A Commitment to Yourself

The level of your success in your career, finances, mental and physical well-being or love depends on this one thing alone - you must make a stronger commitment to yourself. This simply means that by making a stronger commitment to yourself you are telling your subconscious that you want to live your truth.

The most common question I’m asked by my online life-coaching members is:
“How can I stay motivated until I get what I desire in life?”

The answer to this question is not as complicated as many of you would have believed. All I tell them is to develop the discipline to dedicate at least 20 minutes of each day to improve the quality of their lives. Once they commit to doing this, they will become stunned by their sustained motivation and renewed zest for life.

As simple as this technique may sound, the majority of people throughout the world simply go through life with no sense of direction and a complete lack of passion for life. They do not realise that yet another week will be over soon and that if they continue to do things as they did last week, this week will be no better or happier for them than last week. The time to grow and improve is NOW!

Goals are mysterious things too - they spring into our minds motivating us to succeed, fuel fires of fantasy about success and new found happiness, inspire almost obsessive effort to move our lives forward, and then - suddenly the fire goes out. What once motivated you to succeed, drove you to get up early and work late, now weighs in your mind as a failure. Don't despair. The aftermath of these best intentions often feels like failure, here are a few simple tips you can use every day, they will provide you with the necessary motivation to carry you through until your goal's completion. However, it is going to take a little dedication from your end. Remember, the greatest athletes, entrepreneurs, musicians, scholars and scientists emerge only after they have dedicated at least three to five hours a day for a decade mastering their chosen field. Now, all I’m asking you to invest is 20 minutes of each day to yourselves.

Tip 1: Convince Yourself

Repeat your goal to yourself again, and again throughout the day. Simple statements repeated aloud often can trigger the subconscious into action. Choose your goal, and pick strong words that inspire you. Say them aloud, pay attention to what the words mean. If your goal is to practice the piano, say aloud "I will practice the piano and make beautiful music!" or "I will make my piano sing!" Each statement rephrases the initial goal, but does so in a way that refreshes and revitalizes the initial excitement of your goal.

Tip 2: Tell a Good Friend

Talk openly about why you want to pursue your goal in the first place, and what you hope to achieve. Talking with someone about possible outcomes and the steps along the way can make the goal more realistic in your mind. Each time you talk to someone, the goal becomes less of a secret desire, and more of a path you have chosen that your friends can encourage you on.

Tip 3: Just Do It!

There are mornings when we all hate getting out of bed, but hitting the snooze button on your alarm once more will not get anything done any earlier, or see you to success.
Feelings are not facts, but they can catch up to the facts in time - doing what you know you ought to be doing NOW will eventually bring you a feeling of satisfaction as well as relief.

Tip 4: Reward Yourself!

When you complete a step in your overall plan, reward yourself. Little rewards along the way can make the overall job seem more attainable. Rewards do not have to be overly expensive to provide a boost. Allow yourself a night off every time you are proactive towards your goal, or treat yourself to a movie or a night out once you have completed and accomplished a major task. The goal is important, but how you choose to do it can be where the fun is. As you think about what areas of your life you wish to succeed in, remind yourself how capable you are repeatedly. Every little step you take towards your goal will continue to reinforce this belief. However, your movement must be focused in only one direction, forward!
Goals are meant to stretch us and push into places we would not ordinarily go. Let this journey help you grow and evolve as an individual. Recognize that, although you will not always feel the same level of motivation, an unwavering commitment can make all the difference here and you can stay motivated to succeed. You already know what procrastination and low motivation is costing you. And you know deep down that nothing is going to change for the better until you learn how to take consistent and sustained forward action towards your goal.

Tip 5. Love Yourself a Little.

When it comes to motivating yourself to be a better person, to do better at work or to create a happier relationship you need to understand the importance of taking control of your self-talk. You really need to know how to motivate yourself through thick and thin. Do you ever pay attention to the thoughts inside your mind? Do you ever notice the way in which you talk to yourself? Now be honest! Is it true that you sometimes insult yourself, curse yourself and say horrible things about your abilities? If you spoke
like this regularly to the people you care about they would probably leave and never talk to you again. There is simply no excuse for treating yourself so badly. Start to talk to yourself the way you would talk to someone you deeply love. Be respectful, patient and understanding. Be slow to anger, quick to praise and be grateful for the opportunity to listen. Therefore remember to be on your best behaviour whenever you talk to yourself and you will find that you treat other people better as well. This in turn will cause people to respond more positively to whatever you say. These very people will be more inclined to help you get what you want.

Tip 6. Turn Up the Passion

Very often we go through our day with an internal dialogue buzzing away in the background. We mutter to ourselves about what we need to do without feeling particularly inspired to do anything other than what we have to do. This is not an effective strategy for self-motivation! What you need to do instead is to turn up the volume, inject some passion into your words and talk to yourself with enthusiasm. You would not have much luck motivating someone else to take action without putting some energy into your words. You need to do the same to motivate yourself and must learn how to be motivated at a moments notice! So, the next time you want to motivate yourself to do something - talk to yourself the same way you would if someone was standing before you waiting to be inspired. Speak loudly with passion and excitement either aloud or to yourself inside your head. The more energy you put into it the easier it will be to light the fire inside you that sparks you into action.

Tip 6. Know How to Feel Good

No matter how focused, positive and hard working you are there will still be days when nothing seems to go your way. It is on days like this that you must take charge of your brain and take control of your self talk. You need a back catalogue of memories you can replay to make yourself feel good. Music does it for me. I have so many songs I love to hear that I just pick one out and listen to it in my mind. In a moment I can listen to sounds that make me feel fantastic simply by choosing to. This is the secret to knowing how to be motivated in a way that works for you. One other way you can break the pattern of negative thinking is to play happy memories of people telling you how much they value and appreciate you. Hear them saying what a difference you are making and soak up those wonderful feelings of appreciation. Your motivation will soar and getting more done each day will just get easier and easier with eager people lining up to help you.

It really is your choice as to how you run your brain. Choose to feel great and your communication with yourself and the outside world will become remarkable. Use these tips repeatedly on a day-by-day basis and you will succeed in taking full control of your life, begin to feel secure and at peace like never before. I guarantee it!

A Passion for Life
Whatever your goals and aspirations may be, the key to success in life is the way you live it. You may not have a choice about exactly how things happen but you do have a choice about the way you respond to what happens.

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