Trial may lead to error.
And yet at times you see that another trial leads you to success. The
difference always lies in the way you push yourself to try harder each time.
There surely is something that pushes you up, higher and higher, out of the
dumps, up to the baseline, then above it; and eventually to the sky. The key to
every lock that seals your mind and curbs its tremendous potential is
motivation.
Motivation is the driving
factor that pushes you to a goal. You may get driven to accomplish a certain
target because of your inner desire to excel and lay your mark, as well as the
sheer attractiveness of the reward that may often be associated with it. We get
motivated to do the things we like, things that give us pleasure, acts that
make us feel good and deeds that prevent pain and accentuate happiness and
pleasure.
Why do we need motivation?
Human beings have a
remarkable ability to learn from their past setbacks. We try things again and
again till we succeed in getting them right, because we have drivers within us.
We are goaded creatures. Our goals may be intrinsic (personal, to please
oneself) as well as extrinsic (to please others). In either case we direct
ourselves to pursue the cause to some or the other rationale. Intrinsic
motivation drives one internally, to excel not for a reward; but the desire to
master what he or she may be doing. Extrinsic motivators may be marks or grades
or money or publicity. But introspection is important to know why you do what
you do.
Take charge
It is quintessential for
you to take accountability for yourself. It may be your will to perk up on your
looks, tone up your body, improvise your wardrobe, build friendships,
strengthen relationships, expand a social circle, excel in education, sport,
career, hobbies, and your life in totality.
Once you take charge and bear the weight of all these on your shoulders,
you will automatically wake up early, exercise, eat healthy food, study, do
your homework, make friends, play your sport, sleep well and keep your temper
under control. The core traits that will help you sail through your choices in
each of these dimensions of life: your self-confidence, competence in what you
do and autonomy in your thought and action.
Why is it so difficult?
Staying motivated is a massive struggle — our focus
gets repeatedly assaulted by negative thoughts and apprehensions about the
future. Everyone faces self-doubt at some point in their life. What separates
the average and the highly successful is the ability to keep moving forward. The
three drivers that speed us to failure are:
Lack of confidence – if you don’t believe you
can succeed, what’s the point in trying?
Lack of focus – if you don’t know what you
want, do you really want anything?
Lack of direction – if you don’t know what to
do, how can you be motivated to do it?
Boost your confidence
Instead of worrying about
what you don’t have and fearing you will never achieve it, look at all that you
have at present! Past failures, past heartbreaks and past embarrassments must
not dominate your mind. They cloud the vision of a brighter future and you may
believe that you will never be able to make it. So believe in your strengths,
keep track of successes however small, and build on your self confidence.
Keep focus
Often we focus on what we
don’t want and what is not good for us and we forget what we really are aiming
for. If the focus is on fear, we magnify the fear and keep track only of
difficulties along our way. The tension drains us so bad that we lose
motivation to do the task itself! So focus on your energy and your ability to
achieve. Learning what doesn’t work is sometimes even more important than
knowing what works. Be tangible, be organized and take concrete steps towards
the goal. After all Mount Everest too wasn’t climbed in a day was it?
Get direction
Even the lost sailor at
sea keeps his calm because he believes in, and takes his direction from the North
Star. Develop day to day strategies to achieve what you want. Without that
you’ll feel you’re not getting anywhere and you begin to procrastinate and the dominoes
effect sets in: you lose focus as well as your self confidence. So learn to
make action plans with set targets that are time bound and gave you returns:
intrinsic or extrinsic.
Who’s got time to waste?
Enough of sitting back
and relaxing, facebooking, orkutting and simply hanging out with friends at
movie theaters! Whether you believe in reincarnation or not, this is one life.
So live it right. Read a lot; keep up to date with the latest; may it be
fitness, diet, current events, career courses, recreational classes,
educational trips, inspirational movies; whatever suits you. But take yourself
a step higher than where you really are. That is what true growth is. Put in
more effort, try alternative methods, be persistent and be deep.
» Keep your eyes on the prize
» Learn to reward yourself
» Learn from your mistakes
» Challenge yourself hard
» Build upon your curiosity
» Have control over emotions
» Cooperate with others
» Have healthy competition
Thomas Edison took pride
in unsuccessful experiments as part of his journey to successful outcomes! He once said that he didn’t fail ever; he
succeeded in finding 10,000 ways in which a light bulb didn’t work!
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