How to Get Motivated, Stay Focussed and Achieve Success.

Hello all,

After joining the forum some time ago, like many people new to internet marketing I felt completely overwhelmed by the vast quantity of information available.

Joining mailing lists, collecting ebooks, jumping from one idea to the next and generally spinning my wheels.

That was a long time ago, and since then I have been doing OK in the 'offline' world.

And now it's time to take another look at internet marketing.

So here I am back in the Warrior Forum to begin afresh.

Although still an IM 'newbie', I want to contribute something, so in this first post I would like to share something that has really helped me change my life for the better.

Most people would agree that taking action, maintaining focus and perseverance are all important habits for success.

But how do you establish and cultivate these habits if you don't already have them?

Wouldn't it be great if you just decided "I'm tired of all this indecision, inaction and procrastination. From now on I am a highly-motivated goal-seeking success machine!"

Why is it not this easy?

The reason is that habits are not conscious decisions but operate at a different level, within the unconscious mind.

And so these new success habits you will develop need to be installed there too.

Here is a process I have used, and continue to use, to discover what I really want in life and how to get it.

And if you can find some clean sheets of paper and a pen then that is all you need to do the same.

So here we go:



1) Your Ideal Life.

As you sit with your pen and paper you can cast your mind forward to some imaginary time in the future.

Not too far away, maybe a few years from now.

And because your imagination is free, you can use it to picture your ideal life.

All of today's problems have been solved, and you have everything you want.

Take some time to do this, until the images are clear in your mind.

Where you are, who you are with and the people and things around you.

Make it big, make it bright.

Think about the colours you see, the sounds you hear, maybe some scents in the air, and think about how great it feels.

Clarity is very important.

Take as long as you need until your perfect future is crystal clear, until it feels so real you can just about taste it.


2) What's the Difference?

Keeping that future in mind, like you were already there:

Write down all the things you have there that you don't have now.

Write down all the things you have done (in that future).

Write down who you have become.

Think about every area of your life. As well as your future income, assets and finances be sure to include things about your family and relationships, career, personal development and any spiritual goals you may have.

Go for quantity, just keep writing down everything that springs to mind.

Keep going until everything is out and on paper, and you can't think of anything else.


3) The Success Format

Now as you look over your writing, some things will feel more important than others.

Go through what you have written and circle the ones which stand out, the ones which you feel are the most important in your successful future.

You're aiming for say ten to fifteen things that would make the most difference to your life.

On another sheet of paper, write down those goals in a format that will connect directly to your unconscious mind.

Write them in the present tense as if they have already been realized here and now.

For example you can write:

I earn ...

I own ...

I have ...

I am ...

And one crucial point:

Everything you write must be positive with absolutely no mention of a negative word.

For example,

Instead of "I am not in debt", you could write "I am financially free." or "I have $xxxxx in savings."

Instead of "I have quit smoking", you could write "I maintain a fit and healthy body"

After formatting your goals in this way, you will notice they fall into several different categories.

Some of them will be what you want: usually income, assets and financial goals.

Some will be why you want it: probably family, relationship and spiritual goals.

Some will be how you will get it: personal changes and development.

And others will be more general affirmations.

It's crucial to be able to distinguish the 'what' from the 'why'. Have a think about that.


4) Timing is Everything

A goal without a target date is just a dream.

Run through your list and assign a date you will achieve each of your goals.

Only you know what is appropriate here.

Make it ambitious but keep it real.

And yes, it's OK to change it later. Nothing is set in stone. The important thing is to have a target date that is not outrageous but is outside your comfort zone.


5) Auto-pilot

Congratulations! If you have made it this far, you now have a written set of properly formatted, clearly defined goals that are aligned to the vision of your ideal life.

You have just distinguished yourself from the majority of the population.

I learned this next step from Brian Tracy and it has made a huge difference to the results I have seen.

Find yourself a fresh spiral bound notebook or I personally use a page-per-day diary.

Write down your properly formatted goals on page one or today's page.

Every day, without exception, rewrite your goals on a fresh page.

It will only take a few minutes each day and may well become the most important habit you ever form.

If possible, don't look at the day before.

You may find some goals are forgotten and new ones will emerge. That is fine.

After a while your goals will stabilize and the act of rewriting them every day will drive them deep into your unconscious mind.

This one single practice may well put your success on auto-pilot.

You will soon find yourself noticing things and taking decisions that align with your vision without even thinking about it.


6) Zooming In

As you look over your list of goals, you may notice that there will be one item that stands out from the rest.

Achieving this single goal will have the most positive effect on your life and most likely affect the outcome of all your other goals.

So beginning with this one goal, take a clean sheet of paper and write the goal at the top.

Now think about some things you can do that would move you closer to that goal.

Write a list of things you can begin immediately or in the near future.

When you're done, choose one of these projects that you think will make the most difference in achieving that goal.

Take another fresh sheet of paper and write the project name at the top.

Do you see a pattern emerging here?

Having defined the goals that support your vision, you next defined the projects that would support your goals.

And now you can break down your projects into manageable, bite-size pieces of action that you can easily achieve one by one.

I don't think it's necessary to immediately break down every possible project on your list this way.

Just the ones you think will have the greatest effect and you want to get started immediately.

Even so, your list of things to do can quickly grow very large.

In order to stay on top of things and maintain control I suggest looking at a personal productivity system such as GTD (getting things done) or the more recent derivative ZTD (Zen to done).

GTD has a huge following and for good reason: it enables you to choose your most appropriate next action at any particular moment that best fits your current lifestyle and what's going on around you.

And it can be implemented simply using little more than pen and paper.


7) Reinforce Your Vision

Remember the visualization you did in step one?

Think about this every day.

The more often you can do this the better.

And the longer you do this the better too.

A good time is as you drift off to sleep.

And as you visualize, keep adding more details.

Make the colours brighter, and bring the images closer.

This in itself is a very powerful form of goal-setting.

One that connects to and leverages the power of your unconscious mind.


8) Be Happy Today.

Although your goals are based on getting things that you don't have now, be sure to remember that as a person you are already complete.

Look around and see that you have everything you need to be happy here and now.

Set your goals and achieve them, and see that possibly the journey is more important than the destination.

Because the journey is your life, and that is happening right now.


***

Wishing you all the very best,

Phil.