Stop and think sometime, if only for a moment, about the
fact that literally every great idea before or since the wheel came from
someone just like you, born of the awesome combination of an intended goal, the
subsequent motivation to make it happen, and a positive mental attitude. Think about 1900 BC, when it is thought that
the world's first joke was told; one person said something that elicited
laughter out of another person, recognized it, and figured out that the right mixture
of words about something humorous earned more laughter, and of course the
happiness that accompanied it.
Basketball, the cell phone, the sanitation system, the novel, the robot
vacuum cleaner, etc. join comedy in the incredible and infinite list of things
in our world that came from motivated people taking abstract concepts and
turning them into realities.
What would you like to achieve?
How about adequately hydrating yourself on a daily basis
or inventing a piece of safety equipment to make car seats more secure or
committing to weekly lunches with just you and your kids or starting an online
fundraiser for a cause that you are passionate about or scratching that itch to
try community theater or buying the car that you have wanted for a decade or
cutting sugar out of your diet or finding a more rewarding job? The possibilities span every aspect of your
life, and they are endless.
Intention, or what you want, lays the foundation for
achievement; it is a major part of what allows the Law of Attraction to work in
your favor, whether you believe in the farthest reaches of the philosophy or
just simply acknowledge that what you think about, you bring about. It is a powerful exercise to merely sit down
and write out goals and ideas, as it is a subtle form of commitment which takes
a goal or an idea to the next phase of its natural process, sparking a fire
later stoked by your intention-reflecting actions. The more specific you are about your
intention, the clearer the path to success becomes, so review your notes and
expand on them until you have a firmer grasp of exactly what you want. Re-read your intention frequently and you
will have essentially made an agreement with yourself to pursue your goal; let
that agreement be known to the most supportive people in your life and the
likelihood of success grows even more.
Once the groundwork is set, you can build your plan and
start putting it into action. Motivation,
then, is the fuel to your fire, the psychological process of harnessing the
same basic instinct that makes you eat when you are hungry and sleep when you
are tired into taking full ownership of your mind and pointing it directly
toward what you want out of life.
Motivation comes in so many forms. Spirituality, the performing arts, our peers,
sports, books, etc. offer several distinct sources from which to draw
motivation, but also bring awareness to remaining in the moment so that you can
experience day-to-day, less overt examples of inspiration; a student exhibiting
knowledge that you facilitated, your
eleven year old dog cuddling up to your five year old child, someone taking the
time to thank you (an amazing motivator no matter the reason), your two year
old kid or grandkid looking up at the moon at dusk and saying, as if it is the
most amazing thing ever, “Look, it's an egg in the sky,” a random act of
kindness...these little things are hugely important in the grand scheme of goal
realization because they are the sun that shines brightly upon and enriches
your world, presuming that you will allow them to do so.
As the ancient Greeks wrote in the Temple of Apollo,
“Know thyself,” and the deeper you get into your journey toward achieving your
goals, the more imperative that becomes.
The world is going to keep on moving, so embrace the process that it is
your life. Learn about yourself by
paying close attention to your habits and patterns in order to develop
strategies that help you figure out when and from where you need boosts of
motivation. While pushing yourself
further toward your intended goals and into uncharted waters, you may feel
sometimes like you are on a ship in the middle of rough seas, where it is
harder (but not impossible) to steer well enough to maintain your course; it
just reinforces that finding multiple sources of motivation is important, the
integrative approach to health and well-being manifesting itself once again,
this time in a different part of your life.
In the recipe for success of any kind, your intention determines
what you want to do, your motivation determines if you will actually do it, and
your attitude determines how well you do it; a good attitude is the ingredient
that gives you the ability to navigate the inevitable challenges along your
path, allowing you to see them in more constructive ways and to subsequently
choose how you will react to them with the clarity influenced by your intention
and motivation. Genuine positivity can
be cultivated into an emotional response mechanism that will keep you focused
on remembering that your goals are bigger and more important than their
associated challenges, and that will provide a subconscious reminder that you
can, for instance, take control of your health and know that you will end the
year far better physically and emotionally than when you started it, even in
the face of adversity.
Of course, it is not always so easy, setting and
achieving goals, small, medium, or large, but if your intention is clearly set,
if you are powered by proper motivation, and if you have a good attitude, you
can resolutely stand firm in confidence that anything you desire to achieve is
possible.
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