There are sunshines and sunsets of life. Sunsets of life are known as setbacks of life. When sunsets of life come in one’s life, life turns out to be painful and distressing. However, it is possible to live a lifestyle of motivation in the midst of dark moments of life.
People respond differently to tough times. There are those who lose appetite to eat, others withdraw themselves. We have lost precious lives of people who killed themselves because of the pressures of the setbacks of life. Other people respond positively to tough times. They stay motivated even when things look so bleak and hopeless.
We cannot deny the fact that tough times are inevitable. However, we must anticipate them and prepare ourselves to overcome them. I have learned in life that the problem is not the problem but the problem is how we respond to the problem.
The other thing that I have learned in life is that living a motivated lifestyle is a decision that all of us need to take.
Let me give you 10 top tips on how you can live a motivated lifestyle.
1. Be realistic
If you want to live a life full of motivation and inspiration even when days are dark, you must acknowledge that problems are there in this life and they come mostly unexpected. Being realistic means that you don’t deny the existence of the problem. The problem with many people is that they get into denial when a problem occurs. This causes more damage to the mind and emotions than expected.
When you are realistic, you don’t blame people for your own frustrations, insecurities, failures, hurts, disappointments, and problems. But, you confront your fears and problems and you allow people close to you to help you deal with them. Don’t shut them out and push them away by your hurtful and sharp words you utter to them. Be realistic and say, “I have a problem, I feel frustrated, I feel insecure and am feeling so weak, how can you help me?”
Being realistic prepares your mind to be strong in tough times and it enables you to have a good expectation beyond the current challenge or problem. This has the power to motivate you to stay positive in the face of dark clouds of life.
2. Believe in yourself
Believing in yourself means that you have to love and accept yourself. Loving and accepting yourself is a key to living a motivated lifestyle. When you love and accept yourself, you will love life and you will expect good things from life itself.
Believing in yourself also means that you must believe that you have the potential within you to be successful in life regardless of your current situation. Great leaders like the Former president of America, Abraham Lincoln failed many times in life. He failed in business, he lost his wife, he failed many times to be the president of America. But he believed that he had the potential to be president regardless of setbacks and failures he experienced. Ultimately,he became one of the successful presidents of America.
Self-belief produces self confidence and self confidence produces motivation and inspiration to succeed. When you believe in yourself, you will boldly say, “After darkness there is light, after tears, there is joy, after failure, there is success.”
3. Associate yourself with positive people
You cannot live a life full of motivation if you keep a company of negative people. If you want to live a motivated life, don’t associate with people whose mind is tattooed with negative thoughts.
When you are down, you don’t need people who will keep you down, but you need people who will motivate you to rise up. Motivated life is made possible when you associate with positive people who will speak words of motivation and inspiration to you when you feel like throwing in a towel.
4. Develop a positive perception of life
I have learned that you see what you are prepared to see. If you see life as unfair and troublesome, life will be exactly like the way you see it. But if you see life as beautiful and good despite its problems, you will experience the beauty and goodness of life at the end. Motivation can be a lifestyle to you, if you have a positive perspective of life.
Have good expectations from life;be optimistic and you will be motivated to focus on what is good for you.
5. See yourself as a winner
You can’t live a motivated lifestyle, if see yourself as a failure. When you see yourself as a failure, you will leave a life of discouragement, hopelessness, despondency and despair. But when you see yourself as a winner, you will think, talk, feel, and act like a winner even when things look so hopeless.
People who see themselves as winners are highly motivated to win and succeed. You can live a motivated lifestyle as long as you see yourself as a winner.
6. Treat every bad experience as a learning experience
People who learn from terrible experiences of life position themselves to be motivated and inspired. Author and motivational speaker, Zig Ziglar said, “If you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost.”
Learn something positive out of negative experiences of life and you make motivated lifestyle possible in your life.
7. Focus on the big picture
What is your main goal in life? What is the greatest achievement you want to reach in your life, in your job or organization?
It is impossible to live a motivated life, if you don’t have the main goal that you want to reach. Goal motivates and inspires. If you have a clearly defined goal, focus on it even if it looks impossible to be accomplished. Your focus on the big picture will motivate you to realize your goal.
8. Learn to let go
The most detrimental thing in life is to hold on to something negative. You cannot live a motivated life when you keep grudges in your heart. People will you come on your path to hurt you either intentionally or unintentionally. You will be tempted to hold a grudge against them. Learn to forgive those who wittingly and unwittingly hurt you. By so doing, you will have a clear conscience whenever you see those people. Hurting people hurt those around them.
Learn to forgive yourself when you happen to do something terrible or unbecoming. There are people who are suffering from low self esteem and they are depressed because they don’t forgive themselves for the wrongs they have done. They think they are too stupid and they also think they amount to nothing. As a result, they are not living a motivated life.
If you are going to live a motivated lifestyle, you are going to forgive those who hurt you and you are going to forgive yourself.
9. Learn new skills
There are new skills that you need to learn. When you open up to acquiring new skills, you open up to motivational life. It is so motivating to acquire new skills. I love learning new skills. One of the new skills I have learned is web design. I enjoy every moment of it.
Sometimes, you need to spend money enrolling for a short course that will teach you new skills and add value to you. You also need to attend seminars, workshops, and conferences, that are meant to empower. Buy books and tapes that will enrich you with new information. It will motivate you a lot to learn new skills.
10. Love fun
Have you ever been around a person with a sense of humour? I have and it is so interesting. Did you know that it is motivating to smile or laugh? Laughter is a good health booster. It makes the body feel so good. Motivation is about feeling so good.
I have learned that humour is a powerful thing to motivate and inspire humanity. If you want to live a motivated lifestyle, love fun. When you love fun, you will have fun and you will consequently be motivated. Look at yourself in the mirror, don’t feel sorry for yourself, just smile and you will be motivated.
The other good way to have fun that I want you to consider is to help someone in need. A person in need could be somebody who needs directions to a place you know; it could be the person who is hungry or who needs clothes. It could be your colleague who needs your emotional support. It is so motivating to help people who genuinely need help.
Conclusion
You can live a motivated lifestyle. All that you need to do is make a quality decision to live a life full of motivation. Don’t settle for a hopeless and depressed life, settle for a motivated life.
Copyright©2007-2009 by Gerald Mohlabe. All rights reserved
[http://www.goaldrivenconsulting.com]
Gerald Mohlabe is a leadership consultant, outstanding motivational speaker, relationship expert, the founder and president of Goal Driven Consulting Company, an international company. He works with business owners, managers, leaders and executives who want strategies to excel and win in leadership. His passion to make a difference in people’s lives, in leaders and organizations drives him to excel in an admirable way.His outstanding style of communicating issues to people, organizations and leaders leaves them mesmerized and seeking