create what you have.  The world is governed totally by thought.  Everything you perceive without is the result of what has been thought about within.  You are what you think.  You enjoy what human thought has created.  Creativity is an ability given to us at birth.  There is no meaning to life except the meaning man given his life by the unfolding of his powers.

An excellent definition of creativity is that it is the making of the new or the rearranging of the old in a new way.  It represents the actualization of human potential, of the creative energy of your subconscious mind.  When everyone thinks alike, no one is thinking at all.

IX. SERVICE

The principle of service can best be summarized by the statement “Give and you shall receive in kind.” 

X.EXCELLENCE

Make the commitment to become excellent at what you do, for in excellence you will find your true self.  When we raise our sights, strive for excellence, dedicate ourselves to the highest goals of our society, we are enrolling in an ancient and meaningful cause – the age-long struggle of humans to realize the best that is in them.”

Only when you attain excellence in your chosen field can you hope to become truly successful in life.  Anything less and you cannot hope to reach your full potential.  The market always pays in relation to performance.  It always pays top rewards for top performance whether in sports, the arts, business or the game of life.  Excellence translates into a labor of lover.

XI.SUPERIOR HUMAN RELATIONS

YOUR MASTER KEY TO SUCCESS

“Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them to become what they are capable of being.”  Anyone hoping to become successful must develop the ability to motivate and influence other people effectively and in positive, predictable ways.  To be able to do the things you want to do in both your personal and professional life, you need the support and cooperation of other people – a key of core belief.  Few things of any significance can be accomplished without the help of other people.  You cannot expect something for nothing.  If properly carried out, both parties will grow and benefit from the experience.  There are basically three choices available to you when trying to influence other people.  The first is to ignore people and simply hope they will act in your best interest.  The second option is to use coercion and force to compel others to act in the specific way you desire.  The third option is to persuade people to do what you want them to do simply because they really want to.

In essence, superior human relations involve adding value to other people because they, like you, deserve it.  It is giving people something they want – recognition, in return for something you want – their cooperation.  When you increase the self-esteem of others, you are showing them respect and that you expect the best form them, thereby helping them perform at their maximum.

It is interesting to realize that each of us is potentially a millionaire, at least in what we have to give to others.  We all possess valuable, intangible assets that others desperately want.  We all have acceptance, approval, appreciation, respect and encouragement in unlimited quantity – to give!  It is in this way that we acknowledge the importance of other people.  They don’t cost us anything and they can never be all used up, we all have this fortune to share.

Recognition is the deepest craving in human nature.  It is the acknowledgement of the importance of people.  You are who you think you are, but you are also a function of what other people think of you.  “A successful human relation is really the art of making other people feel good about them.

XII. LEADERSHIP

“An organization is only as great as the people in it, and the people are only as great as the organization allows them to be.”

So how does a winner think?  Here is a list of the ten core beliefs.  Consider each one carefully, and imagine what your world would begin to look like if you held the same beliefs and made them a part of your life today.

One:     Winners are not born, they are made.

Two:     The dominant force in your existence is the thinking you engage in.

Three:  You are empowered to create your own reality.

Four:    There is some benefit to be had from every adversity.

Five:     Each one of your beliefs is a choice.

Six:       You are never defeated until you accept defeat as a reality and decide to stop trying.

Seven:  You already possess the ability to excel in at least one key area of your life.

Eight:   The only real limitations on what you can accomplish in your life are those you impose on yourself.

Nine:    There can be no great success without great commitment.

Ten:      You need the support and cooperation of other people to achieve any worthwhile goal.