100 Ways to Motivate Yourself

by Steve Chandler

Most people are surprised to learn that the reason they’re not getting what they want in life is because their goals are too small. And too vague. And therefore have no power.

As Nathaniel Branden says, “A goal without an action plan is a daydream.”

When you ask for something in your professional life and it is denied to you, imagine that the no you heard is really a question: “Can’t you be more creative than that?” Never accept no at face value. Let rejection motivate you to get more creative.

There can only be two reasons why you don’t know your purpose: 1) you don’t talk to yourself; and 2) you don’t know where purpose comes from.

he had two kinds of people working for him, the Whiners and the Thinkers.

The Thinkers, in other words, have assumed ownership of the company, and are creating the future of the company with their thinking. The Whiners have stopped thinking. Once the problems are identified, and their reaction to them justified, the thinking stops.

You have your own walking available to you, too. Yes, indeed. It might be dancing, swimming, running, racquetball, boxing, or aerobics, but it’s all the same thing. It’s all a way of moving the body around like a merry plaything and oxygenating the spirit in the process.

So the next time you feel like curling up with a good mystery, don’t feel guilty or nonproductive. It might be the most productive thing you’ve done all day.

If you want to really get some fresh motivational ideas, try expanding your goal. Blow it up until it scares you. Then proceed in your thinking as if it’s a must that you achieve it. Remember that this is just a self-contained game, not a promise to anyone else. But it’s a game that’s fun to play because it works.

Instead of looking up to our heroes, it is much more beneficial to look into them.

Step one in the creative process is having a vision of what you want to create. Without this vision, there is no way to create. Without this vision, you are only problem-eliminating, which is a double negative. It’s impossible to feel positive about a life based on a double negative.

If your vision isn’t getting you up in the morning, then make up another one. Keep at it until you develop a vision that’s so colorful and clear that it puts you in action just to think about it.

Take control of what you know. The more you know about what motivates you, the easier it is to motivate yourself.

I’m always more inspired by things that are made to look interesting and fun. I’m always taken in by a promise of life being more beautiful and rarely taken in by a promise of a life being more righteous and proper.

Truth and beauty become impossible to separate. Truth leads you to a more confident level in your relationships with others and with yourself.

Any time you have an opportunity to read something that is important to you, try reading it aloud and see if you don’t make twice the impression on yourself.

The next time you lack passion when thinking of what you want, try turning it around. Ask yourself what you absolutely don’t want, and then feel the energy building in you to overcome that problem. That energy you’re feeling is the deepest and most primal form of motivation.

We miss this fact of life: action doesn’t care who you are.

“He who is not every day conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

What kind of relationship do I really want with this person? What kind of a response would be most likely to create that?

nothing. It isn’t how many books you read, it’s how many you apply. You are better off, therefore, reading one book four times than reading four books one time each. Instead, most people try to accumulate knowledge. But it doesn’t help you when it’s accumulated, it makes you fat and overstuffed.

The great genius Buckminster Fuller said, “You can’t change anything by fighting or resisting it. You change something by making it obsolete through superior methods.”

Remember that only fire starts fire.

You know the water’s freezing. You hesitate with the thought that it will shock your system to just jump in. But then you just jump, and five minutes later you are joyful, and the water is exciting and fun.