Motivation, The Key to Success?

When we consider the keys to that elusive thing called success, we sometimes think of talent, money, or luck. In reality, success requires plain, old-fashioned, hard work. And plain, old-fashioned, hard work requires motivation. In a very real sense, motivation is the most important key to success. Successful people are those who can get themselves busy as soon as something needs to be done, instead of procrastinating. There are many other ways that motivation contributes to success.

For one thing, if you are motivated, you can nip problems in the bud. Many times, when something is going wrong, whether in business or home life, the problem has been brewing for a long time. For instance, a rebellious teenager was probably a disrespectful pre-teen and a disobedient child. Dealing with the disobedient child, even though it means you have to get out of your easy chair to spend time nurturing and training them, is much more pleasant and effective than trying to fix the rebellious teen.

Of course, we all have problems that we could not foresee. Child raising tends to happen when we're not looking, and often we don't have the wisdom or expertise to make the right choices early. However, some of our difficulties could easily have been handled earlier if we had just been a bit more motivated. Think about equipment breakdowns, or even health problems. Taking action early is almost always the best thing you can do.

Another way motivation helps bring about success is that people will admire you for your energy and effectiveness. Your family will appreciate you for the things you help with around the house. Your bosses will be pleased with you and your clients will pass on recommendations to others. There's nothing quite as valuable to a business as word-of-mouth advertising. And all the accolades will help you feel good about yourself and motivated to do more.

Just like procrastination and failure can form a vicious downward spiral, motivation and accomplishment can give you momentum in an upward climb. You get "on a roll." The more you accomplish, the quicker you get at finishing tasks and doing them well.

Knowing how to motivate yourself is a great boon when struggles come along. It is very easy to get knocked off course or bogged down when your schedule or routine takes a blow. Being skilled at motivation can help you weather these storms. Being motivated gives you a feeling of control when everything around you is out of control. But it all starts from within you. Motivation can't be relied on to show up from outside! Maybe something will come along that spurs you, but chances are you'll have to find that drive on your own.

Finally, motivation is an important leadership skill. If you are to reach success, there's a good possibility the position you desire will be one in which you have to lead and direct those under you. This is particularly true if you hope to have a business become a success. Learn to motivate yourself, and you'll be well on your way to motivating those you've employed.

Will Money Make Me Happy?

Most of us know deep down that money doesn't buy happiness, but we don't want to believe it. Yet we need only look to see the many unhappy people living at the higher socioeconomic levels. Many wealthy people don't appear to be any happier than people of modest means. These wealthy people don't laugh more, don't jump for joy more, and aren't any more blown away by life.

In fact, rich people rarely experience the happiness and prosperity that are supposed to come with wealth. They may be wealthy by all rational measures, but their state of happiness indicates quite the opposite. A 1995 study by University of Illinois showed that one third of the richest people in the United States are not actually as happy as the average-income person in this country.

It shouldn't be surprising that some of the most miserable and unhappy individuals we meet are wealthy people. Some people become more miserable and unhappy as they become wealthier because of their high expectations for what money can do for them. Originally, these people think that acquiring a great deal of money will make them happy. It doesn't - and then they have no excuse for being unhappy, so they become even more miserable and unhappy.

Should you have the misfortune of being unhappy, and should you be looking to money to change your life, it's time for a reality check. Once and for all time, you are unhappy because you don't have your emotional act together. Don't feel bad about it - just do something to rectify the situation. We all fall into that trap at one time or another. Unless we address our shortcomings in this area, we are destined to be unhappy, even if we end up in the highest socioeconomic group in our country.

Clearly, a lack of money for basic necessities will leave us unhappy and dissatisfied about our position in life. This doesn't mean that having a lot of money will leave us truly happy and satisfied, however. Money may get us to a neutral state, somewhere between unhappy and happy, somewhere between dissatisfied and satisfied. Generally speaking, however, more money coming into our lives won't get us beyond that neutral State. After we reach the neutral state, happiness depends on things that money can't buy.

Money can be a vehicle for enjoying life to its fullest, provided you take the time and effort to get a good grasp on what money can and can't do for you. Riches will enhance your life if you have a healthy attitude toward money and detract from it if you don't. Put another way, understanding what money can do for you can help you get what you want from life. In the same vein, knowing what money can't do for you can save you a lot of disappointment, dissatisfaction, disillusionment, ulcers, and nervous twitching

Overcome Procrastination by Understanding Why You Do

Learning to overcome procrastination is not an easy task in itself, but down the road it will pay off greatly. People suffer many losses in their lives due to procrastination. There are numerous reasons why people procrastinate. Some of the most obvious and most common are

* Perfectionism

This person does not want to fail at anything. They will go so far not to fail that they won't get the project or task done at all. They put it off and put it off and if they do not complete the task, they don't have to face any mistakes that they may have made. What they do not realize is that by not doing or completing the task, they have failed.

* Fantasizing

This type of procrastinator has great intentions and grandiose ideas that sound great. However, they are so grand that they can't put it all together. In the end, they have no results at all.

* Fear

The procrastinator dreads or fears doing a specific task. They are out of their comfort zone and can't handle change. They simply put off the task for fear of upsetting someone else or for fears that they may not do the job right.

* Crisis Maker

This type of procrastinator thinks that they work better under pressure. In reality, they do not. Their work is put off until the last minute and then they are stressed under pressure.

* Angry

When someone gives this type of procrastinator a task that he/she may not want, they resent it. They tend to finish the task, however, it is usually done poorly.

* Overdoer

This procrastinator will purposely take on more tasks that are of lesser importance. They will avoid the rel task at hand and then use the excuse that they were way to busy to complete the task.

* Pleasure Seeker

This particular procrastinator wants to put off the work until after the playing and having fun is complete. The end result is usually a task that is poorly done and without heart.

To overcome each of these types of procrastination, here are seven observations on each specific type of procrastinator.

* The perfectionist needs to learn that he/she is human and they need to start allowing for errors in their life. They need to concentrate on the deadline of the task first and then go back and look at details.

* The fantasizing procrastinator needs to think before they speak of some of their big ideas. They need to learn how to tone their ideas down a notch and when and if the project is done by a certain time, then maybe they can go back in and correct it, and fine-tune it.

* The procrastinator that shows signs of fear needs to face their fears head on. Tackle that dreaded project or task and learn to think outside the box. Change is inevitable and we all need to get used to it.

* The crisis maker needs to realize that by working under too much pressure, they are not getting the best work finished.

* The angry procrastinator likes to be in control. Simply put, they need to just get over it. There will be many times throughout our lives that we have to follow rules and regulations that we do not like.

* The over doer needs to learn to prioritize and get the most important tasks done first. This type also needs to spend a little less time on minor details.

* The Pleasure seeker needs to get the work done first and then go hunting, fishing, playing and etc done last.