Inside The Mind of a Leader: Staying Motivated part 1
By Space Coast Daily // April 12, 2012
Staying Motivated as a Business Owner
The battle for success in business is waged as much in your mind, as it is in your daily actions. Being successfully motivated – the belief in yourself and your ability to succeed. Motivation gives you the energy to push forward past challenges and create the success you dream of.
Motivation is contagious. Your team and your clients tap into your internal motivation. The energy that drives you also drives your team. If you believe in your company, they do too.
Staying motivated in light of economic crisis, politics, competition, developments and industry changes is a daunting challenge. Facing them head on, and staying motivated, requires discipline and resolve.
Motivation is contagious. Your team and your clients tap into your internal motivation. The energy that drives you also drives your team. If you believe in your company, they do too.
Motivation needs to be continually replenished as demands on your time can drain critical energy. It is a crucial that you identify and feed yourself the things that motivate you. Knowing the things that fuel your motivation, and constantly feeding your
entrepreneurial energy, will ensure you have the sustainable supply of energy for the long haul.
Staying Motivated
In this series, we will look at some of the ways to keep your motivation going and going…
1. Fuel Your Motivation
In oder to stay motivated, you must refuel your energy. A great way of doing this is by keeping a motivational box. Donald Trump shares this technique in his audio book, “How To Get Rich”. Here, the Donald shares that he keeps a box at his desk and frequently collects articles about his success. He stores motivational quotes that inspire him, and photos of his success. On a regular basis, he peruses the clippings and contents. This habit helps remind him of his successes and refuels his internal motivation to keep reaching for greater achievements.
This is an easy technique to replicate. Create a box, either physical or online. Collect and continually store records of your successes and achievements. Then, take time to regularly peruse them to build up and sustain your motivation.
2. Set Goals
It is critical as a business owner that you have set goals. What do you want to achieve in business? Financial freedom? Security for your family? Fueling a non-profit effort? Fame and recognition? Knowing what you want to achieve is a key propellant to keeping you motivated.
Write out your personal goals, and post them in a place where you can see them daily. Take time regularly to reflect on them and dream. Creating a mental image of yourself in the midst of your success generates the positive energy that fuels motivation. Whenever you feel drained and demotivated, remind yourself of your goals, dreams and the things you are working towards achieving.
3. Think Positively
Fear is an emotion. Just like enthusiasm, it is the direct result of the your thoughts. Every business owner has to deal with their internal fears. Giving way to fear, though, is a choice, based on how you choose to think. You have the ability to choose and control your thoughts. If you focus on fears more than positive thoughts, your motivation will die.
Knowing that you choose what you think is powerful. Learn to identify the thoughts of fear in your mind and label them as such. At the same time, take action to fill your mind with positive thoughts. Write out affirmations of success and repeat them to yourself. Your thoughts are like magnets that draw success or falure to you.
You have the ability to choose and control your thoughts. If you focus on fears more than positive thoughts, your motivation will die.
Choose to believe that you will succeed and that good things will happen. Remind yourself of your strengths and what makes you unique. Remind yourself of the elements that make you a formidable business owner and choose to fill your mind with positive, uplifting thoughts that motivate you.
4. Observe Others
Knowing that other individuals have walked the path you have and have come out as winners can also fuel your motivation to succeed.
In every industry, there are individuals who have achieved multiple levels of success. They are living proof, that no setback is a death sentence for your business. Use this to your advantage. Find a collection of successful leaders who inspire you and learn from them. Befriend them, in person or online, and ask questions about how they achieve success. Attend their seminars. Read their books. Follow their journey and learn from them how they overcame obstacles to achieve success.
By observing their success, you will be motivated to succeed as well.
5. Treat Yourself Well
The demands on a business owner’s time and energy is enormous. Without energy, you will become demotivated. Treating yourself well is critical to keeping your mojo working. Often, business owners get burnt out by simply not taking good care of themselves. Staying healthy is critical to staying motivated. Take special time out for you. Join a gym and create a workout schedule. Exercise releases endorphins that keeps your energy levels high. Pay attention to your diet, and include less fast food, and more fresh fruits and vegetables. Take time to relax, and enjoy activities that allow your body to de-stress.
Treat yourself to rewards regularly. Give yourself bonuses or a vacation every year as a major reward. In addition, treat yourself to smaller regular rewards for achieved successes such as winning an account, delivering a great product, handling a problem well. Small rewards can be simple: a great bottle of wine, a pair of shoes, a nice dinner, a new book, CD, or tech toy. Anything that says to you “Great Job – I appreciate you”. Small rewards help us feel appreciated. Rewarding yourself for victories keeps you motivated and looking forward to the next success.
Stay Motivated
Fueling your motivation is key to ensuring you have the energy to keep moving forward, facing challenges and overcoming obstacles. You are the master of your own motivation. You have the power to build up and propel your motivation.
Challenge: Create two lists: Identify things that motivate you, and the things that drain your energy. Start making adjustments in your schedule to have more motivational tools, and avoiding the things that drain your energy.
Observing Donald Trump
Donald Trump is a master at the art of staying motivated. Having walked away from financial crisis twice, divorces, negative publicity, cut-throat competition and near bankruptcy, he knows how to remain passionate about his job. He habitually finds the motivation to be the first at his office and the last to leave every day. It is a strong internal resolve and refueling his motivation which gives him the drive to continually push forward to create new success.
The next installment in our series:
Staying Motivated part 2
Written by Anna Trenary at Creative Impact Solutions
With over 15 years in marketing, print and design industry, Anna Trenary is leader in the field of professional marketing. She works with clients one-on-one to deliver outstanding design, creativity and strategy to increase visibility and empower businesses to succeed.
Nicely done Anna! Congrats to you, Josh, Christopher and all others that helped you realize this robust website that has no where to go but up. To the moon Alice..I mean Anna!
Thank you , Mike! Your compliments mean a great deal to me and the team!
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