Six Ways To Get Motivated

By Keith Harrell

Your attitude is one of the first things people notice about you - and while you may not be able to change your height or body type, you can change your attitude. With proper training, a positive attitude can be acquired. If your attitude is bad, it can be better; if it's good, it can be even greater. When was the last time you had an attitude tune-up? If you haven't been getting what you want out of life, it could be you need one. Here are six tools to use in taking control of your approach to life and to make you more successful in reaching your goals.

1. Use Affirmations

When I entered secondary school, my teacher told me I had to go to speech therapy. For most of my life I'd had a stutter, but I thought I'd outgrown it. On my way to the class I gave myself a pep talk. I'm not going to stutter any more. I'm through with it. I speak clearly now. I didn't think of these words as affirmations, but looking back, they fitted the self-motivation. And they worked.

I walked into the room, looked the therapist in the eye and told him I didn't stutter any more. And I got through my little speech without stuttering! The therapist responded by asking me to read the class a passage from a book. As he talked, I kept repeating my affirmation. Then I took the book, and the words flowed out of my mouth - my confidence growing as I read. I proved I'd outgrown my stuttering, and I also discovered the power of affirmations.

Affirmations, repeated over and over, can reprogramme you to positive thinking. Don't just listen to me. Remember Muhammad Ali? He told everyone, "I'm the greatest!" And few would disagree. Do you know Nike? Their slogan, "Just Do It!" has become a favourite affirmation of athletes around the world.

2. Find Your Purpose

Relying on outside motivation is like listening to a marching band. While it's playing, the music will get you on your feet, but once the music stops, you sit down.

The strongest form of motivation is internal. You need to discover the things inside you that inspire passion. Once you find them, share your purpose with those who might help you. Write down what you want to do, and for whom. Make a chart of how you intend to pursue your vision.

Vanda, a single mother, was motivated by her daughter. As a child Vanda had had trouble in school, especially in maths. Kids laughed at her and she was called stupid. She graduated from secondary school, but drifted from one unchallenging job to another.

But after she became a mother, everything changed. Vanda enrolled in a remedial maths course because she loved her daughter and feared she wouldn't be able to help her with homework. Vanda earned an A, which inspired her to set a higher goal. She decided to go to university, where she ended up tutoring other students in maths. She graduated with a degree specialising in computer science and was hired by a high-tech firm.

Because of her love for her daughter, Vanda put her attitude into action, overcame her fear of failure and created a better life for her family.

3. Harness the Power of Visualisation
Professional athletes spend a lot of time on their mental training. They not only visualise their goals, they also imagine exactly how their bodies will feel when they are performing most effectively. Research shows we can learn from this type of mental visualisation. Phil Jackson, coach of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team, is a dedicated believer in the power of visualisation. In his book, Sacred Hoops, Jackson said he does 45 minutes of visualisations at home before each game to prepare his mind.

Nelson Mandela has also written about how visualisation helped him maintain a positive attitude during his decades in prison. "I thought continually of the day when I would walk free. Over and over, I fantasised about what I would like to do," he wrote in his autobiography.

Why is it we don't feel odd when we visualise failure? How often have you worried about failing... and gone out and done it? How many negative messages do you send to yourself every day? "What a dumb mistake!" "I'm not smart enough for that job." "I knew I wasn't good enough for the promotion."

It takes the same amount of effort to create positive visualisations and affirmations as it does to create negative ones. But the negative ones hold you back, while the positive ones move you forward.

4. Connect With a Positive Greeting
There is power in words, and that's why I urge you to use words that life up your attitude and the attitudes of those around you. Too often people greet each other with no energy. When asked how we are, we say, "I'm OK,"or "I'll survive."

But you can have a positive impact on another person's life with just a few encouraging words. I was alone in an airport terminal one night when I heard someone whistling a cheerful tune that lightened my mood. I saw the happy whistler was a cleaning lady emptying rubbish bins. I smiled and asked her how she was doing.

"Brand new!" she chirped. "Every day I wake up in a brand new day for me, and for you too."

I was struck by her enthusiasm and her obvious sense of pride in the job she was doing. It wasn't the job that made her feel so great. It was her attitude. And she brightened my day simply with a positive greeting.

Most people enjoy working and living with people who try to view life for what it is: a beautiful gift. I recall one person in the audience when I gave a talk on using positive responses. "I don't mean to sound negative," he said, " but how can you tell people that you feel super fantastic every day? That's impossible!"

I smiled and said, " I don't have to feel super fantastic every day. All I have to do is feel it today! If you don't feel it, you tell people how you want to feel, and it won't be long before you do."

5. Tap into Your Enthusiasm
Enthusiasm makes you able to apply your gifts more effectively. When I talk about enthusiasm in my seminars, I divide attendees into groups and challenge them to make noise, to let out their enthusiasm.

I turn it into a contest, telling them the loudest group will win a prize. Who do you think makes the most noise? The last group. If there are three groups, the second groupis louder than the first, and the third is always the best. Why is it that adults wait to compete before giving their best? After the exercise, most adults want another chance - but I remind them that you never get a second chance to make a first impression. When I give this same exercise to children, there is no difference between the groups. The first group is just as loud as the last group. Children don't care who is watching. They love to let it go.

Enthusiasm means sharing what you have inside with others. It keeps you working on a project after you're ready to quit. It gives you the courage to take the risks needed for success. It's the fire in the belly that says, "Don't wait!"

6. Lighten Up With Humour
Humour is a great producer of positive energy. When I was at IBM, where I worked to get an appointment with the office-equipment manager at a grain company. He was always busy or out of the office. I even tried cold-calling him, but I could never get past the receptionist.

So one day my friend Ralph Bianco and I made a cold call to the grain company, and we switched coats ahead of time. Ralph's arms were lost in the sleeves of my coat (I'm about 30 centimetres taller than he is), while I looked like a badly dressed goalpost. When the receptionist saw us, she exploded in laughter. Suddenly she was on the phone, then telling us, "You guys go on in - I want everyone to see this!"

For more than a year, I'd been the polite, nicely dressed IBM salesman, and I could never get through the door. Now we were in. Ralph and I played it straight, we didn't even smile until we walked through the door of the vice president, who greeted us with a grin. "If you guys have the guts to walk in here dressed like that," he said, "the least I can do is listen to your pitch."

Our sight gag enabled us to establish a key relationship with the company. So learn to lighten up: it's an important step to staying motivated - because remeber, motivation is not permanent. You need to do something every day to maintain your energy, your focus and your enthusiasm.

For your "Six Ways to Get Motivated" tip sheet, visit rdasia.com. Simply print it out, post it on your fridge, and change your attitude today!

FROM "ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING." © 2000, 2003 BY KEITH HARRELL, PUBLISHED BY HARPERBUSINESS, AN IMPRINT OF HARPERCOLLINS, NEW YORK

Extracted from Reader's Digest / August 2004