I believe even the most motivated person is going to hit some spots in life where their motivation subsides. To whatever extent one believes they do not possess the capacity to manage themselves in relation to their circumstances, their motivation diminishes. The difference between people that thrive versus just survive is their belief in themselves and their capacity to succeed.
If you have developed an unwavering belief in yourself and your abilities you are in the minority. For the rest of us, how do we build that belief and confidence? How do we sustain it?
Imagine riding a bike. The bike has a leak in one of the tires. The air in the tire represents our level of motivation. This level of motivation enables or empowers us to get us where we want to go.
For some of us that leak causes the tire to go flat fairly quickly and we have to pump it up every few hours as we ride. Keep in mind some people won’t pump up their tire. They just allow it to go flat and stay stuck where ever they are. For others it is a slow enough leak to where the tire only needs to be pumped up every couple of days. Whatever it is for you, you must learn to PUMP up. Predictably Unlock More Potential (PUMP).
We all have different factors that help us unlock and bring forth more of our productivity or realizing of our potential. It is up to each of us to formulate our own PUMP and use it as often as we need. Realizing that life is controlled by our decisions and not our conditions, each day brings a new chance to start over. Moment by moment we can hit the reset button and PUMP ourselves up. So what are some things that people do to pump themselves back up? Here is a partial list of things you can select from when formulating your own PUMP:
- Meditate – With the quieting of the mind comes peace. With peace room is created for inspired vision. With inspired vision comes motivation for action.
- Pray – Connecting and developing faith and trust clears out suffering.
- Journal – Write your thoughts out. Read your past entries. Capture your story.
- Count your blessings. Gratitude positively affects attitude. What we focus on expands. The more you count the more you have.
- Exercise. Getting blood and oxygen flowing throughout our body changes the way we feel and think.
- Be of service to others. Shifting our focus from the challenges in our own life and helping others provides a sense of renewal.
- Learn something new and teach it to others. Learning, growing and expanding is important to having a sense of selfworth. Looking back on each day and knowing we have expanded or progressed increase the reservoir of motivation.
- Simplify. Eliminate clutter and chaos from your life. Distractions can keep us from seeing the good in our lives. Each day remove one thing that no longer serves you. Donate it, sell it, recycle it, repurpose it or throw it away. Make room for the energy you do want.
- Set & review goals. Having something to work toward and look forward to helps us develop capacity for its achievement.
- Listen to music that inspires you. Listening and moving to music can really shift our energy around quickly.
- Watch a short video on line that motivates you. Just type the word ‘motivation’ or ‘inspiration’ into a browser and you will be exposed to a whole universe of empowering messages. You may find there are certain personalities with whose messages you really resonate. Visit them often.
- Take time to be in nature. Often just being in nature can help us gain new and empowering perspective.
- Recite affirmations. Develop a clear sense of what you want and how you want to be. Write out an affirming declaration of achieving it or becoming it and review it often with feeling throughout your day.
- Create and review a vision board or success collage. Similar to affirmations, you can create a visual image. The old adage – a picture is worth a thousand words, is a great way to leverage time.
It is nobody’s responsibility to PUMP you up but your own. Now you have some ideas on how to do so. There are seven days in a week and “someday” is not one of them. Pick a day this week and start developing your PUMP. Try it out. Let me know what ideas you come up with that help you stay PUMPed.
Make it up, make it fun, & make it happen!