Being motivated comes from taking your dreams out of the realm of fantasy and starting to make them a concrete possibility. This is the first step in making them a reality.
Motivation is the desire to take action, and the belief that your actions will lead you in the direction you want to go.
To create motivation, to figure out exactly what it is you want to have in your life. Saying ‘I just want to be happy’ is very vague, and our minds cannot grasp hold of such an abstract goal. We need to define our goals clearly in order to know where we are headed, and what we need to do to get there.
It is also very important to believe that your goals are possible to achieve. To make it easier for yourself to be convinced of your chance of success, try breaking a bigger goal into smaller steps. That will not only make your first goal more quickly and easily achievable, but we can generally picture ourselves on the first rung of a ladder more effortlessly than we can imagine ourselves at the top. Don’t worry about the top of the ladder when you are standing at the bottom. Just focus all your attention and effort on that first rung.
Big goals are very rarely achieved in one stage. Most goals, like most journeys, are broken into many steps. As the Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” You don’t necessarily need to believe that you can travel the thousand miles- you just only need to believe that you can take the first step. That first step will then provide even more inspiration and motivation for taking the second and third steps.
It becomes easier and easier to be motivated and to stay motivated when you see the concrete results of your actions. The action, result, motivation snowball begins to build, and gain momentum. However, the first step is action.
Whether you need to find motivation in order to take the first action, or whether the success of the first action creates the motivation is a chicken and egg scenario. And guess what? It really doesn’t matter. So long as the action is being taken, the results will happen.
If you are finding it difficult to be motivated and to take action, there are several things you can do. One is to use creative visualization. This means creating a mental picture of the outcome you wish to achieve.
Take your time, and make it as real, detailed, and immediate as you can. If you are struggling to get a website up and running, imagine yourself with just the home page finished. Use all your senses in your visualization. Feel the elation at the successful completion of your task. See the screen with its clear, bold text and graphics. Hear the voice of your friends telling you how great it looks. Let your feelings of excitement and elation build until you can no longer sit still, and your fingers are itching to get to a keyboard.
Another great way to find motivation and to stay motivated is to read the stories of other people who have overcome obstacles and achieved their dreams. These motivational stories remind us that there is always a way to create what you want in our lives- we just need to believe it!
A native of Australia, Amanda Harvey is currently based in Taiwan. Working as a teacher, trainer, speaker, and writer, she has spent the last decade living in various countries throughout Europe and Asia.
Through her work and life experiences, Amanda has developed a strong passion for encouraging others to embrace their differences and become empowered to choose their own paths. In all her work, the key message that Amanda endeavors to share is that there is always a choice, and that the only right way to choose life is your way.
Amanda is the author of two books.One is a self-help book entitled Freedom from Shame,Overcoming the Stigma of Depression.
Amanda’s other title is Not My Flesh and Blood, But My Heart and Soul. To read more, please visit
http://www.choosing-life-my-way.com/index.html
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