Inside A Champion’s Mind

How many times have you heard a true champion speak with doubt? How many times have you heard a boxer say, “It will be a tough fight, we will just have to wait until Saturday and see how it all works out”? Never, because doubt will knock you out before you even begin.

The athletes that are remembered are always those that performed memorably during times of pressure. I say memorably because they could be remembered for choking or rising to the occasion. Anyone who has played competitive sports knows that there is a different feeling during a play-off game, but as with all things in life, that by itself is not a bad thing, it is all in the way you handle it.

People are disturbed not by things but by the view they take of them– Epictetus 200AD

If you let self-doubt enter your mind, anxiety is sure to grow. Once you start to doubt whether you are capable of winning you’re on your way to disaster, because the mind can only hold one thought at a time. You are either thinking of winning, and visualizing what winning will be like, or you are worrying about what happens if you don’t win. You can only hold one picture at a time. Sure some athletes waver back and forth, but at any given time you can only be holding one thought.

What the mind sees, feels, and thinks, it works towards. The mind needs to be given direction and then it works towards making that given destination a reality. The mind is constantly working towards results, the trouble is what directions are we giving the mind. When you learn how to control your mind, greatness is achievable. Learning how to think like a winner is the first step towards better personal motivation.

To Become a champion, you must first look and act like a champion. — Muhammad Ali

Some people say you cannot control what comes into your mind. I believe with the proper training you can. Regardless of whether or not you can or cannot control what enters your mind, you can definitely control how long you hold any thought that does enter your mind. If a seagull decides to have a bowel movement while flying overhead, you cannot exactly control that but you sure the heck can control how quickly you clean yourself off.

It is the same with your mind. When a negative thought enters, clean it out with a flood of positive images. Focus on what you want, not on what you don’t want. Focus on winning, not on not losing. Begin to daydream, make this daydream the ideal outcome. Not what you will settle for, but what would be perfect.

There are many courses and books on motivation tips to help you with this.

It’s not what you are that holds you back, it’s what you think you are not. — Denis Waitley

Special Gift: Get over 6 hours of audio program from best-selling authors, world-class trainers and success gurus for free by clicking this link –> Success Training.

End of article

Also check out The Habit Guide

Do you need a pick-me-up every once in a while to kickstart your day? If so, you’re not alone.

Using inspirational quotations can give you a little nudge in the right direction no matter why you’re feeling upset or de-motivated. They can enhance your mood whether you are having a down day or if you’ve lost focus of where you want to be in life. These sayings will allow you to approach life with passion and excitement again as they give you increased confidence and motivation. You can use inspirational sayings any time, day or night.

Ten Great Inspirational Quotes & Affirmations

Did you know that if you think positive, you’ll feel more positive? It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy!

Many of us have a strong negative dialogue in our minds at any given time. By incorporating a list of affirmations or inspirational sayings into your life, you can help quiet negativity by replacing those feelings with positive thoughts and ideas. This is simple because you only have to reaffirm the quotations or affirmations by repeating them to yourself. The new sayings will become your way of life before you know it!

I’ve compiled a listing of my top 10 inspirational quotations and sayings:

1. I trust in my ability to relax. I am calm and peaceful.
2. I celebrate my ability to take risks and to dare to take a different direction.
3. I enjoy being me!
4. I am happy with myself. I relax and enjoy my life.
5. My resilience and calmness inoculate me from external pressures.
6. I define success on my terms.
7. I trust that there is a plan for my life, even if it has yet to be revealed to me.
8. I take small steps in life and appreciate the time I have.
9. I am thankful for all opportunities. My attitude reflects my happiness.
10. I am where I want to be in life.

Whenever you need a little boost in your day, you can use any one of these positive affirmations.

These inspirational sayings help you become the best you can be because it affirms the positive in your life. Sometimes you just need to remind yourself about all the good in your life. Maybe it means that you have a more cheerful attitude toward life and those around you.

By seizing the moment and enjoying life and the opportunities that are presented to us, you’ll feel happier, healthier, and at peace. Ask yourself, how would your life change if you seized every moment?

You will always have a source of inspiration to tap into when you have a list of positive affirmations and inspirational quotes at your finger tips. It may be hard to find sources of inspiration when you’re down, depressed, lacking motivation, or lacking energy, but it’s not impossible. By using your list of inspirational quotes, you will be reminded to keep moving forward, stronger and wiser than ever.

So go get started! Start implementing positive affirmations and inspirational quotes throughout your day. You’ll be excited about how simple it is to incorporate into your life and the benefits will be limitless!

I hope you enjoyed the above article. I think its philosophy is a good one and can be used by all of us to bring greater joy into our lives.

For more about Affirmations:

• How to stop the negative thinking
• How to Attract Love
• Discover Your Purpose in Life

When you become truly self motivated you realize that success is not a destination, it is something within you. It is the self motivational attitude that you take to every aspect of your life. Not just the big things, but the every day mundane things.

Success is not something you grab a hold of, pin down, then show off as some kind of trophy which some less aware people have come to view it. Successful people don’t just achieve success, they live it on a daily basis.

Many definitions of success describe it as a journey. However I believe it is more than a journey and is in fact a lifestyle and indeed a self motivational lifestyle choice.

Success leaves clues for us to follow and here is a list of 20 of the success clues to look for:

1. Focused on worthy goals
2. Work towards them (we’re not just looking for short cuts)
3. Pushing for high standards, but not bogged down in seeking perfection. Perfectionism stops many of us from being successful.
4. Seeing the big picture while attending to the detail
5. Persistence is the self motivational watchword, no one is successful without persistence.
6. Balancing the need for big steps with incremental improvement
7. Holding the gains as they come, then not backsliding into old behaviors
8. Helping others of like mind, particularly the less fortunate, to set and achieve their goals.
9. A commitment to delivering on promises
10. Knowing that your goal is still there after the buffeting storms subside
11. Not surrendering control to others by losing your temper
12. Seeing hate and abuse from others as a gift you choose not to accept from them
13. Refuse to acknowledge failure as a stopping point, and see it as a learning experience instead
14. Forge alliances with those who will commit to supporting your goals
15. Knowing that everyone has within them the resources to achieve their goals
16. Realizing that success is a self motivational choice you make, not one that is made for you
17. Seeing money as a scorecard to the energy you create in the world, not success itself
18. Respect others and their vision of success, even when you can’t agree with them
19. Living in the now and valuing every moment of every day
20. Valuing health as the great generator for a self motivational and successful life style

To adopt a success oriented lifestyle you need to be a detective looking for clues. The list above is not meant to be comprehensive, but merely a starting point to begin your quest.

Article syndicated courtesy of Syndicate Kahuna

On the other hand, when we “do it right” how often to we give ourselves a pat on the back? We are our own worst critics, but the only value in that is the headache we get from constantly whacking ourselves. Other people will tell us “good job,” why can’t we tell ourselves that? Heck, we’ll tell THEM “good job,” but say that to ourselves? It just doesn’t feel right, right?

In the interest of starting down that path of “learning to think in a positive manner” here are ten steps to thinking positively.

1 – Focus on where you want to go, not where you’ve been. We’ve all made mistakes. Now it’s time to think about what we want to do to take the next step forward. Set small, positive goals, think about them, and accomplish them.

2 – Learn to forgive yourself and others. Most of us are wherever we are in life because we put ourselves there. We all make bad choices from time to time, and now it’s time to let that go. It’s called forgiveness and we really can forgive ourselves for bad choices. The next step is to move forward and consistently work to make better choices.

3 – If the glass is half full, then fill it. Optimists are right at least as often as pessimists and have a lot more fun. There’s nothing wrong with taking that half-full glass and filling it the rest of the way.

4 – Look for positive role models. We all need to find someone who inspires us. Maybe that person is someone who overcame a major handicap or maybe it’s just someone who put one foot in front of the other, year after year, and came out very nicely in the end. Or maybe it’s someone who just worked his or her pants off and won the big prize. Let that person be an inspiration.

5 – Change your atmosphere. Instead of listening to the news all the time put on a CD with a good motivational speaker or uplifting music. Most of the news is repeated many times a day and it’s not intended to make us feel good.

6 – Headlines (including news stories) are designed to surprise, shock, and otherwise yank you into a story, Disaster and scandal sell, or so the publishers think. Read something uplifting instead. Visit your bookstore or library and make note of all the motivational type books they have available. Get one that feels right and read it.

7 – Read something positive everyday, preferably when you get up and right before you go to bed. Then think about it, in a positive way. Grab that book you picked up in step 6 and read it for 15 minutes morning and evening for 30 days.

8 – Visualize good things happening. It’s too easy to visualize bad things happening. Bills, what the other person will say, “what if this happens…” and so on. Visualize the good thing happening. Visualize the project going well (whether it’s homework or that next presentation) and people telling you that it was “good stuff!”

9 – Mistakes are something to learn from, not a bat to whack ourselves with. We all make mistakes, it’s how we use them to move on that makes us better. So what if we “blew it” on the last effort, there is always a next time and we can always learn from what happened and do things differently the next time. That’s how we improve.

10 – Dreamboarding is the practice of placing images of “what you want out of life” on a piece of posterboard and placing it where you can see it. As a reminder of where you want to take yourself and what you want to have. Some people have found dreamboarding to be very powerful.

Thinking in a positive manner is as much a habit as is thinking in a negative manner. The reason negative thinking is so easy is because we’ve had so much practice with it. Practice the positive thinking tips to overcome the bad habits and replace them with new ones.

Everyone, from you and me to those awesome Olympic athletes, has a set of habits and these habits either move us forward or hold us back. If we can learn the habits of the successful people, and practice them, then we also will move forward.

Your 10 Steps to go From from Perspiration to Motivation

Does everything feel like a struggle? Why not use some inspiration to create the energy that propels you up and over life’s inevitable speed bumps? Here are ten solid steps to get you inspired.

1. Be grateful: Instead of focusing on what you don’t have, take a look at what you do have . Write a list of the “10 Things I Am Grateful For Today.” Do it now.Take a minute each morning to mentally express your gratitude for at least 5 things, whether it’s the air you breathe, the clothes on your back, or those closest to you.
2. Celebrate and list every success: How would you like to have a boss who only ranted about what you did wrong or what you failed to achieve, never giving you credit for the wins? Take a look in the mirror and make sure you aren’t abusing yourself like a boss from hell. Keep a running list of your successes for the year and post it near your computer or nightstand. Pay yourself on the back everytime you read it. Learn to speak to yourself in a positive, uplifting manner.
3. Learn from your setbacks: Failure happens. Accept failure as something good, as proof that you are taking risks and stretching yourself. However, in addition to accepting the losses, you must go back and, like an unbiased scientist, ask yourself what went wrong. What will you do differently in the future? Mistakes are only truly valuable if you learn from them. Even if your home is a problem – this is just a ride, as Bill Hicks
   used to say.
4. Fill your glass: Forget the debate over whether the glass is half empty or half full! Why not take a pitcher and fill it up? Tackle every situation with the perspective that you can affect the outcome. Acknowledge that you have the power to choose.
5. Look for role models: Who inspires you? Is there someone who walked in your shoes and faced similar battles? Maybe even someone who went on to become a superstar in his or her own life? Identify him or her, but don’t put him or her up on a pedestal. Remember that he or she is a person just like you, who overcame the odds, or struggled through extreme hardship and persevered.
6. Become a visionary: You don’t have to be a guru to have a vision of the future. All it takes is a bit of imagination and the courage to reach for something bigger than your current reality. Give yourself at least 30 minutes of daily visualization to let your thoughts dig into this one. How does this vision of the future relate to your life today?
7. Identify the milestones: Set concrete goals for yourself that can be broken down into measurable pieces or milestones. If you want to lose 20 pounds, each 5-pound increment is the next milestone you should aim for and celebrate. Instead of shooting for a distant peak, it’s much more encouraging to set your sights on the corner at the end of the block.
8. Say it with pictures: Research says that 89% of what we learn is visual, 10% is auditory, and 1% comes through our other senses. Draw, photograph, or assemble a collage that represents your aim in life. Hang it on the wall or download it to your computer desktop as a reminder of what you’re working towards.
9. Play: If you feel like you’re toiling, take a break and interject some fun. Do something ridiculous. If you can’t think of anything, spend an hour or two watching 4-year olds play. Learn to enjoy the journey even more than the destination.
10. Ride the wave of change – don’t run from it: Like death and taxes, change is inevitable. However, resistance to change is common and causes untold amounts of struggle. Become a master evolutionist—respond to change eagerly and rapidly.

We all need a push once in a while. Choose instead to latch onto inspiration as a force that pulls you forward and you’ll discover that success can be effortless.

If you would like to read and learn more: emotional freedom technique courses.

Article syndicated courtesy of Syndicate Kahuna

I was asked recently by someone, posting on my self  motivation blog, what were the best self motivational books that I  have read. Although there are several thousand of these books  published each year I have come to the conclusion that there is very little  that can be added to the many words of motivational wisdom that have  been written over the last century and a half.

From the early pioneers like Napoleon Hill to today’s monumental giants like Tony  Robbins it’s been said that we arrive on this  planet without an instruction manual. I think for that reason alone there  is not just a thirst for knowledge, but a greater need for a guide on how to survive life which drives the market for  the self-motivation books.

You don’t need to have suffered a deep psychological trauma to want to invest in one of these guides, but for those who say you can’t deal with serious issues like depression then I disagree. Where my own doctor and a clinical psychologist were unable to help me a number of the books on my all time classic list gave me the support to get my life back on track.

However, it’s not reading self motivational books that gets results. It’s taking action on the advice that is given therein. So my advice is read a small number of self help books, but take a lot of action if you want to significantly improve your life.

Can motivational books bring happiness? Now there is a million dollar question! This depends on your definition of happiness of course. Many people would define it as achieving a certain amount of wealth, however many wealthy people say that wealth in and of itself doesn’t bring happiness. Many wealthy people are very comfortable, generous, self confident, and are quite happy with their lives, but it’s not due to having wealth. It’s due to having their heads in the right place, perhaps because many of them have read and used these books.

The truth is that happiness is not a destination, it is more a state of continually striving to achieve goals, achieving them, and setting more goals to strive to achieve. If that’s your definition then I think self motivational books will help you and my list of all time classics have certainly helped me in that respect.

There are many out there who will disagree with my choice of self motivational books and have their own favorites all I can say  to them is that these are the ones that gave me the focus and the necessary poke in the ribs to take action and I still revisit them for ideas.

Syndicated courtesy of Syndicate Kahuna

The short answer is this: concentrate on thinking the thoughts you want to think, all the time, every time. Catch yourself sliding into the negative thinking? Immediately replace it with positive thinking. Find something to think positively about.

The long answer is here: How to Start Thinking Positively and Stop the Negative Thinking

More Resources on How to Think Positive Thoughts:

Daily Affirmation – Unwind and relax – Warning: prolonged use of positive thinking may create a permanent positive attitude. . If you like this affirmation, try these ipopins. ipopins are one minute affirmations that can be listened to like a song from your iPod, …

Self Fulfilling Prophecies – Making your Future Better – Part 1 – It’s kind of hard to think positive and have a positive forward outlook when almost every article which comes out in the news about those with ADHD is telling us how dreadful we have it and how future success for those ‘afflicted’ with …

Wise Words: Think Positive – “Whether you think you can or think you can’t—you are right.” –Henry Ford. Change your thoughts today. If you think you can’t do something, then you probably won’t be motivated to try. If you stay focused and have faith in what it is …

The Power of Positive Thinking – It is quite common to hear people say: “Think positive!”, to someone who feels down and worried. Most people do not take these words seriously, as they do not know what they really mean, or do not consider them as useful and effective. …

Intuition – 3. Think positive! A worry-free, fear-free state could do so much to improve your intuitive ability. By staying positive, you attract good energy that would be able to easily recognize imminent feelings and events. 4. Just let go. …