Let's Connect!

Achieve Your Best Life

Live your life your way

Motivation

From Funk To Action: A Case Study!

by

penholderI’ve woken up this morning in the doldrums, this is at best inconvenient (I have a blog to write today and a myriad of domestic chores to finish before the working week descends once again), at worst it could potentially leave me moping, lethargic and unproductive all day.  My only salvation is that I hate to let people down, and, although for the most part I can probably pass up the domestic chores without it causing too much damage (although it will result in lots of rushing around to catch up as the week progresses), I cannot avoid addressing the issue of writing the blog.  This is a *good thing* I tell myself…

So today will be about tricking, cajoling and generally compelling myself to complete the work.  This won’t be easy, but it will get the work done and I also know that by the time I finish, I will be feeling much better!  What I don’t fully understand is why I feel like this in the first place, although I guess we can’t be upbeat, enthusiastic and raring with energy 365 days a year…I just wish we could!

So, with Wayne Dyer’s words ringing in my ears… “Be miserable.  Or motivate yourself.  Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.”  it’s time to get to work.

First port of call is to sit down at the computer, open the page, and start typing.  Unfortunately for my readers, today it’s the trials and tribulations of a would-be writer, but hopefully I’ll be forgiven for baring my oh-so-human weaknesses. [Read more…] about From Funk To Action: A Case Study!

Are Groundhog Days Holding You Back?

by

Are Groundhog Days Holding You Back?

Some time ago, I blogged about the importance of persistence in the battle to achieve our goals.  One of the things that I mentioned in that blog was that I, like everyone else, often succumb to my old bad habits or old ways of doing things at the expense of maintaining my new good habits.  I will have seen progress whilst instigating these new good habits, but, for whatever reason, I fall off the wagon and slowly, or sometimes quickly, drift back to my old ways.

I also went on to tell you that these days, I am much better at getting back on the wagon sooner, so, even though there may have been some ‘damage’, this can be limited by my ability to get back to my new good habits sooner rather than later.

And this is where I found myself recently.  In the last few months I’ve fallen off the weight control/healthy eating wagon.  Consequently I’ve gained some weight, lost some (read ‘a lot of’) muscle tone and am generally feeling more lethargic.  My clothes are tighter.  It then dawned on me that it was time to face the situation and get back on that wagon.

So, in the last few days, I have re-subscribed to myFitnessPal, which is the app I use on my phone to keep track of my food and exercise calories.  I’ve also been out for a few long walks and have been careful about what food I’ve allowed to pass my lips.  Everything has been recorded in the app. [Read more…] about Are Groundhog Days Holding You Back?

Finding My Purpose!

by

directionFrom a very early age, I always knew that I wanted to be a teacher.  I even knew that I wanted to teach English.  I would often “play” school with my younger brother and sister, me the teacher, them the students.  I’d give them work to do, chivvy them along if they nattered instead of doing the allotted task, and then mark their efforts with a red pen.  I really was a School Ma’am!  They were golden days for me.  Days when I was doing something that naturally appealed to me (even if it didn’t to my siblings), something at which I felt gifted.

Later, when my siblings no longer indulged my love of school, my attention turned to the joy of reading.  I always had my nose deeply buried in a book, I remember the days of Enid Blyton and The Famous Five (I always saw myself as George), then growing up and discovering Daphne Du Maurier and Thomas Hardy.  I would become part of the story – to this day, I can still feel what it was like to be Tess of the D’Ubervilles.

So how come I’ve spent the last 20 years of my life as an Accountant?  The traditional view of these two professions just seems so far apart.  The teacher, front of class, commanding the attention of children or young adults, joining in with the painting or sand play, directing learning through lectures, role play and exercises.  By contrast, the traditional view of the Accountant is someone who may be somewhat introverted, a back office type, quietly sifting through the numbers, conservatively saying no to all developments that cost money! [Read more…] about Finding My Purpose!

Do You Invest In Yourself?

by

lectureThis weekend has been very busy!  Not the usual type of busy weekend of socialising, hobbies and family catch-up, but three full-on days of investment in me.  Now if you’re imagining that I disappeared off to a spa, then, (sadly) that’s not correct.  No, I’ve actually spent the last three days investing in my future.  I’ve sat through three days of intensive training in an area of personal development that I believe will support my future aspirations.

Investing in our own self development is probably unusual for a lot of people.  There are doubtless hundreds of reasons why we might not invest in our own self development on a regular basis, but I don’t intend to delve into that here.  Instead I want to look at why it IS important that we undertake regular self development.

For those of us who are employed, our employers probably provide at least a minimal level of continuous professional development (CPD) so that we can maintain or enhance our skills base.  This makes good business sense for our employers, as a highly or suitably skilled workforce will enable the company to stay ahead of the competition.  It also makes good business sense for us on a personal level, as enhanced skills will clearly make us more valuable to our current and future employers. [Read more…] about Do You Invest In Yourself?

How To Get Motivated!

by

wavesMotivation could be the subject of many blog posts as it’s such a wide-ranging subject, so this post is only really going to scratch the surface, but, as with anything in life, you have to start somewhere!

We think of motivation as something we either have or have not, something that can come to us in waves which carry us along for unspecified periods of time, but that often ride out in the end, just like a wave crashes onto the shore.  Or maybe we don’t consider ourselves to be a motivated person at all, just getting by on the humdrum of life and not making any real progress to speak of.

Something else that we need to consider is that motivation and procrastination are two sides of the same coin.   One day you can toss the coin and motivation turns up, other days, no matter how many times you toss the coin, it always falls on the side of procrastination.  I’ve explored procrastination in an earlier post, and you will doubtless see some similarities in this post, but recognising each side of this magical coin will help you to identify your triggers so that you can more often flip on the side of motivation.

So what exactly is motivation?  Here are two definitions I particularly like.

From Wikipedia:  Motivation is an inner drive to behave or act in a certain manner;

And from the Oxford Dictionary:

[Motivation is] a reason or reasons for acting or behaving in a particular way. [Read more…] about How To Get Motivated!