Self Motivation
We become what we think about. –so said Earl Nightingale and I say that let us think hard to become something else, maybe an extraordinarily inspired human being. This is possible to do and I am going to show you how.
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do, so as Mark Twain said, throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbour, and catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover. This is what I call inspiration and others term it as motivation.
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. Says a Chinese Proverb. Let us examine our own conscience and plant the tree of the strongest inspiration in all our back yards. Let that tree keep inspiring us for the rest of our life.
As we all know “An unexamined life is not worth living. So said Socrates. Examine.. examine… examine yourself and your activities.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I believe our time on this earth is small and it is limited, so let us not waste it living someone else’s life. Live well and then inspire to let others live well-motivated and fully inspired.
My soccer coach once barked at me, “Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is. If you want to win go and play your part well.”
From that day I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.
Has anyone told you that Christopher Columbus would not have succeeded as an enchanted explorer if he did not believe that “You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” He lost sight of the shore of England and discovered the New World. We can do that too if we detach ourselves from our attachments.
So either you run your day all inspired, or the dull day will begin to run you down, out and unmotivated. We all have a choice, whether to think hard that you can or you think soft that you can’t.
Whatever you can do, or dream you can do it but you have to begin it ASAP.
DO NOT PROCRASTINATE. PROCRASTINATION IS THE BIGGEST THIEF OF TIME. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
My son Roy has brilliant words of Zig Ziglar on his profile of Skype. “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing. That’s why we recommend it daily.”
But Zig Ziglar led me to another river of knowledge, “Motivation is the fuel, necessary to keep the human engine running.”
My family and work life either has been shrinking or expanding in proportion to my courage and that is what I have told my children and my colleagues. Those that believed me have seen great success in their lives. I cannot talk of those who did not follow my idea. They have their own ways of sailing in the difficult and competitive world. I respect their wish and try to learn from them as well.
During my teaching days visiting teachers used to come and inspect our work. I received an outstanding report from this highly respected education official and he asked me how I felt and I just said that I do not try to teach better than anyone else. I only try to teach better than myself.
He told me that I should not wait until everything is just right. I know It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. Try your best and be yourself.
So I want to tell you what happened in my life. I got started. With each step I took, I grew stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful. I was inspired more than myself and I kept on getting promotions, praise and recognition in my career. Never looked back but kept looking ahead with greater determination.
From then onwards my every success has not been final. I kept moving, moving and moving with added vigour. , Failure for me was never fatal because it was my courage that continued to count for me to show me better paths. I knocked at all closed doors to wake up the sleeping opportunities. One important aspect of my luck was that I had colleagues and leaders who kept inspiring and encouraging me.
I am old now but I feel no matter how old we are now, we are never too young or too old for success or going after what we need, desire and want. Here’s a short list of people who accomplished great things at different ages:
1) Helen Keller, at the age of 19 months, became deaf and blind. But that didn’t stop her. She was the first deaf and blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.
2) Anne Frank was 12 when she wrote the diary of Anne Frank.
3) Pele, a soccer superstar, was 17 years old when he won the world cup in 1958 with Brazil.
4) Jesse Owens was 22 when he won 4 gold medals in Berlin 1936.
5) Issac Newton wrote Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica at age 24
6) Albert Einstein was 26 when he wrote the theory of relativity
7) Alexander the Great, by age 29, had created one of the largest empires of the ancient world
8) Oprah was 32 when she started her talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind
9) Edmund Hillary was 33 when he became the first man to reach Mount Everest
10) Martin Luther King Jr. was 34 when he wrote the speech “I Have a Dream."
11) Marie Curie was 35 years old when she got nominated for a Nobel Prize in Physics
12) Mark Twain was 40 when he wrote "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", and 49 years old when he wrote "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"
13) Christopher Columbus was 41 when he discovered the Americas
14) John F. Kennedy was 43 years old when he became President of the United States
15) Colonel Harland Sanders was 61 when he started the KFC Franchise
16) J.R.R Tolkien was 62 when the Lord of the Ring books came out
17) Ronald Reagan was 69 when he became President of the US
18) Jack Lalane at age 70 handcuffed, shackled, towed 70 rowboats
19) Nelson Mandela was 76 when he became President
20) RL Prasad completed his doctorate at the age of 51.
So if I were one among my audience I would start to get going. Move forward. Aim High. Plan a takeoff. I won't just sit on the runway and hope someone will come along and push the airplane. It simply won't happen. Change your attitude and gain some altitude. Age should not be a barrier for our progress, prosperity and motivation.
Believe me; you will love your life a lot more.
But remember to live your truth. Express your love. Share your enthusiasm. Take action towards your dreams. Walk your talk. Dance and sing to your music of your life and living.
Embrace your blessings. Make all your today worth remembering.
Any individual who says it is not possible should move out of the way of those who are doing it.
Just remember that when defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal. The road to success is always under construction.
Our ability is what we are capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it. Collect your capability, manoeuvre your motivation and adjust your attitude then like Robin Hood you too would rise and rise again until your lambs become lions.
My favourite teacher once asked me,
"Son what does it take you to reach out and touch your dreams?”
When I hesitated to give him any answer he said: “Are you hungry? Are you thirsty? Is it a fire that burns you up inside? How bad do you want it? How bad do you need it? Are you eating, sleeping, and dreaming? With that one thing on your mind, how bad do you want it? How bad do you need it?
Because if you want it all. You've got to lay it all out on the line”
So I did. I laid my dreams on the line and did not sit still; I started moving with my dreams. In the beginning, you may not go in the direction you want, but as long as you are moving, you are creating new routes, pleasant paths, accurate alternatives, and proper possibilities. That is what I did.
Let me remind you that your definite desire is the key to motivation, but it is the solid determination and candid commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal - a commitment to excellence - that will enable you to attain the success you seek. You will not fail.
My father used to tell me, “If you don't know what you want, you'll never find it. If you don't know what you deserve, you'll always settle for less. You will wander aimlessly, uncomfortably numb in your comfort zone, wondering how life has ended up here.”
I thank my father for motivating me.
My life started then and there, I began to live, love, laugh and let my light shine for me as well as others.
The negative power of "can't" is our hindrance. The word "can't" makes strong people weak, blinds people who can see, saddens happy people, turns brave people into cowards, robs a genius of their brilliance, causes rich people to think poorly, and limits the achievements of that great person living inside us all.
So look at the word CAN’T and knock the T out of it to reveal your strengths, talents and opportunities and get rid of your weaknesses. This is the SWOT theory of motivation.
Then you will have a brilliant phrase before you “I CAN”.
Finally I can say that everything you need is already within you. The beauty of life is that: your DESTINY lies always in your hands. The time has come for you to STEP UP and BE GREAT and say I CAN.
Be Still. Let Go. Flow freely. Breathe well. Believe in yourself. Allow clear thinking. Grow up. Align yourself with the right aspects. Be the Light. Be Awake. Be Aware. Anticipate. Participate.
Embrace Change. Take that...Chance. Love your life. Love your work. Ensure that You Are Loved. Rise to every Occasion. Fuel your Motivation and Make the world become a better place. Can you? Say YES I CAN.
You can motivate people by fear, and you can motivate them by reward. But both those methods are only temporary. The only lasting thing for us is self-motivation.