Boost Your Self-Motivation...And Get Results!

There is one thing that I know for sure about self-motivated people - THEY ARE ENERGIZED! They talk and walk with energy. They approach tasks with energy. They bounce back from setbacks with energy.

As the legendary speaker Cavett Robert once said, "Trying to stop a self-motivated person is like trying to cap a volcano, still the tide, or silence the thunder!"

Yet, despite this great power, my experience is that many people still depend on "external motivation" rather than self-motivation, which is "internal motivation". That is, they rely on external sources rather than internal sources for their energy.

As a consultant and coach, I hear requests for external motivation all the time:

• "This organization has got to do something about the morale around here!"
• "How can I be motivated working around here?"
• "This place sucks the motivation right out of you!"
• "We need large doses of motivation!"
• "My department is a motivation pit!"

OK, I admit, there are places that have conditions in place that can have an adverse effect on you. Here's my take on that one. Make a decision to leave or make a decision to stay but don't stay by default! In other words, don't stay and complain, moan, and groan. Don't stay and make your life miserable.And whether you make a decision to stay or leave, depend on self-motivation as your source of motivation because self-motivation is the best motivation! It is the motivation that you control!

When you are self-motivated the "battery is inside". You do not depend on external circumstances for your motivation. The external circumstances become merely an annoyance that you recognize. It really doesn't make much sense to depend on external circumstances for your motivation because you are essentially surrenduring your motivation to circumstances that you don't control!

Now, why are self-motivated people energized? Dr. Dean Spitzer has an interesting explanation. He suggests that you are actually an "energy factory"! He states that our human cells are actually packed with energy.

Dr. Spitzer says that this occurs because food we ingest is metabolized and stored in the hundred billion or so cells that make up the human body. Unfortunately, most of this tremendous energy is never released.

In fact, he states that more than 90% of the energy stored in the human body never gets used at all! When not used, energy dissipates and is lost forever.

Self-motivation is the way to release this tremendous storehouse of energy. Think, for a moment, about the energy that you have when you are self-motivated. This energy leads to positive momentum.

When you are self-motivated, at least 10 good things happen:

• You take action
• You take risks
• You recognize more opportunities
• You tackle more problems
• You initiate more contacts
• You go the extra mile
• You are more creative
• You have higher expectations
• You have a bigger influence on people
• You get better results

All of this results in peak performance and achievement. You are not weighed down by external circumstances.

So now you ask, "How do I create this type of self-motivation?"   "How do I create this type of energy that makes good things happen?"

Here are highly effective ways to create positive emotions that results in self-motivation and virtually unlimited energy:

• Capture the positives of each day...and be grateful for them
• Create inspirational goals that would make a significant difference in your life
• Create a "one-minute movie" of your three greatest successes - replay often
• Use motivational quotes as a source of energy - a mental vitamin!
• Always be reading something uplifting - a mental vitamin!
• Listen to self-improvement CDs that are uplifting - a mental vitamin!
• Have a group of positive people in your life that you frequently interact with
• Belong to associations that are inspiring e.g. optimist clubs, Toastmasters, etc.
• Capture the unexpected positive things that happen to you
• Always have positive things pending in your life - dinners, trips, visits, etc.
• Commit to life-long learning - always be working on three skills or qualities
• Create positive mental images of what you want to BE, DO, and HAVE

Remember the words of Henry Ford, "Whether you think you can, or think you can't...you're probably right!"

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