Five Techniques that help you take action

Five techniques to help you take action

I love motivational posters that have a great picture and then a motivating quote underneath. The picture starts your mind racing with ideas and then the quote sometimes makes you smile. I bet you have seen this poster before, you have footsteps in sand and then the quote” A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” This is very true, but how do you take that first step? Try this list for some insight on taking action.

1. I call this first step “ Just put your head down and get it done” I have run over forty marathons and during each marathon there are joyful times and times that are painful. During these painful miles I just tell myself to put your head down and get it done. I know it will be even more painful to not finish and endure the disappointment, so I just push on. Sometimes you have to tell yourself “let’s just put our head down and get something done”.

“What makes you grind?  You have to always be chasing something.”

Ray Lewis

 

2. Remember the first law of motion. An object at rest remains at rest and a body in motion remains in motion unless acted on by an outside force. If you want something to happen in your life, you have to get moving or you will sit there forever. It is hard to sugar coat this but at some point you have to get moving. I have two friends who wanted to run a marathon. True story. One friend bought new shoes, a treadmill, and a nice watch for his training. In addition he read books on running a marathon. He was inspired to run a marathon. One problem, he never would go out and run. My other friend found a marathon plan for free on-line, looked it over and started training the next day. Who do you think meet the goal of running the marathon?

“Doing nothing gets you nothing.” ~ Sean Reichle

 

3. Break the project or task into bite sized pieces and start by eating the first bite sized piece. If a task seems overwhelming the chances are you will not start. I once had to transcribe one hundred short videos. I kept thinking to myself that it was going to be impossible. I set a small goal of completing just three a day. Most days I would complete double this and I had a goal to accomplish each day. Before I knew it I had a transcription for all 100 videos. One can always break a large task into small tasks that can be easily completed.

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time

4. At night before you go to bed write down one two or three tasks that you will get done the next day no matter what happens. Just tell yourself that you will not go to bed the next day unless these tasks are done. Then stick to the plan. This simple activity trains you to take action and builds momentum. Believe it or not there are 100 mile running races. When a finisher of a 100 mile race was asked how they trained for this distance they said, “you start with 5 miles, and move to 10 miles, and before long 40 to 60 mile runs seem common.” Strange as it sounds that a 40 mile run becomes common, the body is amazing and adapts. In the same way when you start with one or two tasks that must be completed, before long completing tasks become common to you. This habit then can be applied to every area of your life.

     

“We rate ability in men by what they finish, not by what they attempt”

5. Remind yourself why you want to complete this task. The reasons can vary from “I need to complete this task in order to remain employed” to “completing this task is the first step in bringing world peace”. Regardless your brain sometimes needs to be reminded of the purpose. Some people like to visualize how good it will feel when you complete the task. Others enjoy being able to mark something off their daily list. Regardless, your odds of getting started and completing a task go up if you have a compelling reason to get started. In 2010 there were over 400 men who ran a marathon faster than two hours and twenty minutes. In the same year there were less than five in Great Britain. Is it because Great Britain runners are inferior? Paula Radcliff who is British holds the world record for the women’s marathon. In Africa runners know that if they win major races they can generate a life time riches. In Great Britain people dream of being a futbol star.

Find a compelling reason to succeed that is more than the money and you energize your mind of success.

Les Brown

5 Tips for Goal Setting

5 Tips for setting Goals

If you were to go to any book store and go to the self-help section and randomly picked up ten books on improving your life, eight of these books would have something to say about goals. Why is this? The reason is that setting goals work. I teach school and have summers off. I discovered many years ago that if my family doesn’t write down our goals or what we want to do in the summer then we can easily waste a summer and not have as fulfilling of a summer. What our habit has become is that we sit down at the beginning of the summer and write down what each person wants to do. We then put this list on the fridge and look at the list often. So here are five tips to help with your goals.

1. Write down your goals on paper and look at them every day. In fact I could just stop here but people don’t like a list this short.

2. Create a goal book and add pictures and quotes for each of your goals. This involves all of your senses and can be really motivating.

3. Write down your top two goals on a business card and place this in your purse and wallet so you can look at the goal often during the day.

4. Once a month take some time and review your goals and see what victories you have and celebrate these victories.

5. If you really want to accomplish a goal be willing to take massive action to obtain this goal. This involves a real gut check on your part as you ask yourself “What am I willing to do? “ Let me give you an example of massive action. Nathan Jenkins was an above average division II runner. He had a goal to become a world class marathoner. He was willing to work hard for this goal. I know this because he had a blog for years that he documented his running mileage. He averaged over a hundred miles a week for several years in a row. He was able to get his marathon time down to 2:14 and was 7^th place at an Olympic trials race. He took massive action to go from a 2:30 marathoner to a 2:14 marathoner. This massive action can be applied to any area of ones life. Here is an article that would be an example of massive action. The article outlines how a couple paid off their mortgage in five years instead of thirty.
We're paying off our mortgage in five yearshttp://homes.yahoo.com/news/paid-off-mortgage-less-5-years-230600500.html

Three Subjects You Must Focus On

Three Subjects You Must Focus On

At first glance this list will seem obvious and a no brainer. In fact it is a no brainer yet the difficult part is keeping all three areas in balance. The items aren’t listed in order...

1. Wealth

    You can look at this in many ways from “I gotta pay the rent “to I’m going to be a zillionaire. Regardless of your thoughts on money every person has to generate income to either cover a lavish lifestyle or just putting food on the table. As my mom would say “Money makes the world go around”

2. Health

If you are not healthy, nothing else matters. Sometimes a lack of wealth can led to poor health but sometimes a pursuit of wealth can led to poor health. There are many areas you need to focus on for optimal health such as diet, exercise, and lifestyle. Having optimal health would seem very important to everyone, yet many people ignore this area of their life Our lifespan and quality of life has improved tremendously the last two hundred years and this knowledge can be applied to your own life. Many times we only focus on our health when we have a crises and our body forces us to focus on our health. Your health is an area that we need to focus on energy towards.

3, Relationships

What good is wealth and health if you don’t have anyone to share these with? On the other hand, your wealth and health is so much more fun if you have people you love to share these with. Again, there is a wealth of wisdom available that will help you build quality relationships.

As you can see, this list is nothing new or revolutionary.  However, if you can add synergy to all three of these areas  you can take your life to a whole new level. Synergy is the interaction of elements that when combined produce a total effect that is greater than the sum of the individual elements.

The three areas should be in balance and work together, not exclusively. If you focus entirely on your wealth your other two areas can suffer. Steven Jobs was a genius when it came to creating wealth, however his health suffered from being the CEO of two major companies ( Apple and Pixar) and his wealth building put a strain on some key family relationships in his life. On the other hand, if you just focus on relationships and hang out with friends all day, and have no money,  this creates an unhealthy and unbalanced life. No one wants a friend living in their basement for free.  The key is to create synergy in these three areas. Try to imagine how sweet your life will be when you have perfect synergy in these three areas of your life. I'm motivated to start looking at areas in my life that I can start to synergize

The Power of a Goal

The formula for success

How do you create the life that you dream about having? You have to take action and create the life you want. There is a formula for success. One can create a new direction in life by taking action, establishing new habits, being persistence, setting goals, and never giving up. The video I have attached is an example of creating the life you want. I also titled it the power of a goal. Goals are powerful because they help you shape the future. In order to have a goal you dream about what you want the future to look like and then work towards this reality. If you are overweight and want to be thin you have to make this happen. The weight will not just magically disappear. You have to make changes. The formula can work like this. Set a goal, create new habits, be persistence over time, and eventually you will create the life you want. Here is what Steven Covey says about this "
Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconscious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character.

Good Habit

Take Action

Good or bad habits shape our lives and create the future we either dream about or have nightmares about. The video shows how changing exercise and diet habits can take someone from overweight and out of shape to being thin and in shape. On the other hand the habit of over eating and not exercising can led to premature aging and obesity, if your life is not what you want you have the power to change it, no else, you must change it. Terry Fox wanted to change the world one step at a time. After battling cancer he was determined to help other people who had cancer. He started his marathon of hope. He didn't just dream about it, he took action.Read more here http://www.squidoo.com/terry-fox-story-and-motivation.

At some point if you want a change in your life you have to stop dreaming and take action. Tony Robbins sums this thought up like this "
A real decision is measured by the fact that you've taken a new action. If there's no action, you haven't truly decided.
This is very powerful. If I'm 100 pounds overweight and dream of running a marathon, it will never happen until I take some action towards that goal. If I have a job I dislike and want a better job I have to do something to change this besides complaining. If you take any basic physics class you will be taught that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Take a positive action and according to the laws of the universe there will be an equal reaction. The key is that you are taking action. "
"Success comes from taking the initiative and following up... persisting... What simple action could you take today to produce a new momentum toward success in your life? "Tony Robbins

 

Everytime I watch the video I get motivated to go run.

Video Power of A  dream

June 1

June 1 One of the first premise about the law of attraction you quickly pick up is the idea of being positive. I have noticed in my own life that this positive attitude is beginning to take root.  I can hear myself saying “I’m grateful for this because…. or" I’m thankful that…..” I like this and I will continue to work on this trait. I found this quote while looking for positive quotes. I think it pretty much sums up the law of attraction.

As long as you know what it is you desire, then by simply affirming that it is yours -- firmly and positively, with no ifs, buts, or maybes -- over and over again, from the minute you arise in the morning until the time you go to sleep at night, and as many times during the day as your work or activities permit, you will be drawn to those people, places, and events that will bring your desires to you.
Scott Reed

Here is the positive quote I was looking for.

Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results.

Willie Nelson

Today was an interesting day. I have started the affirmation that money flows to me from unforeseen places. While I was visiting my father the next door neighbor was moving and wanted to sale his washer and dryer. I made a very low offer because I could tell he didn't want to move it down the steps, and he said fine. I then went home and a friend said he needed a new washer and dryer so I sold the washer and dryer for profit an hour later. I then stopped by a garage sale and bought two mowers for $30.00 that I will try to sale. One mower is a Lawnboy that is new and retails for $300.00. Finally, my son picked up two new mowing jobs. Although this is for him it is still income. It was an interesting day of money flowing into my life. It was a very motivating day.

May 29 Law of Attraction

May 29 I have just finished another school year. The end of the school year is busy and in addition my oldest son graduated from high school. We also have cross country starting for my daughter and soccer try outs for my son. As a result I have not focused on my goals and made comments on the law of attraction the last five days. However, life is always busy and one can easily fill up a day with activities. If you want change in your life you have to focus changing your life. I enjoy running and have completed a marathon for twenty five years in a row. I always find time to run. Sometimes it is early in the morning, other times late at night. I make running a priority and fit running in my busy schedule and has become a habit that happens each day. I need to start making time for reviewing my new goals and commenting on the law of attraction. For the law of attraction to work, I must visualize and focus on what I want in my life. No excuses just get it done. Every single marathon I have run, I always get tired the last three or four miles. I have learned to just put my head down and finish these last miles because I love the satisfaction of finishing a difficult task. Anyone can apply this same principle to any worthwhile goal. At some point just put your head down and get it done. Let’s look for a little motivation in the following quotes.

“Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.”

― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Action expresses priorities.”

― Mahatma Gandhi

“Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.”

― Stephen R. Covey

Wright Law's The teacher you wish you had in school

Wright's Law Video

Why does Mr. Wright’s student love him so much?  I have watched this video several times and one could list several reasons why his students love him and his class. If one would like to also be loved and respected in any job, profession, or sport you can emulate these traits of Mr. Wright. He is positive, enthusiastic, and compassionate.

Let’s first look at enthusiastic. I’m a lifelong teacher so I really appreciate this video. As a teacher Mr. Wright could show up and hand out some great worksheets, complete a great PowerPoint and his job would be done. Instead, he is so enthusiastic, and passionate about physics that he has crazy demonstrations. How can you not love a class with fire, explosions, and a bed of nails? He goes a step beyond and very enthusiastically presents his material. I have learned from teaching many years that students know when you are faking it and just going through the motions. Students don’t like these types of teachers. Instead, students love teachers that love their subject and want their students to learn to love this same subject. Enthusiasm is contagious. If you love physics and want your students love physics then you are going to have to do something a little different and beyond what an average teacher will present. People are attracted to this.

•Enthusiasm is excitement with inspiration, motivation, and a pinch of creativity. -Bo Bennett

•Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn. -John Wesley (1703-1791)

Like any other character trait enthusiasm is one you can grow and cultivate in your life. Listen to your own language, are you enthusiastic and positive when you speak to others of negative and depressing to be around. You can choose to be positive.

The other reason Mr. Wright’s students love him is because he is compassionate towards them. They all know that he cares for them and wants them all to succeed in life. This cannot be faked. People are drawn to others when they know that they care for them. Like enthusiasm, compassion is contagious. When you watch the video you know that he cares deeply for his son with Jourbert syndrome and also cares deeply for his students. Again, this is trait that you can develop in your life. It is a choice to care for the people in your life or not.

The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others.

Albert Schweitzer

By compassion we make others' misery our own, and so, by relieving them, we relieve ourselves also ”

Thomas Browne, Sr. quotes What does this have to do with motivation? After watching this video I’m motivated to go the extra mile in my classroom and to have compassion for my students. This can be as easy as just saying good morning to them each morning as they pass in the hallway. I can think of ways to present my material that is fun and exciting. I’m motivated to be more like Mr. Wright each day to my students, my family, and my coworkers