Chapter 40 Drive.
I am lucky, motivation comes to me as naturally as breathing and blinking. This is because I have goals, and my burning desire stirs and steers me towards them. I always say motivation is simple, once you have set the goals to work on, action is motivation.
Action however, must come first. If we wait till we are comfortable and in the mood, we may wait forever! If we wait for the perfect circumstances to act we will never begin; if we strive for perfection, we will be frustrated most of the time. We can never get much done, unless we go ahead and do itbefore we are „ready. The beauty here is that after we get involved motivation follows, in line with our intrinsic urge for usefulness and accomplishment. Motivation comes from initiative and a hunger for rewards. Its the vitality that turns us from a lame duck into a charging lion, going in for the kill. For those who are slow to act, the best motto for them is: Get cracking, by tomorrow, today will be yesterday.
Much fuss has grown among businesses around the world, in various attempts to arouse both the urge to work and the vigour for achievement. Now that we know that motivation is simply brought by action, the task should become progressively easier. Without action there is simply little or no success. All purposes must be followed by performance to get results. Even winners of large lotteries had to go out to buy the tickets in the first place! If we could incite dynamics in people in place of indifference and lethargy, think what could be accomplished in the world!
Emerson said, „The world belongs to the energetic. Many succes sful people found, to their amazement, that they had undiscovered potential and hidden physical, mental, emotional resources. Just look at the achievements and endurance in outer-space, mountaineering, and various punishing sports and races. Not to forget the various miraculous human feats performed in emotional, emergency and life-threatening situations.
Then there were the common jacks who became kings. Outstanding success stories have originated in the slums, among the least-likely candidates like poor labourers, miners and penniless new immigrants! In their pursuit of greatness, these people would not settle for anything less, they would feel incomplete in a common kind of existence. On the other hand were good-looking, privileged and well-endowed people who could never amount to anything! They simply lack the most vital ingredients - the fiery dynamo and determination to succeed.
Then there is the third category, people in distressing environments like prisoners-of-war, jail inmates, and those on long, solitary expeditions. Scientists found that they managed to keep their sanity, vitality and enthusiasm by utilising all their outer and inner resources. They took interest in every inch of their available space. They wrote poetry, played chess or golf in their minds and even went „globe-trotting.
In the light of the above, here are some good guidelines on developing drive and motivation:
1. Clarify lifes purpose, acknowledge your potentials and talents.
2. Nurture a powerful self-esteem and image.
3. Recognise the abundance, and the opportunities for success and happiness. Build dreams and arouse your great burning desire.
4. Set clear goals, coupled with personal mission statements.
5. Determine your strategies, priorities, action plans & schedules.
6. Make and keep stringent commitments to yourself; insist on complete success and nothing less. Have readiness to overcome setbacks, which are treated merely as normal stepping stones.
7. Create a commanding necessity to reach excellence, supported by powerful initiative, habits and time-usage. Hunt and destroy negative thoughts and habits that are unworthy of your goals.
8. Procrastination is totally prohibited. Act now.
9. Make progress by the minute, love your work and reward yourself along the way. Split tasks into manageable pieces.
10.Your moods and impulses must be subservient to your iron will. Be resultoriented, and promote win-win and team spirit.
Motivation must draw from a pool of endless vitality. Our success depends on our fitness and vibrancy, so do not underestimate the importance of good mental and physical health. We should re-charge our batteries with enough nutrition, rest and exercise. Planning our work and setting priorities also improve efficiency and reduce wastage of time and energy. Suspicion, anger, discontent, worry, argument and other forms of the negative behaviour sap our strength; avoid them. Skills for the reduction of fatigue and for successful living in general, require discipline, flexibility and common sense. Here are some good suggestions for creating and conserving energy:
1. A quiet mind, alternated with soft music and fresh diversion activities (like tending
garden and flowers) will best relax you.
2. Short cat-naps work wonders, and are as good as hours of sleep.
3. Do tough tasks first, you will be too tired to tackle them later.
4. Sleep and wake early; or you will need more rest to cure the harm done to yourself
after working beyond midnight.
5. Tension and extravagance (like over-spending and eating, etc,) can wear you
down.Conserve your strength for lucrative work.
When we have „arrived and prospered, we will have excess time, money and energy to spend in any way we like! That is the wonderful paradox of success. Then we will succeed further, because nothing succeeds like success! We will surmount all obstacles and reach great heights in our lives because we have to; inside our chests are explosive dreams, too big, too pulsating and pressing to be tamed or denied. Lets get cracking; by tomorrow, today will be yesterday!
"Energy and perseverance can fit a man for almost any kind of position." - T. F. Merseles.
"Vigour is contagious; and whatever makes us either think or feel strongly adds to our power and enlarges our field of action." - Emerson.
"Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and jump in." - Napoleon Bonaparte.
"The greatest single thing in the qualification of a great player, a great team, or a great man, is the desire to reach the objective that admits of no interference anywhere." - B. Rickey.
"Years wrinkle the skin, but lack of enthusiasm wrinkles the soul." Joe Applegate.