MOTIVATION - Powerful Words - Part 1

MOTIVATION – Powerful Words – Part 1


By Nikki Viljoen of N Viljoen Consulting CC – June 2010

We all have those words or those sayings that ‘pick’ us up when we are down – I know I do. In fact, if the truth be told, I have this whole conversation that goes on in my head and often is actually uttered out loud (hopefully when no-one is watching), that gets me out of whatever slump it is that I am in.

Let’s face it, when something untoward happens, it can mess with your momentum, your mood, your head and throw you completely off course. This is when this whole soliloquy takes place and one of two things happen. I either get really angry at what has happened and then I challenge everything or it gets me out of my funk. If I get angry and challenge everything, then I have to wait until I have calmed down, have the conversation again and at that point I can generally get on with life (hopefully going in the right direction)!

There are however some words that we can use that are generally accepted as “Power Words” that will assist us in getting our perspective right and boosting our confidence at the same time. There are words that will motivate you and even keep you passionate about what you are doing irrespective of what may come your way. Some of these words are (but not limited to):

Acceptance:
So often we push ourselves really hard and then on top of that we are really hard on ourselves if we don’t get everything done. Here’s the thing though – we are human beings, not robots. As humans, the reality is that there will be times when we are up and there will be times when we get down – that’s just life, in fact both the ups and downs are necessary for us to function properly and for us to ultimately be successful. The trick is for us to accept this and then deal with it effectively. When we don’t accept who we are and the ‘ups and downs’ of our lives, we then find ourselves in a situation where we can’t think clearly or innovatively and that’s just not a good space to be in. The other thing of course that we often harp on the past – that doesn’t help at all, it just gets our minds into an absolute loop tape and we go round and round going nowhere. Accepting that the past is exactly that – the past, and acknowledging what didn’t work makes it easier to understand what could work in the future. The key though is to accept it, deal with it and then move on.

Planning:
Many of the failures that I come across in life can be directly attributed to lack of planning. People have a dream, a vision if you will of something that they would love to do, that they are perhaps passionate about and they go for it! Nothing wrong with that and I will always say “well done”. The problem comes in when they go from zero to 100 in an instant and leave out all the bits in between. The bits in between, being mostly the planning! Having the desire and the passion are really great and very little can be accomplished without that essence – that said, nothing will be accomplished without planning and certainly, very little will actually succeed without proper planning. The research needs to be done properly to ensure that you are at least aware of what can go wrong and all the consequences of what your actions will be, both in the positive and the negative. You have to know what to do if or even when something should happen. Write everything down – all the positives and what to do with them, all the negatives and how to deal with them. Write it down, from the smallest detail to the biggest item. Run through each scenario several times until you think you have taken everything into account and then go through it again. Put timelines on everything, that way you will have a goal to reach and it will also keep you focused.

Next week we will have a few more words to keep you motivated.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za