Personal motivation has 4 components:

• Belief in purpose
• Belief in process
• Belief in self
• Definition of success

Belief in purpose is about having a reason to want to achieve a goal or objective. What is the burning “Yes” in your life that makes you want to be successful?  For some it is our families, for others it may be a desired life style or a cause we are passionate about. In any case, you have to know what it is.  I am not talking about head knowledge in this case.  It is heart knowledge you need.

Belief in process moves you from the purpose of your efforts to an understanding, and adherence to, a methodology for achieving your goals. This means knowing what sacrifices it will take to achieve your goals and what map you will follow.

A good friend of mine gave me this advice a long time age. He said “find the person who is the most successful at doing the things you want to do and learn from them”. Let go of your preconceived notions, open your mind and learn.  At the same time don’t lose sight of what you value. In other words, don’t use a map to success that compromises your values. For example, you can get rich taking advantage of others, but you will lose the richness of self.

Belief in self is about seeing yourself being successful. Visualization is a key ingredient. Successful people see themselves in a positive light and visualize what success looks like. A successful hitter in baseball goes to the plate expecting to get a hit and seeing the event in their mind’s eye. Visualizing failure is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

People who do not believe that they deserve to be successful, or doubt their abilities, are doomed to a lower level of success. “I can’t do it, so why try.” The first person to convince is you. If you don’t believe, neither will anyone else. Conversely, if you do believe, others will follow.

A definition of success allows you to measure your performance. It involves answering two questions.

• What does success for me look like?
• How do I measure my performance?

This success component is important because we sometimes set our definition of success too high or too low. It is best to set up a series of smaller step goals that take you toward a larger goal. This way you can celebrate your success along the way.  It is the difference between running 5 miles every day for a week or just showing up on Saturday and trying to run 35 miles all at one time.

Your definition of success will tie directly into your belief in purpose. If not, you will be lost in the jungle of life, making the wrong choices and expending precious time and energy being successful at things that do not take you where you want to go. For example, if your 5 year plan is to become financial independent, going into debt for the “status” car may not be your best decision.

This is a personal journey.  You must make your own choices as you move through life. Getting your life into focus using the ideas above will allow you to move with purpose. Not getting things into focus will cause you to be like drift wood, tossed about by the forces of life, going nowhere on purpose and everywhere by accident.