Self-Motivate to Success

It’s easy to become de-motivated particularly given our current economic climate and the excess of negative media stories we’re subjected to day after day. If like me, and you are a small business owner relying primarily on your own resources and energies to get up and at it each day, it can be a struggle to remain focused and positive. Equally, many small business owners having made lay-offs are now coping with a change in their own working roles. For some there’s a whole lot less of general management and directing the future of their organisation to a more hands-on type role. An example is moving back into a front line customer service and sales role to strengthen a smaller team. Some make the transition easy, for others it’s more difficult, and has the potential to eat away at motivation.

The problem is, as an owner/manager, whether your role is hands-on or not, part of that role requires you to motivate and inspire your team so that they fulfil the goals and objectives necessary to keep your business lucrative. But how can you motivate others if you’re not feeling motivated yourself? Who Motivates You?

Bottom line...it’s you! If you want to be successful, to manage through good times and bad you’ll need to learn how to self-motivate. To help you I’ve put together some tried and tested techniques that really do work.

1. Keep Your Promises

When we’re de-motivated, apathy is often a companion and so very little tends to get started or indeed completed. As a way of combating this, aim to set yourself daily goals and make a promise to yourself that you’ll complete ‘x’ amount of goals in that day. You might want to put together a to-do list to help you along here.

2. Small Steps – Big Impact

So, you’ve hit a major challenge and this one feels like a big one. Rather that get so overwhelmed that you can’t see a way forward, try to push away thoughts about how things look down the track, and focus instead on taking whatever the next step is. And do it, one step at a time! By breaking things down in this way and taking consistent small steps, you’re more focused and more in control of the outcome.

3. Stimulate Energy

You might think, “well coffee doesn’t do it” but there are other ways. One suggestion is, if things at work feel stagnant, get your people together and have a brainstorming session to tease out ideas or suggestions. This is a bit of a win-win as you’ll get your team engaged in the future direction of your company (which is a huge employee motivator) you’re also involved plus there is always a chance that a nugget of an idea is produced that you could run with.

4.Find the Passion Again

Do you remember what it was that inspired you to take the leap and build a business of your own? Was it a love of the chosen industry, maybe a belief you could make a difference, or perhaps it was the flexibility of being your own boss that drove your choice. Whatever it was, remind yourself of how it felt when you were starting out, what it was that mattered most to you, the goals you had, the dreams you aspired to for you and your company and when motivation begins to dip tap into those memories and they’ll help you face another day.

And finally...I found this quote and I think it says it all so I thought I’d share it with you.

"You've got to get up every morning with determination if you're going to go to bed with satisfaction."

- George Horace Lorimer

Take care ...

Carole

The Rewards of Friendship

Recently I’ve been doing some reconnecting with friends from my past. Maybe it’s an age thing when realisation dawns that you’re not invincible and neither are those you care about. Other times it's a health scare acting as a wake-up call forcing us to acknowledge people are missing from our life that matter. Whichever it is, the process of reconnecting isn’t always easy and at the very least we may feel quite daunted at the prospect. Some friends will have simply drifted away through a variety of events and circumstances, while there are always others we disconnected from because of an upset long forgotten.

While away for a weekend with one friend, I couldn’t believe my luck when I saw sitting across from us in the hotel restaurant a friend I hadn’t seen in years. It was probably near enough to fifteen years since we’d last met. We knew one another from a time when my second job was behind a bar in a nightclub. And yet within minutes of meeting and been introduced to her family for the first time we were chatting away comfortably with one another. It was just effortless. With another friend, the reconnecting was harder. I always knew how to contact her but had avoided it, dreading the response I might get if I called. We had been close friends for a long time, there for one another through the ups and downs of life including our respective relationship/marriage breakdowns. In some ways, I think we became dependent on one another, and expectations about our friendship were set so high we inevitably disappointed or failed one another. When I finally plucked up the courage and made the call, I was so relieved when the voice at the other end said, “I’m glad you called.” Equally, LinkedIn has also helped to reconnect with friends and I was delighted to find out only last week that a once very happy bachelor, very much the cosmopolitan man about town at one time, is now happily married “with a child and dog.”

You might be surprised to hear that according to research, friends are more important than family and have a direct impact on our longevity. Apparently, people with a network of good friends will outlive those with lesser friends by up to 22%. For me the reconnecting with old friends has meant so much to me. I’m really happy that it’s happened. It’s like getting to know someone all over again, because we’ve all changed in ways, but equally there is a foundation already there based on familiarity, care and a respect for one another.

And while the maintaining of friendships takes work, the rewards truly outweigh the effort.

"The worst solitude is to be destitute of sincere friendship."
 - Francis Bacon