Being involved in a summer program whether it’s one that someone else has created or one you put together for yourself or even if you are just hanging out, becoming motivated sometimes seems beyond impossible. I recently ran across these 4 short and sweet points from Omar Periu, one of the world's top motivational speakers that I thought made a lot of sense. I took the liberty of putting them into context with my own comments on each topic. Hope you take them to heart.
- 1. Always act with a purpose. - If you don't know why you're doing something, you're making that part of your life utterly meaningless. Think about practicing. Are you simply putting it all on auto pilot without being mindful as you sing? Take the time to set up what you want to accomplish in your mind, then, do it without trying to fix it as you go. You can always observe what’s going on but if your mind is engaged in thinking about something else or your Brat starts up with its negative talk and you let that happen by not being in that moment, you’re not accomplishing your goal. If it goes wrong, stop, reset and do it again. Starting every action with a review of your purpose, however, puts everything you do into context. Having a purpose for every act keeps you aimed at your life goals rather than letting life happen to you. If you string together enough meaningless acts in your life, your entire life will be literally pointless--without a point. So…wake up and do everything on purpose.
- 2. Take responsibility for your own results. - Most people misinterpret this concept. They think it means taking the credit when things go well and taking the blame when things go wrong. But taking responsibility is not about blame or credit; it's about what you do next. If you're responsible for your own results, you take ownership for whatever future emerges from those results. Expect failure and mistakes along the way. That’s part of life and is simply feedback. If you don’t learn the lesson within the failure and mistakes, but simply feel sorry for yourself, you become a “victim” and start seeing yourself as a looser and often interpret what others are saying from that mode when that is often not the truth. Taking responsibility makes you a winner because you get to choose what you are going to do when things appear to go wrong. It’s about your choice. Simply continue to move forward towards your goals, even when you encounter setbacks.
"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." — Reinhold Niebuhr
- 3. Don't wait for perfection, just do it now! – Here is the sad truth: perfectionists are the hugest losers in life because they either expect things to be perfect before they take action or, if they do take action, they can't enjoy whatever happens because it's not the perfect outcome. I say perfect according to whom? We all have our own view of perfect or great or good. As I just stated in point #2, everyone makes mistakes and fails. But that is how we learn. So make yourself jump in and start making adjustments as you go and see where it takes you and how you feel about that! The real joy of achievement doesn't come from what you achieve but from your efforts in achieving it. It’s always about the journey – once you’re at the goal it’s really quite anticlimactic. The only thing that's perfect in this world is that you're perfectly free to take action. Take action now, as in right this minute.
- 4. Surround yourself with motivated people. - Numerous scientific studies have shown that the people around you influence your behavior. They define what you consider "normal" and thereby either bring you up (or down) to their level. Stop for a moment and think about this. Can you remember a time when this happened to you? Stop wishing you could be that kind of person and start hanging around people who are energized, purposeful and committed to living their lives on purpose and out loud. Pretty soon that's what you'll consider "normal." Being motivated will stop being something that you do and instead become who you are.
"Live your life by design, not default." - Kevin Daum
Summary: “Have no resistance to what is. Take action if necessary or not, and don’t become attached to the outcome”. - Eckhart Tolle
Then move on to the next moment and do the same. Boy does this make life less filled with emotional nonsense, score keeping, playing stupid habitual games, and always having to be right. Give it a try and let me know how it works for you.
Avanti and continue to enjoy your amazing journey this summer.Carol
