You have set your goals. You know clearly what you want to achieve and your timeline has been established.
You are working hard. The promotion you visualized is about to materialize, but after working it away for weeks, you have lost your drive. Your motivation has disappeared and apathy and inertia are threatening to dominate your life. Your get-up-and-go has got up and left. You are feeling depressed, tired and unsure of yourself.
What do you do?
1. Check for physiological causes. You may want to go to your doctor and check for the insidious onset of disease that is lurking in the background. Rule out a physical cause for your lack of enthusiasm.
2. Exercise for at least 45 minutes 5 days a week unless medically contra indicated.
3. Revisit your goals. Get out your list and look at them seriously. See if they are still relevant to where you are and what you want.
4. Find out if your goals still have the ability to put fire in your belly. If not they may be too hard or too easy. Remember your goals have to be out of your grasp but not out of reach.
5. Review the reasons why you want your goals. Why are you working so hard to achieve these things? Know your reasons why. He or she who has a why to live for, says Nietzsche, can bear almost any how.
6. Check the pulling power of your goals. Maybe it’s too general and needs to be narrowed into a specific area or field. Maybe it needs to be more practical. Can you actually see yourself accomplishing the goal and finally celebrating its attainment? Is it exciting to you? Close your eyes and imagine yourself with the goal and see if you feel on top of the world.
7. Examine the goal carefully and see if it is beyond your ability to achieve. Remember your goal should be possible but hard to achieve. If your goal is to be the president or prime minister, this might be challenging but is it possible? Goals should be outside your grasp but within your reach.
8. Maybe you need more support from others. Get into a group of like-minded individuals who can encourage you to keep on going when it’s tough.
9. Maybe your goal lacks an altruistic focus. Maybe it is too selfish and so its capacity to impact others positively is compromised. Remember the old saying, “No man is an island.”
10. Manage your stress. Protect your body and brain from the onslaught of stress. Don’t just work on your attitude. Upgrade the hardware – your body and brain. Remember that it is the psycho-physiological system that makes it all possible. So begin to visit all the parts of your body and become more aware of how your body is functioning.
11. While you are about it breathe- breathe in through your nose and breathe out through your mouth and release all the tension.
12. Make a decision to become a happier person. Remember happiness is a choice. Make a list of 7 things that make you happy and begin to do more of those things.
13. Create a policy of personal renewal and rejuvenation, which you will observe on a daily basis. For example cut your work up into segments of 60 to 90 minutes. After that designated time is past, its rejuvenation time. Do something to boost the psycho physiological system that has served you so well.
14. Beware of nay-sayers, people who like to rain on your parade and tell you that it is impossible to accomplish you’re your goals. Stay far away from those people.
15. Get a mentor, someone who has done similar things and seek some guidance.
16. Join a group of like-minded ambitious people who have the same burning desire for success and want to see you succeed. If you can’t find such a group, create one. Remember the saying, “iron sharpens iron”
17. Release negative emotion such as self doubt, hostility, anger, jealousy, guilt – be sure not to entertain these kinds of feelings. They will drain your energy. Get rid of them by embracing these 5 emotions. Think of these 5 emotions all the time – joy, hope, relaxation, confidence, loving kindness. Notice at any point in your day what feelings you are entertaining and exchange the bad for the good.
18. Invest in yourself. Find a seminar or course where you will meet motivated people and get some fresh ideas.
19. Breathe smile and relax.
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