With 14-16 hours available, you should be able to get that done right?

That's where self motivation comes in…the BIG question is how do you motivate yourself so that you can overcome procrastination, take action and actually achieve what you know needs to be done?

Here are 3 Self Motivation Tips That Really Work:

1. Use music to motivate yourself.  Have you ever found that listening to rock or hard-driving R&B music gets you going whereas classical or soft music can help you relax and reduce stress in your day?  In fact, researches are increasingly finding that music frequencies DO have direct impacts on our internal brain function resulting in mood changes – and yes, you can motivate yourself using music.  If you haven't read "Your Playlist Can Change Your Life: 10 Proven Ways Your Favorite Music Can Revolutionize Your Health, Memory, Organization, Alertness and More" based on scientific research, pick up a copy now. 

2. Be Driven By A BIG Why! Self motivation depends highly on you being 110% sub-consciously convinced that you are on the path to something exciting and in line with your personal values and beliefs.  A wonderful book titled Attracting Greatness outlines the 5 Pillars of Greatness based on studies of highly successful and happy achievers with the ultimate foundation being a series of techniques used to develop a highly effective purpose to drive you toward natural self motivation

3. Staying On Track.  One of the toughest things for human beings to accomplish is consistency.  It's easy to be motivated for "bursts" of time, but then we experience the valleys and it can seem much harder to escape a valley or rut in your life than to reach a highly motivated level.  Self motivation depends heavily on recognizing your own personal signs of losing focus and becoming stagnent and then having specific exercises that can quickly bring you out of a funk.  For example, breathing exercises, listening to music, physical exercise, meditation, talking with a friend, being creative can all be ways that you can quickly bring yourself out of a valley and back up to a high level of motivation. 

We all hear (and know) that we need to take action to get things done, but if we really want to dig in an understand why we do or do not take action, the answer typically comes down to self motivation.  With these 3 methods you can finally be in control of your motivation levels and become a much happier, fulfilled and productive person.  Give it a try!

You could be…

• Stuck in a pattern of day dreaming, unable to take action
• Enveloped in a funk that just never seems to lift
• Tired with no energy to take action or motivate yourself
• Constantly down on yourself for not being able to get where you really want to be
• Trapped in a situation where each hour, day and week seem exactly the same – wondering how to break free

Many of us go through times in our life when we get to this stage of seeing the end point of where we would like to be, but simply can't seem to make any forward progress toward our goals.

CREATE A BRIDGE

Inside Attracting Greatness, the concept of Thinking Big is combined with the idea of practically building bridges as stepping stones to reach our end objectives.

For instance, if today we find ourselves with extremely low self-confidence, barely able to talk with anyone because we are so shy or introverted and our end goal is to be comfortable in our own skin, confident in our own personality and able to be secure in any social situation…that's a pretty big step to reach from where you are right now.

As big as the pain may be for you today in having to deal with your current low self-cionfidence and social awkwardness, the pain of getting from point A all the way to point Z is bigger – the result being you never actually take action to get where you want to be.

That's where the concept of  "bridges" come in.

To reach BIG goals, we need to break down our journey into a series of steps creating bridges to reach the ultimate objective

Getting unstuck depends on our ability to take one simple action toward our overall goal knowing that getting our journey started is the key to building momentum and ovecoming the rut in which we find ourselves

So, the first step may be picking a specific social situation that isn't as overwhelming and really thinking about how others are acting and feeling in this situation.

For example, you agree to a small get together with a few people you know and in advance you think about where they are coming from, what their insecurities are (or could be), why they talk or act the way they do and how they probably are nervous themselves.

This accomplishes two things for you:

1. It takes the attention off of you and puts in onto them in your mind.  Our tendancy when we are low on self-confidence is to overthink our own behaviors.  This way you take the pressure off of yourself by thinking about who you will be meeting

2. You begin to come to terms with the fact that everyone has emotions, challenges they must overcome which helps put your own challenges into perspective so they don't seem so large

Having taken your own inernalization of pressure and attention off of yourself, you have created a "bridge" to becoming much more self-confident and self-assured in social situations.

In doing so, you have also taken the first step toward becoming unstuck…well on your way to building momentum toward further action. 

You have become Unstuck…it works each time so give it a try.

Certainly in our quest to become more productive, more focused and positive a bad mood can appear to be a setback for sure.

Yet, in the end we are emotional beings and having a bad mood once in a while is not the end of the world.

Here are 3 ways to deal with and stop your bad mood so that it doesn't overtake your goals and focus for the day:

1. Accept it, know that your bad mood is normal and typically only lasts a few hours.  For that time, let it happen.  Punishing ourselves for having a bad mood often leaves us with feelings of guilt as well as lack of control.  If you acknowledge your bad mood and give yourself some downtime, you will find it turns into a positive instead of negative experience

2. Do something else.  Often being stuck in a rut, being bored leads to bad moods simply because our mind is no longer allowed to experience new and exciting things so it takes over by feeling negative (at least that is something new!) By changing and doing something different, you'll find your mind will give up on the negative thinking and your bad mood will be short-lived

3. Do something that makes you laugh.  You cannot stay in a bad mood when you are laughing so having triggers that you know will make you laugh or impact you in an emotional way at the ready for when you want to come out of your bad moods.

Finally, if all else fails, watch these two videos that can help anyone shake their bad mood!

How do you break your bad mood…leave us your comment.

You know the feeling, when you get down in the dumps it's hard to think of anything other than negatives…how you have no true friends, you are behind on your bills, the weather is grey, your kids aren't calling you, you haven't had a date in three months, your job is going nowehere….

But, against that are a number of positives that can immediately counter those feelings of negativity, despair, frustration and boredom, the challenge is coming up with them when you are in one of these negative periods.

So, why not come up with a "Passion Inventory" right now. 

Go ahead, take 10-15 minutes to inventory things that make you happy.

How do you know what you are passionate about?

Use these criteria:

• Time flies when you are doing something you are passionate about
• You are most comfortable when you are doing something for which you have a passion
• You are typically attracted to people that share your passion so look at what you share with those you admire most around you
• You are often good at your passions
• Passions don't take effort…they feel like they come naturally to you

Here are some examples to get you thinking:

• music
• reading
• writing
• talking 1:1 with a best friend
• helping people solve problems
• learning new things
• seeing new places – traveling
• playing a sport like football, basketball or hockey
• selling or running a business
• a hobby such as woodworking, sewing or radio control airplanes

Of course, the potential list is much longer than this, you should be able to come up with at least 3-4 of your own (and perhaps many more).

Once you have your inventory, it is good to write a few sentences under each one about how those make you feel – so that you can actually place yourself in those situations nad describe how they make you feel, what you see and hear.

Next time you feel down, need an escape from something you don't like doing or are feeling depressed, pull out your passion inventory so you can break out of your rut quicker and live a happier, more productive and fulfilling life.

We have lost our motivation, and isn't it a huge struggle to drag ourselves out of that rut and once again get motivated?

How do we slip into these funks?

Often it happens gradually, we are at the top of our game and we let things slide a little.  Some bad habits form or we stop pressing forward with our own agenda in a focused way and we find ourselves under the influence of others losing track of our own purpose, goals and objectives.

Then, because we have looked to others for our guidance, we find that we are not 100% aligned with our direction and then motivation suffers.

We lack a big purpose, can't find a big enough reason to continue in the face of challenges – if left to fester, the next thing we know this disease called procrastination impacts motivation in other areas of our life – our finances, relationships, job, and self-image all begin to suffer.

What we need to know is how to turn things around, and motivate ourselves to get out of the rut.

5 Ways To Motivate Yourself Now

1. Strengthen Your Resolve By Re-Discovering Your Purpose. Without linking a goal or objective to an underlying BIG reason why in our lives, we are pretty much sunk.  Now certain tasks we just know are right for us – perhaps playing music, writing, playing sports -and that is because we have a passion, interest, desire and likely a strength for that activity.  In the past we have consciously or unconsciously created a link between a dream or purpose in our lives with these activities.  If your passion is playing music, then you likely have had extremely vivid dreams about a purpose where you gained influence, prestige and financial reward through your music.  That you can bring happiness, enjoyment, and love through your craft.  For other areas in your life you want to go through the same exercise – how can you relate those goals and objectives to your passion or purpose?

If you struggle to find your purpose then try using these purpose finding techniques or consult one of the best resources we have found on finding your ultimate purpose in life.

2. Interrupt Your Current Thought Pattern and Routine. Negative thinking, procrastination and lack of motivation all demand changing things up.  We tend to always fall back into patterns – if those patterns are positive, then this is an asset.  If your patterns are negative, then that will only work to prevent you from increasing your motivation.  Change your daily pattern – get up earlier, go for a run, take a break, go for a drive (to an areas you normally wouldn't go), anything to change it up and get a new perspective on things will help break your negative mindset.

3. Understand that YOU Must Call The Shots. Too many of us end up blindly following others (spouses, friends, teachers, bosses, idols, etc…) without thinking for ourselves.  This inevitably takes us down a path where we end up living someone else's life, not our own.  Nothing gets you motivated faster than taking back control for your own direction.  Without control, we become frustrated, agitated and negative — when we have control, we grow happy, motivated and positive.

4. Boost Your Self-Confidence. A good deal of motivation is directly linked to our self-image. If you lack self-confidence you typically have a tremendous struggle going on inside – no wonder you can't get motivated when there is a war going on inside your head.  Use the blueprint included in Attracting Greatness to ensure you have a healthy, consistent level of self-confidence and watch your motivation soar.

5. Take Action...when you suffer from lack of motivation, your life is stuck in a rut you want to break that pattern of passiveness with activity.  That means…

• Exercise – walking, jogging, tennis, swimming, aerobics, cycling, treadmill, weight lifting, – whatever the activity of choice just DO SOMETHING!
• Meditation – the best exercise for the mind involves freeing it of cobwebs and allowing your mind and body to work as it was intended. Make sure you find 20-minutes each day to meditate – you won't believe what it will do for your life
• Be interested – the best way to make sure you take action through the day is "get your head in the game".  That means pay attention, listen, have an opinion, proactively see information and renew your interests and passions in life

Of course, nobody is perfect with these 5-steps and for sure, when you are stuck in a rut and your motivation is at an all time low making the smallest amount of progress on these items seems like a massive challenge…but that is precisely why you need to get the ball rolling.  Just take a small step, start with one of these and build momentum, before you know it your level of motivation will be through the roof!

In my experience, what motivates people is when they get so pissed off they are not going to take the current situation anymore and then gets them motivated to do something about it.

Agreed, this can take people in one of two directions:

• Decide to be angry and use that as justification for doing something bad, illegal or negative – OR…
• Decide to take responsibility and assert control turning things around in a positive direction

Obviously we are talking about the second option here.

But the bottom line is that the process of NOT settling for the current situation, of challenging the BS that you hear and decide to do something about it turns you from a passive blob into an active energy source that is vibrant and attracts other movement around you.

In that sense, channeling pent up frustration and even desperation into anger as a means to initiating change can be a very useful method to get unstuck in your life.

So many of the most successful entrepreneurs I know ONLY became successful after finally getting angry enough to kick themselves into action and find out about alternative business options,  no longer settling for having their professional and financial lives controlled by others.

Others who have made incredible changes in their lifestyle, health and relationships did so because they decided to get pissed off enough about the situation they were in to take control and change their life for the better.

So, next time you wonder what it takes to get motivated, ask yourself "Am I fed up enough with the current situation to actually get angry and propel myself into a new, improved situation?"

If you are NOT angry enough or desperate enough for change, it will not come.  So, on occasion I have racked my brain with vivid imagery of what life WILL be like in the future if I don't get motivated or take action now – in effect ratcheting up the anger level internally until action is the only option.

Give it a try…and watch how motivated you can really be.

Self Motivation

Which comes first, Motivation or Action?

Have you ever said  or thought "I can't do this because I'm just not motivated enough?"   or "If I was more motivated, then I could be more productive or active?" 

It's true, I can certainly think of times in my life where I have blamed Motivation as the culprit for not having the desire, energy or drive to get off my butt and take action on a task or goal.  But is that the proper way to think of Motivation?

Can we really expect to be in a constant state of motivation if we rely on external factors to motivate us?

And here's the real kicker…if we expect that motivation preceeds action, then we are forever going to be dependent on external circumstances to motivate us, and isn't this how it really happens?

I read a motivational books and suddenly, for a week I am motivated like a maniac, but then what happens next? 

I take motivation from an inspiring movie, friend, or environment (hanging out with a bunch of highly successful people or taking a luxurious vacation in the Caribbean) – but what happens after that situation changes?

No wonder staying motivated in such a rollercoaster ride for most people…but what if you could be self motivated?

EXTRINSIC VERSUS INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

What if you could start the cycle of motivation on demand, whenever you want? 

Master entrepreneur and motivator Billy Cox wrote this blog post titled How To MOTIVATE Yourself  making the point that it is far better to control your Motivation intrinsically as opposed to relying on factors outside of you that you do not control.

Imagine the consistency you can achieve in Motivation if you learn that each time you slow down by taking action you can start the cycle of building motivation all over again – intrinsically, so you are not reliant on people, places or other conditions outside of your control.

Now, as Attracting Greatness Blueprint tells us, there need to be a few factors in place before we can be more consistently motivated:

• An overiding, aligned purpose that we recognize and embrace in our lives
• A set of goals that line up with this fundamental purpose
• A set of plans and actions that will lead to realization of those goals – see Making Goals Happen
• Some basic tools and techniques to deal with stress, negativity and self-doubt in our lives

Once those factors are in place, the next major catalyst to staying consistently motivated is ACTION. 

You may have heard the term – Purposeful Action – indeed, that is what we mean here.  By having a fundamental Purpose realized in your life, a well thought out plan and an inherent self-confidence that allows us to deal with any situation that arises, we can now freely take ACTION on demand and reap the rewards of being in a constant state of Motivation. 

Can you see staying more motivated using this approach?

Here are some of the sure signs your life is stalled:

• Your energy drops dramatically
• You suddenly become undecided, confused as to your next step
• Now, playing the game becomes more important than achieving results
• Seemingly overnight you are gaining weight, not sleeping and generally in ill health
• And the biggy…you stop dreaming about what is possible barely able to make it through what "is"

It can happen without warning to the most optimistic of people.

From the pages of "Achieving Extreme Greatness" – When your life gets stuck in a rut, here are 10 things you can do to help break the habit…

1. Convince yourself it will pass.  When you are in a rut it seems that you will never break free, by recognizing that this is simply a phase you are going through, a period that you can change so take the pressure off and change will come faster
2. Exercise.  Even though times like this make any sort of physical exercise even more challenging, you must break free and focus on at least low-grade exercise such as a walk, jog or swim
3. Get social.  We tend to become withdrawn in the low points of our life, a better approach is to join a new sport, hobby, fitness class, support group or other social activity where you can be with others
4. Change your diet.  We tend to become self-destructive in times of trouble within our lives – eating too much sugar and carbohydrates, escaping reality with alcohol and stimulants – by breaking these bad habits we can build momentum that will break out of our rut
5. Change your routine.  Being stuck in a rut is really succumbing to a pattern of bad habits – by breaking your routine, just one step toward change can get the ball rolling
6. Baby steps.  Our tendancy is to wait for some major life event to break us out of our rut when the best way to quickly escape this hell-like, self-imposed prison is to take small steps each day toward improving our life
7. Change your company.  There are times in my life where I was kept in a rut largely by the negative energy of the people around me.  When you are stuck in life look around you, do you have positive role models or mentors you can rely on to help you see the light?
8. Take responsibility.  Look inward and understand that you have everything you need to succeed wildly today, it's just that you are relying on external factors for your success.   By taking responsibility for changing your situation you empower yourself to break free of your rut.
9. Introspection and Meditation.  When things around you get so heavy, so meaningless and challenging – give yourself permission to focus inward for 30-minutes each day by practicing yoga and meditation.  With just a week of consistent meditation you will be amazed at how less terrible you will feel about your current rut
10. Know the signs.  Take stock each day of your feelings, your accomplishments and how well aligned your actions are with your inner purpose and desire.  Recognize how you feel and how you respond when under pressure, out of control and out of alignment.  If you can identify these characteristics early you can take control before you get stuck in a rut

There is no reason to spend another day stuck in a rut.  Use these 10 techniques to break free and begin living life the way you really want to once again.

Jeff

What needs the most attention in your life?

Where would you like to be 1-month from now, and more important, what are your personal goals for 1-year and even 5-years from now? 

Sure, it can be overwhelming to think BIG – to plan massive personal improvement and then have trouble getting started.

You need two important factors to make big change in your life…

A BIG idea – a big goal or plan for various areas of your life and…

A series of "next steps" that will allow you day-by-day and week-by-week progress in-line with your ultimate goals and objectives. 

You will be amazed how easy planning "next steps" in your quest for personal achievement will be when you link them to a larger BIG goal.

Let's say our goal was to lose 10 pounds within the next 30-days…and your plan is to keep it off for the remainder of the year – that is a BIG goal.

What little steps can you focus on each day that will help you achieve that major goal?

1. Step 1. Exercise 30-minutes each day at 60-75% of my heart rate
2. Step 2. Stop eating after 8PM – substitute some herbal tea or water if need be
3. Step 3. Be more consistent with your sleep patterns – go to bed 11PM, sleep to 6:00AM
4. Step 4. Reduce your consumption of alcohol from 4 drinks a week to no more than 1
5. Step 5. Drink at least 8 glasses of water each day – in effect this replaces other sugar-laced drinks

ETc…

In the package "Beyond Greatness" – you'll see a 5-step system that will make achieving great things in your life – through consistent, simple action each day, can make a massive difference in your life. 

Unlike ever before, you will finally have a formula that ANYONE (not just the super-motivated) can apply to their life instantly and see consistent results in overcoming procrastination and seeing massive change in your life. 

After exploring ways to enhance the learning ability of our two primary school children, we came across a great deal of research dealing with brain health and nutrition – specifically, ways we can use to optimize our brain nutrition by adding more brain food to our diets.

It doesn't matter who you are, there's no debate today that a highly optimized brain is required to process the immense amount of information and stimuli around us…young, middle-age or old, we all need to focus on brain healthy diets and exercises more often.

Brain food choices can help to clear up fuzzy thinking, overcome low energy, times when you just don't feel like you are "on the ball".  Brain nutrition is a very active, well funded field of research resulting in many breakthrough findings.

For instance, the link between vitamin B12 and overall brain nutrition and functioning has been well documented in several studies.  Lately, we've seen more information coming out on the link between Vitamin E and brain health where some studies are showing evidence of slowing the de-generation of the brain improving our lives as we age. 

Inside "Beyond Greatness" there is an entire section dedicated to the connection between toxins in our body as well as nasty bugs including parasites and overgrowth of microbes in our gut being directly linked to poor brain functioning. 

In each case, there is powerful support for the notion that our diet can directly impact our brain health and that choosing smart but tasty brain food can certainly give us some control over how well our brain functions now and into the future.

Here are some of our favorite choices for brain food:

1. Salmon or Tuna contain Omega-3 fatty acids which are thought to help in both keeping the brain healthy, but also has possible benefits in regeneration of damaged portions of the brain.

2. Green vegetables…find one you like from a list of broccoli, spinach, beat greens and asparagus.  Make them a regular part of at least one meal each day. 

3. Eggs…fit eggs into your meals a few times each week; they are great for a super-charge of B vitamins – a great brain food

4. Beans and lentils…the advantages of beans and lentils have been wide; they include not only brain health but also heart and overall ability to improve digestive and immune system function.  Most of us do not eat nearly enough of this food family, look for specific recipes on how to add beans and lentils to some enticing foods

5. Broccoli…we mentioned this super food up under green vegetables, but it really needs to be identified on its own since it is perhaps one of the healthiest foods available to us and in most places, it is quite inexpensive. Broccoli is great for both iron and vitamin B both essential to optimal brain nutrition

6. Nuts…especially almonds. It used to be that almonds and almond butter spreads were out of reach of most consumers due to their high price…recently we've noticed that prices have come down and are within reach of most consumers.  Substituting almond butter for peanut butter a few times a week is a great way to get more healthy fat and vitamin E in your diet – a great brain food

7. Olive oil…you may be used to hearing olive oil prescribed as a healthy heart food, consider this a two-for-one opportunity to also get more vitamin E – a terrific brain supplement

8. Blueberries…especially wild blueberries are a terrific source of phytochemicals, a type of antioxidant for which there is evidence of brain health and regeneration

9. Red wine…in moderation can also help to add more phytochemicals to your diet; in this case the good stuff comes from the antioxidants contained in the skin of red grapes

10. Sunflower seeds…sprinkle these tasty treats over top of your morning oatmeal, mix them in with a salad to add some texture and flavor or add them to a couscous or rice dish – in each case they will help add vitamin E to your diet – a great brain food

The real trick to improving your brain health by using these foods is consistency.  It will be more beneficial for you to include these different foods in your daily and weekly diets over a long period of time rather than binging on them for a week and then heading back into an unhealthy diet. 

I know we were pleasantly surprised to find that brain food doesn't have to be bad tasting or expensive – there are many choices that any of us will find delicious and economical – it's just a matter of creating the habit of including them in our daily meal plans.