adminArthur Marara Motivation for Success
Do not give up on the goals for last year simply because you approached year end. Champions are never people who never failed; they are simply people who have failed and rose up with the same enthusiasm and energy with which they were running.
The calendar year has changed, it is now 2016. One of the things it will definitely change is, your age. The New Year, however, will never change your; sleeping habits, spending habits, production habits, poor time management habits, any corrupt or dishonesty practices and it will never change anything to the unachieved goals. Why all the labour to explain this? The answer is simple, the New Year will not change anything that you have not resolved to confront and change.
We all or many people start the year being “saints”, we set all these wonderful Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG), and few days or even months into the year, we are back to our old way of doing things, and we can even possibly accept failure as our fate. This is also the stage where many people give up on the opportunity to change and improve their lives.
Travel the journey back into 2015
Well, the past is not always a recommended place to visit if it will not give you positive lessons, but it might be a great place to visit if we are to look at what needs to be adjusted in 2016. There is no way you can confront the challenges of 2015, without knowledge of why you couldn’t confront and overcome the challenges of 2015. Look into the goals that you had set and honestly audit your achievements and failures.
What did you achieve in the 365days for 2015? What is the fate for the unachieved goals for 2015? Why can’t you even make it a goal to get the goals that you set for 2015, this time with a little bit more of vigour, different thought and determination? Do not give up on the goals for last year simply because you approached year end. Champions are never people who never failed; they are simply people who have failed and rose up with the same enthusiasm and energy with which they were running.
Revisit your strategy
Why could you not achieve your goals in 2015? What strategies were you using in a bid to achieve them? Though not common to all, common sense tells us that the same strategy gives you the same result.
Do not recycle failed strategies and expect a miracle along the way in the results that you obtain. Think differently, and think not out of the box, but as if there is no box.
Think in terms of purpose, the failure should open your mind instead of crippling you. There is definitely something to be learnt. “This world is your best teacher. There is a lesson in everything. There is a lesson in each experience.
Learn it and become wise. Every failure is a stepping stone to success. Every difficulty or disappointment is a trial of your faith. Every unpleasant incident or temptation is a test of your inner strength. Therefore nil desperandum. March forward hero!” (Swami Sivananda (1887-1963))
Chart the course
You cannot afford to leave your life to chance or plan as each day comes. Many people are afraid to speak volumes about the year to come, yet it is the only way that you can confidently navigate the year. What is it that you want to do in 2016? How do you intend to do it? What are the time lines that you are working with? What are the review mechanisms that you are going to rely on in 2015? These basic questions can help you program your year, and take charge of it.
Stop doubting
If you doubt you competence, no one will ever repose trust in you. Believe that you can actually achieve what you set your mind to do. Do not act as a person who is not sure, or hopeful about what is to be done. “Self-confidence is the surest way of obtaining what you want. If you know in your own heart you are going to be something, you will be it. Do not permit your mind to think otherwise.” (General George S. Patton)
Audit your mental diet
We are what we are because of what we allow inside us. What material are you reading? How many books did you read this year? What value have they added to you and to your goals? If you are going to take charge of your 2016 you want to learn to take charge of your mental diet;
Read books that enhance value to you. Go beyond just entertainment and focus on being educated by the literature that you are reading. Invest in your personal development and growth.
Be mindful of your associations — if you hang around nine broke people, you will be number 10. What value are you giving and getting from your associations. What are your associates speaking into your mind? Surround yourself with people who challenge you to greatness this coming year.
Have the discipline to learn to continuously — “Like a parachute, the human mind only works when it is open” (Unknown). Open your mind to learning. Take in information that edifies, and excrete counsel that does not build you. “The illiterate of the future will not be the person who cannot read. It will be the person who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn” (Alvin Toffler)
Commit to action
A lot of ideas suffer at the hands of people who do not take action. You can have amazing goals, but they will never automatically turn into results. It’s really good to have good intentions and plans, but it’s much better to take them into execution. Good intentions never fill an empty tummy, but it takes a small gesture of kindness in buying the cheapest meal in reliving a starving soul. Stop just admiring your list of goals, get to work and make them a reality. You just need to take that one small step. It might be difficult to take that step, but the moment that you take it, things will align and get into place. Lao Tzu correctly pointed out that, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” Do the very thing you were afraid to do in 2015, and you will see that what you feared all along was actually afraid of you.
Do not be afraid, all the people who have succeeded, had to experience failure at one point in time.”Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. “(Theodore Roosevelt, 26th US President)
May I take this opportunity to wish you and all the readers of the Manica Post, the Zimpapers publications and Star FM listeners a Happy New Year, 2016. It is my prayer and hope that you experience greatness in greater proportions, and may new doors open for you, and may you succeed beyond your wildest imagination in all that you. Stay blessed and be a blessing.
Join me on Star FM on Wednesdays (09:30am-10:00am) for some moments of inspiration on the Breeze with Tariro and Iyati.
Arthur Marara is an Attorney, Author and Speaker. He is also the author of the Personal Development Toolkit, Keys to Financial Freedom, The Power Within, and Keys to Effective Time Management. Send your feedback to [email protected] or Like his page on Facebook, or Whatsapp: +263 718 867 255 or visit www.arthurmarara.com <http://www.arthurmarara.com>.
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