Motivational Techniques for the 21st Century Part 2

Lecture Thirteen

Learn to Direct Yourself

Directing means to show or tell the way. If we have to direct others we either give orders or tell others what to do but to direct ourselves is a lot more difficult act to perform. This requires special skills of persuasion. We must put in good and sound suggestions in our subconscious mind. These autosuggestions will assist us to give us positive directions to move ahead systematically.

There is a powerful relationship between our mind and body. Whatever good vibes we plant into our mind can tell our body to move in a particular direction. Our soul has a kind of willpower that can drive us towards what we want to achieve.

Let me illustrate this with a true story. The best track record of Glynis Nunn (Athlete Olympic Gold Medallist) was 13.17 seconds and this reached to 13.01 seconds in 1984. She discovered and was convinced that the mind plays a much bigger part in our achievement than what we are able to recognize.

Two nights before her Olympic race in LA, she had a dream that she ran the race in 13.01 seconds in the hurdle and she also dreamed about flowers. The next morning she received flowers from her husband Chris and a family friend Tom. Since part of her dream came true she was convinced that the other part would come true as well.

The following day as she was training she kept directing herself to winning the race in 13.01 seconds. When she crossed the line after the race next day she looked up at the time board that read 13.01 seconds. Her dream of flowers and the 13.01 seconds both came true because she directed her mind to reach that goal. You too can learn to direct yourself to reach your goals.

Human mind is divided into two parts- the conscious and the sub-conscious. Our conscious mind attends to matters that attract our immediate attention one at a time. While our sub-conscious mind is tuned in to one programme it is tuned out of all others. Our conscious behaviour is influenced by our sub-conscious mind.

Our sub-conscious mind is concerned with matters that are crucial to our survival. If this part of our mind goes to rest then we would not be able to live because it controls our breathing, heart beat, circulation of blood and digestion. It can be compared with a fertile field capable of producing healthy crops but can get noxious weeds if it is not looked after properly.

It absorbs all the needed information that flows into our conscious mind. So every word we speak, every sentence we read and everything we see is stored away in our sub-conscious mind. This influences all our actions and character. Thus, we have the power to regulate all information that reaches our sub-conscious mind through our five senses and programme ourselves to change our thinking patterns to conform to the new image we desire.

Therefore it is thought that we can properly direct ourselves and reprogramme our sub-conscious mind at critical times of the day. We can fill our sub-conscious mind with suitable images half an hour before we drop off to sleep at night or half an hour after our eyes open from our sleep in the morning. We can condition and prepare our mind with images and commands of our choice. We can give direct orders to our mind to do greater deeds.

We can feed our mind with these kinds of orders, images and commands:

            “I am a healthy person. I am physically fit and have a sound mind in my

            healthy body. I am capable of achieving excellent results in whatever I do.

            I enjoy my life to the fullest. I am an honest person capable of achieving

high productivity and I love my work.”

“I enjoy good, sound and untroubled sleep. I do not get disturbed when

I am sleeping and I wake up fully refreshed, full of energy to begin my

work effectively. I have pride in my organization. I enjoy my life to the

fullest.”

You can modify these images and commands to suit your needs but it would be a good idea to record these on a cassette tape that you can play regularly at the two given times. Make as many similar images as you want to keep feeding your sub-conscious mind and you will begin to see some positive results.

This is how we can be properly directed to achieve greater success and peace in our daily lives. Remember to keep preparing your cassette tapes containing you best orders and images very truthfully. Giving direction to your mind to improve your own image is not difficult if you are determined to become a better person.

Our need to direct ourselves has become more important because everything now being done is going to be done differently. In fact the call of the current time is to do it better, and if we do not do it, your competitor will.

           

Control Your Life (Lecture 14)

We have talked about proper planning and directing ourselves in order to do well in life. Now is the time to talk about proper controls and order in our life. We need orderliness around us if we are to succeed in all our activities. Learning to control our emotions, movements and thoughts is very important. It is difficult to live a happy life if our life is full of uncontrolled activities and emotions.

There are many aspects of our life that we need to control sensibly. These include our emotions, our actions, our speech, our thinking and our family life. Many of us need anger management because we lose our temper easily on petty matters. Some of us need to control our poor habits of telling lies. Others need to keep a check and balance on such things as personal cleanliness. Yet there are some of us who love to get into unnecessary conflicts.

Through proper controls of these aspects of life we are able to build strong self-image and overcome many of our confusions and troubles. If we treasure and promote good and acceptable human emotions of love, friendship, kindness and peaceful living then we develop good relationship with all around us.

Love is an essential human feeling that creates harmony in the family and the community. Love for our family members, our pets, our country and our people is essential for us to enjoy our life. We learn to love because we find some aspects of truth, beauty and goodness in the people or things we love and to be able to look for and find these important traits can be difficult but exhilarating. When we are able to see the difference between unconditional and conditional love we are able to control this feeling to our advantage.

A friend in need is a friend indeed. We must choose our friends carefully and to be able to do this safely we need to know what are the qualities of a good friend. We should know that the greatest gift couldn’t be found in a store or under a tree but in the hearts of true friends. So the only way to have a friend is to be one. We will have a happy life if we love our friends, respect them and behave ourselves to make them respect us. If we are able to control this aspect of our life then all our friends are people who know all good and bad about us and still like us.

There is no limit to human kindness, courtesy and good conduct. There is no reason why we cannot display absolute kindness when we deal with our friends and family members or any other person. Show of good conduct and common human courtesies like “sorry, thank you, excuse me, I beg your pardon, please” etc should never be forgotten when we interact with anyone. These aspects of good manners would only come to us if we were able to keep a good control on them and ensure that we always used them well.

The world our human beings live in must show all signs of peace and harmony. If we are at peace within ourselves then we can see peace around us. To be peaceful in our disposition requires discipline and control over our words, thoughts and actions.

Violence, fights, quarrels and wars have never helped us in any form or shape therefore we must keep control of all our behaviours that lead us towards these dangerous elements. Whenever an agree feeling disturbs us we should stop and count up to ten. These ten seconds will pay us handsomely to lead a peaceful life.

There are many similar things and habits that can fortify, strengthen and motivate us to be good human beings but we must first learn to control our destiny and develop a strong self-image. Our own beautiful picture of our own selves is the most enlightening experience for us. We have to find out WHO we are by becoming wiser, honest and organized.

Building a new and better picture or self-image of our selves is very important but we have to get a deeper understanding of our own human qualities such as love, affection, kindness and all human courtesies. This would be possible if we can order a quick control and change in our way of life. If we can keep a control on our way of life then it becomes easier to guide and control others in your family and community. We would be able to boast that everyone in our community leads by example and presents good role models for others to follow.

We should quickly learn that our past is part of what we are today but we cannot dwell on our yesterday and remain there if there was not much to respect and honour our history. Bad, confusing and dirty examples of our family and communal history can be improved through improved and better control on our present and future activities. Our complete understanding of our present actions and ideas will enable us to build our tomorrow on a very firm and solid foundation. Thus we will be able to order ourselves and control our actions to transform our self-image by putting some of our negative feelings and qualities far away in the past. We would clearly look at our life more clearly and work positively.

Life as we all know has a purpose and none of us has come on this earth by accident. We have to wake up, get out and find out the real purpose of our existence. Why are we here?

We are here to enjoy our human living honourably and with dignity. In order to do this with pride and care we need to establish various checks and balances and define our proper directions that would help us prevent uselessness and emptiness in our living standard.

When we discover some of our shortcomings we are able to exert good and unique control on our will power to gather all the courage to rise above them. The more control we exercise, the greater the internal changes would begin to take deep roots within us. Then we would see a clear difference between the person we are and the person we would like to become. This control and understanding would bring greater success us.

Self-Control is difficult but it is contagious and provides us with confidence. If we can change our preconceptions about our self-image we can modify and transform the total way of life. Our task is to develop a worthy and large mental picture of our selves. We should not look at our past failures and brood because these would distort our positive mental picture and lead us to more frustration and misery. We should learn from our mistakes, never repeat them but correct them as we move forward.

Many successful and motivated people have shown us that they have changed their concept of themselves at any time and any age. So it is never too late to begin the challenging task of controlling our life. We too can escape from the dark tomb of old yesterday by building a proud monument of our new tomorrow. Remember to erect that foundation on real and truthful platform.

We all should learn to live by some definite principles, aims, goals and objectives. Let us create a new self-image by rising above the negative feelings, distorted thoughts and defective ideas. Then we can convince ourselves that a more fruitful, richer and fuller life is a true possibility for us. We were born in this world as human beings to succeed and not to fail. We are the most enlightened creatures of our time so let us meet the challenges that lie ahead of us. This is the power we can generate through various control mechanisms.

Therefore the time is now to manufacture your enthusiasm as you move ahead and grow. Do not be afraid of the gap between your dreams and reality because I have found out that if you can dream it, then you can make it so but you have to keep trying.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lecture Fifteen

Positive Mental Attitude

I firmly believe that enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When we start doing anything, we should do it with all our might. Putting our whole soul into it, stamping it with our own personality and getting the best result from our efforts. We would be filled with extreme joy.

It is one of the many truths that when we are active, energetic, enthusiastic and faithful with ourselves, we would always accomplish our objective. Let me reiterate that nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. Having looked at the power of enthusiasm, I feel now is the right time to indoctrinate you with the idea of positive mental attitude (PMA).

PMA is the beginning of all truth, beauty and goodness in us, it is a reality, it is a miracle but it is not always easy to attain because we have faced and witnessed a lot of negative things in our life time. It becomes much easier to believe that this is a terrible world and we are full of problems because our own people have continuously told us that seeing is believing. We are not prepared to take any risks and try out new things for us. This is due to an innate propensity called fear. Others who constantly think that things cannot be done have influenced us. We have to think differently and ACT otherwise so that we are not held back by our own fear of failure.

A = Assertiveness – This is our power and quality of expressing ourselves positively, strongly and   meaningfully.

C = Creativity  - This is our ability to make the best use of our resources and invent new and positive ideas and solutions.

T  = Thoughtfulness  - This is our god given ability to consider, reflect and form useful and positive ideas in our mind.

I agree that PMA is a difficult phenomenon but certainly attainable if we throw away the mask of negative feelings and regenerate our power of imagination. We need to move away from all fear and start acting and looking at positive choices that provide us with positive results. Then we would have a definite edge for progress and join the group of so many ‘Can-Do’ types of people.

If these types of developments begin to grow then it would be easy to manifest your desire to think differently and see everything in the new light. Our new and valuable thoughts and ideas would provide us with greater inspiration to act positively. We would gradually become enthusiastic, our own problem solvers and have plenty of opportunities to retrain our thoughts.

Consequently a lot of gifts of life would flow to us in abundance. We would be able to bring all our goals and objectives closer because we would have a very fertile ground for possibilities at our command. Our dreams would slowly turn into reality. We would refuse to allow others to upset us and our tomorrow would be much better.

I have already said that possibility is the most beautiful word for a person who is looking for success in life. When we look at this word in detail we can see that any imaginable and conceivable task for us could become achievable and possible if we are able to develop our right mental attitude for it. That right mental attitude has to be positive, real and determined. This is what successful people term as positive mental attitude.

Nothing whatsoever would be impossible for us if we always worked hard and put on our best performance. Motivated people fully understand that all impossible activities are only temporary roadblocks to progress and we can definitely overcome all our problems through our ingenuity. We need to develop that courage to get out of our temporary sorrows and difficulties by acting positively with grace.

We have to develop our own system of beliefs and opinions as a strong guideline to wipe out the negative thought of impossibility. There is a truism that haunts us and says there is no perfect life. We face many hardships, trials, tribulations and disappointments. A person who has learnt to be assertive, creative and thoughtful would immediately ACT and would not let any of the negative experiences change our future positive outlook. We are in total control of our thoughts and feelings.

I am not saying that we start expecting perfection immediately but we would be able to reach PMA slowly and gradually but surely. Think of the best things that have happened to us. Let us make a list of all our successful achievements and go over them everyday at least two or three times. This would strengthen your inner thoughts to make us resilient and help us get out of all our troubles.

Change is a constant thing in our lives. Let us learn new things everyday but many of us find that we have no time for all these. I suggest just get up half an hour earlier everyday and go to bed half an hour later. This one-hour daily would be enough to add new dimension in our life. Just try this and use this extra time to extend a helping hand to those in need by becoming a volunteer. Your PMA would bounce manifolds and you would remain positive, stay creative and always win.

We must develop an attitude that there is a solution to most of our problems and we can find those solutions ourselves. If anyone thinks that there are no problems around us then they really have a big problem. We human beings are born as problem busters and problem solvers. We need three powerful tools to develop positive mental attitude and they are our self-confidence, our untarnished courage and our enthusiasm to get up and go. We have all these within us and need to activate and generate them at the right time.

Great leaders of this world had developed their own PMA and they managed to do great things in their lifetime. They all had their own dreams and visions and they firmly believed that whatever they wanted to do was humanly possible. All our successful leaders are able to see things from different point of view because they believe that PMA is a reality. We all can do this and make all our dreams come true for us and our family.

Jeffrey Gitomer says that PMA is a self-imposed blessing and it is a philosophy for a lifetime. We have to study it, practice it and live the essence of it everyday. It is a state of mind that you determine to attain for yourself. Let me finish off this lecture with six of his formulae for attaining and sustaining positive mental attitude.

·       Surround yourself with positive things and positive people

·       Read and listen to positive books, CDs and Tapes

·       Say all things in a positive way

·       Believe you can achieve it

·       Do not listen to others who tell you are nuts

·       Start now and work at it everyday.

People who want to further develop, attain and maintain PMA should read ideas presented and written by such writers as Earl Nightingale, Napoleon Hill and Will Smith.

Lecture Sixteen

Building Self-Confidence

Aldous Huxley said that there is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving and that is your own self. If you succeed in doing this you become a person full of self- confidence.

What is self-confidence? This is also a feeling of reality in all enlightened people. It is a feeling of certainty about oneself. It is an innate belief that we are right and can do everything and anything if we put our mind to it.

It is believed that self-confidence is a positive self-image and it is a miracle force working within us. We all need this very much if we want to be successful in life. And who does not want to be successful except that lazy person tucked away at the corner of your street. To fill you with self-confidence requires discipline and self-esteem and we all have these qualities within us. As with other human qualities this needs too to be activated carefully.

What would self-confidence do for us? It would assist us to unlock all the doors to an amazing future full of exciting new developments. It would give us a brighter life ahead and help us establish very rich experiences full of good values. It is natural for us to wake up every morning with a hope of achieving a better standard in everything we do and think. We would be able to achieve all these if we strongly believe in our talents, skills and knowledge. Our self-confidence would multiply our capabilities and abilities and certainly make us out shine all our competitors.

We have seen over the years that our personality can be transformed completely if we firmly believe that we are capable of higher achievements. We must have this feeling because it gives us satisfaction and credibility in our way of living. Our difficulty is that some of us have what we term as inferiority complex. We think that we are not worthy and lack the ingredients that other successful people possess. This feeling punctures and kills their pride and self-respect making them lethargic and despondent. This state of mind has to be changed and changed quickly.

Any person who is fond of belittling himself can never dehypnotise himself to watch himself at his best and visualize a positive self-image. Such people push themselves to failure and hardship. When they themselves say that they cannot reach their goals they fall into that trap and fail miserably. This was not the reason for our birth. We were born to flourish and succeed.

I am reminded of another story about a Mexican lady who worked for only a dollar a day as a new arrival in the United States but worked her way to become the trustworthy treasurer for the country because she had confidence in her abilities. The secret is that we must learn to expect a lot more from ourselves. The problem is that many of us are satisfied with our normal performance and do not attempt to rise higher than our expectations and levels of excellence.

If we have not done well so far in our life or at work, it is not that we are a dump person or a poor performer. We have not looked at the power of our self-confidence and joined that “Can Do” group that we talked about earlier. There maybe many valid reasons for our inadequacies. We may have had poor and inadequate early guidance. Our learning may have suffered because of poor educational stimulus, advisors and environment.

If you in this group then you have to think of those people who began their life in a small way but they had big thoughts and became great performers. There were people who I know had speech defects but gradually became world class orators; there were yet others who had nothing but soon became millionaires; and there were weaker students who excelled and became exceptional academics all because of were able to build that super power called self-confidence and worked vigorously.

One thing we should never forget that there is always a confident person waiting to be born in us as long as we have the right vision and are ready to rise up every time we fall or slip. Success comes to those of us who want to succeed and similarly super competence and self-confidence goes to those who treasure these human attributes.

It is a dreadful sin to classify ourselves as incompetent but there are people in this category amongst us. They are our pulling down factors and the sooner we make them get out of that rut the better it is for all of us. Those of us who have developed our self-confidence need to spread this gospel to everyone so that we can meet the difficult challenges of the twenty-first century. One of the reasons of our slower progress and global economic slowdown is that there are fewer super competent workers amidst us. We have to reverse the situation and make all our working population learn to excel through their self-confidence and motivation.

Some human resource experts have said that only twenty percent of the workforce is competent and these are the ones who work for the other eighty percent who are either lazy, incompetent or do not want to put in their best performance all because they have lost their self-confidence and self-esteem. They also say these human attributes are contagious and if we are able to increase our percentage of super competent performers then this world would be a better place to interact and co exist.

Let me tell you that there is no quick result for this but we can definitely build self-confidence if we are not scared but unstoppable in our attempt to keep advancing to develop good perception of ourselves. We as self-confident people can inspire similar and greater confidence in others. How can we do this?

Firstly let us resolve to contribute positively to the needs of our community. Become a physically fit person through regular workouts and exercises. Never hide from reality but always be seen and be visible to the family, friends and foe alike. Show general gratefulness and satisfaction for all your big and small achievements alike. Develop a list of your successful deeds and strengths and speak about these regularly. Pay proper attention to your personal grooming and posture. Show confidence in the way you talk, walk and look. Ensure that you dress well to look and feel good.

If all these happen within and around you then no one would be able to stop and scare you to build and develop self-confidence. Your mental age would be a lot younger than your physical looks. This is your readiness and qualification to meet the demands of the future.

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Lecture Seventeen

Affirmation of our Commitment

We have done so little so far but we know that there is so much more to do. So let us commit ourselves to completing our remaining tasks and responsibilities with greater enthusiasm and deeper interest. We need to give a solid affirmation to this commitment.

Commitment is a very powerful tool of human progress. After establishing a strong and clear vision for our future we need to bind ourselves to our dreams and plans. We should develop an unconditional urge and complete belief in whatever we have agreed to do. We cannot be half-hearted but operate at full throttle to honour our commitment.

Very early in life we learn to commit ourselves to many small deeds. We promise to do something or we bind ourselves to perform some work or activity. If we succeed in completing that promised task we fulfill your commitment but when we are unable to do as we promised then we get worried. Our inability to complete our committed activity would never occur if we kept affirming and reminding ourselves of our dreams and visions.

From time to time we all have committed ourselves to various tasks, life styles and activities. We have developed our vision for the future and dreamt of better living standards for us. How can we fulfill our promise to ourselves?  Our firm commitment could be our drive to bring success to us in this area. We cannot let our promises turn to dust or fly away. We have to hold them tightly and carefully to understand them, observe them, scrutinize them and cherish them if we want to fulfill these promises. This is our commitment to us.

If we have committed ourselves to working harder, passing our examinations with better marks, achieving better results and getting a promotion then we need to keep reminding us of these promises until they are fulfilled. Continuous affirmation would help a lot.

I am told that once upon a time all ants were born with wings but as time went by they tore those wings off deliberately. The ants chose to live out as crawling insects when they were given the option to be flying angels. It was almost set by nature that they were given the vast empire of air and wide atmosphere to fly and move freely. They refused. What a shame for the crawling ants!

On their wings they could have rocketed high with their imagination and be fully committed to doing whatever they dreamed about. They did not want to do this and chose to differ. We now feel that they made a mistake and sold themselves short. They had the choice to break loose, go wild with their imagination and establish their commitment to be better performers. What a drastic mistake!

This is what happens to us if we fail to affirm, renew and remind ourselves of our commitment. We have been given the power to commit ourselves and excel in every activity that we indulge in. We would be accepting lower rewards if we do not fulfill all our promises because in fact the reward of all human beings is that they can do greater things and the sky is the limit for them. If they turn out to be the ones who choose not to be affirmative about their commitment then they are at fault.

When we make affirmation about something we have imagined and become fully committed to these activities then we are simply making a factual statement such as: “If others are able to do this, then I can do it too.” Your firm belief in this philosophy, “that there is a better life in store for me in the future” would lead you to get out of your mental cage and fly. This is your ultimate choice. Get committed to your beliefs and keep affirming these undertakings continuously.

Beginning in a small way would take us to great things. This is like a child learning to crawl before walking and running. We all can begin to discover our future ourselves and begin our long journey of a thousand miles with our first bold and calculated step. If others are doing it then why should we procrastinate and keep waiting for our turn to come. Why walk if we can run to reach our destination? Let us wake up and make a promise to ourselves that we would bring about greater changes to the way we operate everyday. This would be your commitment to yourself and you cannot deceit yourself.

We know that curiosity is the mother of creativity. Let us relax for a while and think deeply. We can generate a positive mental climate that would throw out possible vibes and make us churn out new and creative ideas. We should collect these worthy autosuggestions and convert them to our firm commitment. We can create a love for what we do. Our life would run smoothly and we would be happily committed to our work.

One has to create a love for what one does because love brings out real feelings in everything we do. Once we learn to love our work, our home, our organization, our family and friends then our total commitment and pride for these areas increase considerably.

All our buried dreams are resurrected, our sleeping enthusiasm sparks off a fresh beam and our silent glowing charcoals flicker and burst into new flames if we have the right commitment to everything we decide to do. Therefore it is a good idea to be committed to our imagination and keep affirming all our ideas, our vision and our dreams.

Every person who wants to be creative has a strong commitment. To become creative we must first learn to respect, trust and admire our own thoughts and ideas. Then we develop into an inventive pathfinder and ask four specific questions when an idea or an innovation dwells around us. Is this a practical idea? Is it a pace setting innovation? Is it an inspiring suggestion? Is it an excellent suggestion?

Agreeing to listen carefully to the thoughts of other successful people and taking care to treasure our own views would definitely provide us with good, thoughtful, valuable and sensible answers to these questions. So let us LISTEN but you can only listen when you are able to unjumble the word and become SILENT. When we are silent we listen better.

It is during such valuable times when we are meditating, thinking and observing that our commitment is affirmed and we move forward without fear,

Lecture Eighteen

Clear and Creative Thinking

To be able to think clearly and creatively we must devote much of our time to these aspects of our living. Sooner or later we find out that too many people have lost sight of the true values of clear thinking because they are overwhelmed by the present day technology and overpowered by the materialistic pressures. This loss is so tragic at times that it affects us negatively. I cannot emphasise this enough that clear and creative thinking is one of the major basis of our growth and development.

To be able to think well we need to generate and develop a sense of urgency for all our activities. This means that we have to manage our time effectively at all times. Of the twenty-four hours in a day we spend about eight hours sleeping, about three hours eating and drinking and then our daily commuting to work or school takes at least an hour. So we have lost twelve hours easily. From the remaining twelve hours we have to spare at least a few hours on leisure activities for our family and ourselves. In fact we are left with only eight hours of productive time that we must learn to manage carefully.

Time is money in the material world and we do not have a choice but to use our time effectively. In order to do this well we need to motivate ourselves. There are three ways we can do this. Incentive motivation based on rewards. Fear motivation based on punishment. Attitudinal motivation based on clearer thinking.

Incentive motivation can be explained with a story of a buffalo and a farmer. A buffalo was pulling a wooden cart down a dirty country road. A farmer was sitting in the cart with a long pole which had a rope tied down at the end of it. A bundle of green grass was dangling from the rope in front of the buffalo. This buffalo then moved forward to eat the grass if it felt hungry. This type of motivation eventually wears out and is based on the need of the person being satisfied. If the buffalo does not feel hungry and does not need the grass then it would not pull the cart.

Fear motivation starts when the farmer removes the bundle of grass and uses the pole to beat the buffalo. If the buffalo is afraid of this beating then it moves forward to pull the cart. It would soon become immune to beating and stop pulling the cart. Even this type of motivation would not produce the desired result forever.

Picture 1: The Buffalo is willing to pull the cart because it wants to help the farmer.

Picture 2: The unwilling buffalo is beaten to pull the cart because it is stubborn.

Picture 3: The buffalo is given hay as motivation to pull the cart because it needs incentive.

I believe that an individual does not need either incentive motivation to be lured with a prize or fear motivation to be driven with a whip. A person requires clear thinking and can be moved forward by own positive mental attitude. This is called attitudinal motivation and is based on our own enthusiasm, energy and thoughts. If we have the right attitude for whatever we want to do then there is nothing there to stop us from moving ahead at our own pace.

Attitudinal motivation demands that we manage our time well. We must take the time to think clearly and creatively because this would provide us the needed power to do anything. We would find the secret of continuous progress if we learnt to take the time to play and exercise regularly. If we took time to do extensive reading it would give us the foundation of wisdom to tackle any task easily and methodically.

If we took enough time to give then, as Bill Clinton says, we would learn to be unselfish and increase our own knowledge to turn all the impossible tasks to possible accomplishment. Giving is the greatest gift for all human beings: we give advice, assistance, love, lessons, money, material and many other things to people who are in need and in doing so we enrich our own thinking and actions. By giving more to others we fill our own minds and life with added laughter, friendliness, enjoyment and carefulness. These would make us fully prepared to interact and control all our activities well.

Thus a platform for clear and creative thinking is established within us and as the time moves on we are able to strengthen our mental attitude to motivate us the way we desire. Our desire becomes our take-off point. We are able to control our thoughts in such a way that nothing seems difficult for us. We become a “Go Go” individual and begin to move with added speed and motivation.

We are able to create a situation where we never rush into any overt actions. First we ponder and then we are able to weigh and assess the character of our thinking. No matter how busy, we are able to find time and take time to crystallize our character and our thinking in such way that we are able to meet success at every step of our life. We would soon learn that in these difficult economic times our best efforts are not good enough because a lot more would be expected from us to meet the increasing challenges.

I have learnt that the main difficulty with clear and creative thinking is confusion. We try to do too much in our mind at once instead of finding some simple way of paying attention to one thing at a time. In this way we are able to build a map, which would tell us where we are and where we wish to go. It would be a lot easier to take appropriate action. Thus we can become a master-thinker and learn to think to win. The end result is that we win by thinking clearly and creatively. We long to improve and overcome all our difficulties when we begin to think well. This search for self-improvement is becomes our only goal.

When any types of distractions invade your mind, when negative feelings threaten you, and when a bee is about to sting you- what do you do to overcome these? You spontaneously fight them off vigorously. Having done that you then think carefully to make sure that it does not happen again. That is your motivation to improve and overcome. You have the power to rise above all blunders and misfortunes if you think clearly and creatively.

For many of us clear and creative thinking means discipline to live well in the present world. Self-respect is the heartbeat of creative and clear thinking but it requires that we build total faith in ourselves. We must have faith in our talents and skills.

All successful thinkers yield to positive impulses when these arise in their minds. You too can be positively impulsive if you take immediate actions and steps when the waves of positive impulses move in front of you. Wake up, come alive, snap the cords of laziness, break the chains of lethargy and make up your mind to act immediately. Think quickly and take advantage of the opportunity that knocks at your door.

Bill Cosby says that we must search for the big YOU within you and let it come out to achieve excellent results for you. You must help yourself become the person you would like to be. You will be the winner if you think that way. Accept yourself not only as you are but as you can become when you are able to find that better and bigger YOU within yourself.  Always remember that through your clear and creative thinking and your proactive stance you have the power to unearth the hidden resources within you.

You have heard this said before, “As a human being thinks, so shall he become.”  This becomes your guarantee when your thinking is clear and creative and your goals are sharply defined. Your most rewarding competition is with yourself. Do it now.

 

Lecture Nineteen

Relax and Succeed.

Success of any person can be explained in multiple ways but the first thing to remember about success is that it is a very important issue for all enlightened and enterprising human beings. The next point is equally vital because success is an achievable idea for everyone.

Let me make a few introductory remarks to really motivate you to move faster towards success. Then I will tell you how to succeed.

For an enterprising person success is a journey and not a destination. A successful person keeps moving towards greater deeds and actions and would not just stop and relax at the first successful venture. We never reach a success point in our life or at work and stop there but we keep proceeding and moving with added vigour and enthusiasm throughout our life and meeting various challenges and experiencing success after success. This is what we term as perseverance.

All hardworking individuals see success as a ladder and not an escalator. Through our consistent and persistent efforts we are determined and able to climb up the ladder step by step without waiting for someone else to switch on the escalator for us. There is no easy and quick way to reach the top. There are no escalators around in this area of human pursuit for us to climb in and switch the button on to take us upwards easily. We have to plan our success.

There are many techniques of bringing success into your life. If we are fully motivated to develop our required and inherent determination we would be able to set excellent goals in our life and at work. These would only happen if we learnt to fully concentrate on all our aims and objectives in life. So if we are determined goal setters with effective concentration techniques then we have the necessary motivation to look for and seek the new directions to exploit and work for our advantage.

Anything short of these would work against us and these tough times would turn out to be a lot more tougher for us until one day we would find that it is very difficult to overcome our problems. Our ease would bring a lot of disease for us in life.

If material welfare were your yardstick for success then our material welfare would be equal to our ability to develop appropriate technological tools to exploit the natural resources with best of human energy. This should enable the responsible people to keep a balance between the concern for people and concern for productivity. We would not inflict any harm on others in achieving our aim of increased productivity and quality. Then and then only we would be regarded as successful people and yet have a relaxing mood in life.

In order to develop a relaxing mood among us and yet be able to move well into the territory of success, we need to fully understand ourselves and the people we interact with everyday. It has been said that proper human understanding is one of the keys to successful living.

Before fully understanding and appreciating the nature and living of human beings we need to develop some rules of relaxation in our own life. These are only a few ideas that we can put into practice for better human understanding.

• Stop holding grudges against anyone you interact with
• Learn to look at things from the other person’s point of view
• Remember your past successes and use them to educate others
• Do not run away from yourself failures, be realistic
• Erect a fountain of good ideas in your mind
• Avoid a clenched fist situation and all kinds of tension
• Be always ready and eager to give all you can
• Cherish and practice smiling at all things, events and people
• Accept other people’s weaknesses
• Attain tranquility by being calm and collected at all times
• Stand up with a resolution for yourself and others
• Refuse to permit tensions to overpower you
• Develop good habits and destroy the feeling of despair
• Be confident at all times
• Throw away the worst of your frustrations as soon as you notice them
• By forgiving yourself you learn to forgive others.

By putting some of these and all your ideas about relaxation you would be able to search and find a better YOU. As long as we live, everyday is a day for daily growth, a daily enterprise and a new experience. Adjust your life today to the realities of tomorrow but never forget your yesterday. Just learn to separate the facts from fantasy by never downgrading yourself or anyone else. Accept yourself for whatever you are and never pretend. You would never feel very good if you spend your time trying to be someone else. Be yourself but you can learn from the ideas of great people.

Be relaxed and neither hide behind the curtain nor avoid the right actions. Just develop and create bigger and greater opportunities for yourself and your family. After you have developed a relaxed mind you can understand things better to meet success at every step.

How can you do this?

• Be tolerant of others and their behaviour and words
• Avoid expecting people to be perfect because no one is
• Ensure that you genuinely want to serve and assert people
• Look for goodness, truth and beauty in yourself and others
• Learn to love change, renewal and the unlovable
• Hate the things that are evil not the person
• Control your reactions, attitude and actions
• Develop a positive mental attitude
• Know your strengths and talents
• Detect your weaknesses and overcome the threats
• Time is money so try to fully use it and do not abuse it.

So let us learn to succeed by always be in a relaxed mood for achieving the best results and healthy outcomes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lecture Twenty

 

Happiness is Helpful for Human Habitation

Happiness is a very helpful habit for all successful human beings. If you are delighted, pleased or glad about something you have reached a stage of happiness in your daily living.

Happiness comes to those of us who have pleasure in doing things and are pleased to interact healthily with everyone. When we try hard to seek ways and means to enjoy everything at work, at home and in life generally we are on a road to complete happiness.

Many people of this world are definitely happy and do not need to be reminded to change but there are many around us who are caught in sadness and despondency. They need help and it is our duty to assist them to walk on the pleasant road of happiness.

There are at least ten solid commandments to enable any person to proceed to complete happiness in life. We should preach and practice these habits to make our community a better place to co-exist.

• Speak to everyone clearly, concisely and confidently with cheerful greetings and polite words.
• Since it takes a lot more effort to frown than to smile, we must ensure that we use this ammunition of good relationship effectively and freely. A smile does not cost us anything but it pays us very high returns.
• Given name is the best thing a person possesses and it sounds sweet to the ears when our name is used in the proper way. It is helpful to remember and use the accepted names of your friends and relatives when communicating with them. Do not call people by names they do not approve of or do not like.
• When we are friendly and helpful to everyone it is natural that others begin to respond in the like manner. The more we befriend our people and the more we assist them the greater would be their reciprocal response.
• Speak and act as if everything you do were a genuine pleasure and take pride in doing things for everybody. Love for your work and pride in your organization are both vital feelings.
• If we are genuinely interested in all the people we deal with then we create a very harmonious relationship with each other. People then interact freely and happily thus making everything look possible and cool.
• If we are generous with our praise for all things and behaviour that are good, beautiful and truthful then we would always be happy. However, when you have to criticize things and behaviour of people you have to be very careful and cautious and do it wisely.
• Everyone would appreciate it if you were humble and considerate with the feelings of others. Your consideration would give you and your friends a lot of joy.
• Be thoughtful of the opinions and views of other people but remember to give your support to the right and logical ones. Be consistent with your support and allegiance if you want to be happy.
• It counts a lot if you want to give service to others with sincerity. Effective and efficient service in all areas has become the most powerful tool of human interaction and personal satisfaction.

To reach a complete state of happiness should be the ultimate objective of every motivated person. Happiness does not mean that we have no problems, no difficulties and barriers around us. In fact no day is problem free occasion for us but we do feel excited and are elated if we are able to overcome our difficulties with happiness.

This feeling of freedom from bondage makes us full of self-respect and we are honoured. Words that make us feel happy are many but let us look at these four: contentment, satisfaction, freedom and enthusiasm.

When we attain contentment, we feel that we are free from all bonds, we are fully satisfied and this is our enthusiasm that leads us to complete happiness.  We feel good that we have achieved whatever we could. We got whatever we desired. We have achieved our objectives.

Unhappiness is a negative feeling and makes us less than what we are and what we want to become. It reduces our thinking power. It diminishes our efforts and decreases our enthusiasm to move ahead with speed and accuracy.

Happiness on the other hand is a positive feeling because it increases our stature as a strong human being enabling us to make a worthwhile contribution in life, at workplace and in the community generally. Happiness lifts up and enhances our general self-esteem and it helps us to rise to our total potential and produce more.

I believe that happiness gives us a rolling stone type of effect. To be happy one must stop hating everything around by avoiding little faults. One must decide between disbelief and belief. One must have the courage to win out over all negative attitudes by using ones imagination creatively and productively. This can be done by giving the best of service to others and feeling that you are needed in the community and the society. We get real pleasure when we learn to give service without the thought of profit.

Whatever we make for ourselves can be lost but whatever we give to others is our greatest asset if we give happily. Giving happiness to everyone is difficult but it is not impossible. Happiness is definitely contagious. So let us spread this good feeling to everyone around us by smiling inside and making warm feeling a part of daily living. Let us learn to laugh because laughing and smiling are great ingredients of happiness and when they are genuine they act as purifying agents.

We should not retire from life but continue to nourish our being with the emotional and spiritual feeling of contentment. Seek more activities that will make you happier. Keep yourself busy by creating a balance for work, play and relaxation.

Happiness for me has been an internal feeling. All of us can find it if we looked around us hard enough. Happiness is one item that multiplies by division. So the more we divide our happiness by giving friendly service to others the greater becomes our wisdom and joy of living as successful people.

When I began to work as a teacher I got married and wanted to live a happy life. I decided to work hard in order to have a happy family life. I became an effective teacher and I was rewarded with a scholarship to do further studies. I kept moving ahead with determination and kept getting many promotions and rewards at work. All these made me happy and the joy was shared in the community in many ways.

I started helping people with their accounting work. I gave administrative services to small business people. I also did a lot of voluntary tuition to students who wanted to excel in their schoolwork. I acted as consultant to many farmers and small business people to advice them about insurance, education and family issues.

These economic, social, religious and professional activities kept me busy and happy but gave me a lot of opportunities to learn from interacting with a variety of people. I was active in the community to do religious work, trade union activities and giving lectures at seminars and meetings of youth and older citizens.

All these meant happiness for my family and me. We kept ourselves busy and maintained our happy family life. My success and happiness could be attributed to the support and cooperation of my wife and four children.

Today we are happy to look back at all our contributions and participations to make our life and work a successful and adventurous happening. We are happy that we were able to work together and achieve good results. We loved our existence and interactions whatever, however, whenever and wherever they were given because they were given with joy. So everyone who wants to be happy can do much more than we were able to do in our lifetime.

People who go on the road to happiness can definitely be very successful. This is the reason I advocate that Happiness is Helpful for Human Habitation.

Lecturer Twenty-One

Discover Yourself and Win

Self-discovery has been a key to the success of many motivated people because those of us who have discovered our full potential have seen winning streaks in our life. We have won great prizes and awards.

When it comes to talking about self-discovery we look at a lot of powerful things that are hidden within us. These include our self-esteem, confidence, pride, determination, control, acceptance, skills and knowledge. Those of us who have managed to explore and discover these elements early in life have seen success and achievements because they have put these to better use for their development. This voyage of exploration and discovery has to be an ongoing adventure because every new day would bring a lot of brilliant ideas and workable directions for us.

The aim of every motivated person should be to conduct this self-discovery and self-exploration adventures with persistence and determination. Calvin Coolidge the US president in 1921 made a very relevant point on persistence and this should help us march forward with greater determination.

            “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.

            Talent will not;

          Genius will not; and

            Education alone will not.

            Persistence and determination are omnipotent.”

This voyage or discovery must begin with a positive step, which should definitely take you towards what we call the proper sense of direction. When you are successful in discovering your ‘SELF’ then you would be able to see a very large improvement of your self-image because you would be able to uproot the garbage of all the despair clattering in your mind. You would be able to fully understand and cooperate with your very enlarged ‘SELF’.

There would be no power to stop you from convincing you that you are a true winner of all points and for all activities. You would be able to continuously encourage the truth, beauty and goodness inside you. You would be able to confidently select your goals and overcome your limitations. You would be able to select the scenario of tomorrow with the strong and positive belief of today.

When I went on this wonderful voyage of self-discovery I kept trying to see myself as my big ‘SELF’ and not as my little ‘SELF’. Thus I was able to build my enthusiasm to achieve all my objectives and learn to live creatively. Not only these but I was able to resolve to understand the needs of others as well as my own by looking for facts not fantasies. I then was able to live on solid grounds of self-development.

All winners seek to find their real self, true personality and advance towards their realistic goals. However, when they falter, they develop a strong feeling of retrying and redoing the same activities and ensure that they succeed. So it is always advisable to discover and rediscover your true capabilities and then channel them correctly. By telling your friends and colleagues about your successful adventures and discoveries you are going to enhance their chances of success but you too would feel better with your own efforts.

Through your self-discovery you would learn to conquer all fears and failures. Then step by step all your frustrations, aggressiveness, insecurity, loneliness, uncertainty, resentment and emptiness would be destroyed. You would look like a new you full of energy to take all the challenges facing you.

No one else can make you get these positive feelings. Like Alexandra the Great, you too have to be your own conqueror of your negativity. You would feel confident and stand tall in the community. You would stop to live with yesterday’s ideas and quickly learn to advance with new vision and brilliant ideas for your future. No one can stop you then.

All successful people have been moving ahead despite some of their tensions, pains, rejections and disappointments. They did not brood on these weaknesses and look for a retreat but they advanced with greater vigour and enthusiasm by setting new goals everyday, revising these frequently to suit their needs and wants. They always were sure of their actions to turn their slight decrease in progress to speedy recovery.

We all know that greatness consists of trying to be great and not giving up hope. So we cannot stop short changing ourselves but to try and try again until we meet success. We are an important unit in this world so we must reactivate our energy and capability to find a better way to live and work. This will be your new discovery and you will be proud of your potentials.

Many years ago a village priest told me that our resentment and our fear were the two main tools that crippled and stopped us from going towards a new discovery. We do not like new changes and have fear about them but the sooner we overcome these negative thoughts the faster and quicker we would move towards self-fulfillment and achieve a winning position in life.

Therefore if I were you, I would quickly move to act and get going to shake up the negative forces within you and become a stronger individual and a more powerful person. You should break up the obstacles, shatter all the barriers and take up the new task of self-discovery that is your destiny. This is how you would keep on winning in your life and at your work.

If you want to win you should not delay your actions but act immediately. If inertia, delay or procrastination set in to start your self-discovery then you would repent it all your life. Having discovered your real self you may like to ask yourself a very important question.

What kind of a person am I? I have seen a variety of people in life that you can compare yourself with. I would use bones to describe these types of people.

Firstly, there are the Jawbone types of people who talk too much and are not able to match their words with appropriate actions. Too much talk and very little work is their habit. In other words this person is a Yap Yap person.

Secondly, there are the Wishbone types of people who keep wishing for things without actually planning and doing anything concrete to achieve their wishes. Their wishing habits are like empty vessels that do not carry anything valuable. I think such people are like a Yo Yo moving up and down, never constant or steady but dreamers and delayers.

Thirdly, there are the knucklebone types of people who feel good to knock down all good ideas and destroy all workable suggestions of sensible people. They are the destructive elements in the community never in favour of anyone progressing in life. Such are the NO NO people who are never willing to start anything good. They say no to everything, full of excuses.

Then we have the lazy bone types of people who do not want to do any work but love to laze around at all times. Their laziness becomes an epidemic and spreads fast if we are not careful to motivate them quickly to get up and move for their own progress. We can also call them the Blow Blow people who think big, talk big but back off just when they should move ahead.

Finally there are the backbone types of people who always stand strong energetic and full of enthusiasm always willing to support the right cause of action at the right time. They are as powerful as our backbone that supports our whole body. These are the Go Go people who think big, talk big but also perform big deeds. They are the true winners in all the fields of human endeavour. They always surge ahead to succeed.

Who are you? The backbone type of person I suppose. The whole community depends on you and your actions. You have to discover this type of person within you if you want to win.

Now you should have already properly discovered yourself. My task is to see that you behave like the Go Go person and be the Backbone type of person.

You cannot put this off for another day or delay it any more because procrastination is the thief of time and is your greatest enemy. Act now and discover yourself properly.

Lecture Twenty-Two

Turn Your Liabilities into Assets

Basically all motivated human beings are supposed to be tough and determined. If that is the case then such people are ever ready to have mental and spiritual facelift and perform any difficult and complex tasks with greater ease.

Once people become aware of their intrinsic toughness they develop the capacity and capability of an experienced boxer to come back off the floor, wipe their gloves clean in spite of shaky legs and battle back to become a winner. They refuse to be defeated and quickly learnt to fight with all their might.

Nothing can hold them back if they are so determined to move ahead. They know how to look for and find their correct place in the community and build their self-reliance everyday. They refuse to make mountains out of molehills. In fact they are ready to open their clenched fist of tension and quickly replace their frown with a big smile.

To battle and gain full self-respect become their greatest goal in life and they turn out to be the most modern detectives who are boldly out to track down the best things in life. Nothing can come in the way for them to stop their progress. Thus they are able to see themselves at their best and march vigorously towards personal improvement and doing peak performance with confidence.

If this is the real possibility in life then why should anyone remain a person full of frustrations and wait at the bottom of the ladder of progress? The challenge is to accept you as the greatest performer and utter like Mohammed Ali did. “I am the greatest!” You would witness huge improvements at every step by matching your dreams and visions with concrete actions.

If you have come so far with me and have learnt to be motivated then you have to forget the shortfalls, mistakes and poor performance of yesterday and stop looking backwards to some of your heartaches. Wake up, stand up and run forward to grab the millions of opportunities lying ahead of you. This can be done by building courage and developing your creative insights for all your activities.

Understanding yourself and becoming fully aware of all your talents and abilities means that you have the necessary power and dignity to do greater and more worthy tasks. Extend and take the power and dignity that you discovered within yourself to a new height. Make this your full time job.

You are beginning to turn all your liabilities into assets and you will soon be called a fully motivated person ready to take the challenges of the 21^st Century. Keep moving.

By utilising compassion we can create a sound basis for morality, which in turn can easily be used to help us as well as the people around us. No man is an island therefore, when you decide to move ahead in a new direction you must ensure that you are in a good company. People who have developed with your motivational ideas would assist you to create a new world of success for you by becoming your greatest inspiration and assistant. So it is a good idea to develop a team of motivated people around you so that you all begin to think together and act jointly.

It is understood that some people give up very quickly and become inhibited. Their feelings and enthusiasm are double-locked and latched behind the surface personality they present and show to the world at large. They are frightened to make any error and if they do make an error they cannot come out of it easily.

To err is a human failing and one has to quickly forget about the errors they made in the past. This would be one of the greatest human achievements because it gives you a unique kind of freedom. It is a release from negative feelings, a freedom from fear of making mistakes. So you learn to press on regardless.

Remember that even the people who impress you as being perfect make mistakes, but they have managed to drop their mask and allow their creative self to fully participate in their life. They know that mistakes are part of our living and we must admit them but learn to rise above them to the status we deserve and aspire. We have to formulate our goals with enthusiasm, prepare ourselves to achieve that status and unlock our creative personality.

So the time has come for you to get ready, get set and go. See V for victory hanging right in front of you. This does not have to be tomorrow but now. You cannot afford to mourn over each word of your goal by over-thinking but you must quickly learn to cement your aims and objectives in your mind then act correctly and quickly. You should exercise self- criticism and it means you are on your way to success but you must remember to adjust daily to changing situations.

At the beginning of my high school days when I was facing some difficulties in my life I was told by my mentor to form a habit to become enterprising rather than having an empty mind. An empty mind is a devil’s residence I was told. I was encouraged to be a mind watcher and hunt for my assets by reactivating my success mechanism. I soon found out that everyday can be an inner revolution for me if I sat in a “think chair”. Then nothing can hold me back from moving ahead.

I realized that even the most successful people endure stress and problems. They too feel tense but when this happens they get their imagination give them a big lift. They use their past experiences to develop their present and move into their future. They do not sit and stare at the wall or the ceiling. They do not give up. They begin to find out new directions to get out of the situation.

Your most important reconstructive task is to turn your own doubts into your own confidence. Bring out and see the best in yourself and not the worst. Quickly look for and find a cure for your myopia. Stress maybe part of our living but we must learn to quickly stand up to it without any delay. Procrastination means additional tension.

It is very important that we must begin to turn our difficulties, problems and crisis into opportunities to progress. These if left to develop become our liabilities. So we must convert them into our assets. Many people like you have turned their mounting liabilities into beautiful assets.

William Wilberforce was enslaved by nature because he was a lame, a cripple and a deformed person who could hardly stand up on his feet but he freed millions of slaves of the world through his persistent writing and speeches. He had the power of words and turned his liabilities into assets.

Demosthenes was a Greek who could not speak but tried hard to pretend to speak before an audience. Born the son of a wealthy sword-maker, Demosthenes was orphaned at the age of seven. His father left him well provided for, but his legal guardians defrauded him and squandered his inheritance, causing him to seek retribution through the courts when he came of age.

One day he went to the riverside where he began picking up pebbles and putting them in his mouth one by one. Then he tried to talk by throwing the pebbles out of his mouth one by one. A time came when his persistence made him not only talk well but he became one of the greatest orators of Greece.

John Bunyan was a bad man who could be classed as a morally evil person. So the authorities put him in prison when they found him guilty of misdeeds. Hw was a person who mended pots and pans, a tinker. He was put in Bedford Goal for seven years on dry bread, dirty water and a stone as his pillow. These liabilities made a humble tinker into a great thinker. Bunyan wrote the famous religious classis “The Pilgrim’s Progress”. So he too was able to turn his liabilities into assets.

Socrates, the famous Greek philosopher had a liability too. His wife was cruel to him and she nagged a lot. Some men go med when they face such situation and drink themselves to death or to commit other crimes. However, Socrates chose another direction to overcome this difficulty. He went out on the street to talk to everyone. When the people told him that it was a lovely day he refuted this by arguing that if it were like this everyday then the umbrella men would go broke and starve. He became the brightest philosopher the world has ever seen. He too turned his liabilities into his assets.

There are many other people like the above who were able to turn their liabilities into assets only because they knew what was holding them back and then they were determined to get out of the cage. Similar examples can be given for other species of animal kingdom.

Take an oyster. When a grain of sand gets into an oyster it has a liability within it because this grain of sand can kill it. The oyster quickly gets to working and wriggles strongly to expel the grain of sand from its body. Its brain is only one-millionth, as small as a pinhead but its instinct tells it to throw the liability out. However, when it knows that it cannot throw the grain of sand out, it turns that big liability into its asset. It clamps it down, closes up, polishes the grain of sand and converts it into a precious pearl.

An ant carrying a small straw into its hole meets a crevice, which it cannot cross so it puts the straw across the crevice, and continues its journey. It never gives up but turns its liability into its asset.

I have given you many reasons to overcome your problems and difficulties and these should enable you to see clearly what is holding you back from progress. Whatever you do but remember what Mathew 7:7 says,

“Ask, and it shall be given,

Seek, and ye shall find,

Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lecture Twenty-Three

WHAT IS HOLDING YOU BACK?

A few of my scholar friends have said that we all are born with the world’s most powerful and unique tool, our brain that can be switched on to perform miracles for us. However, many individuals, homes and schools have managed to develop only a limited part of our brain. We can do a lot more by reading, listening, writing, playing, singing, drawing, thinking and doing.

Despite the above knowledge we all know that there are a few barriers in our lives that hold us back from progress. What is holding you back? I can give you a few of these for your consideration. Let us call them UPS. The first one is your Hang Ups. These are the excuses for your inertia. Your Hang Ups can be many but let me outline a few of them.

I am too old to do this work. I do not have good education for this job. I do not have any money for good living. I am the victim of racial discrimination. I cannot do this work because I am a woman.

These are our lame excuses and silly reasons. The best thing is to get out of your hang-ups and get determined to give every work a try with your best effort. Remember that no one is good at everything. You need to do a lot of reading, listening and practicing to get rid of your hang-ups.

We all have the talent, our individual uniqueness, our drive, passion and personality to excel at something but we must find that something soon. If we are not able to find that something then we are faced with our second barrier called our Bang Ups. These are once upon a time jolts, difficulties and problems that we have had in our past. These Bang Ups become our greatest hurdles because we fail to forget them and they keep on bothering us. In fact such one-time problems cannot and will not affect us always if we are determined to forget them.

What I am saying is that we should not let one of our old-time setbacks, defeats, failures and problems bother us and become our bang ups. How can such small one-time difficulty or old hurts make such a big noise and frighten us forever? We cannot let such slight bang ups of our life hold our progress.

I have heard some people say such foolish things as: “I will never get married in my life because my first partner was not faithful, honest and sincere with me.” Well one person can deceive you but not necessarily the next one you meet. This world is full of other honest people. You only have to take a re-look at your choice.

I have also heard people utter such disappointing statements as, “ I will never trust any businessman because I was betrayed and deceived by a shopkeeper last year.” You may have had an unpleasant experience with one businessman in the past but that hurting situation cannot be enlarged out of proportion to become another of your bang ups, your loud cry of despair and your reason for holding up your progress.

Distasteful and damaging experiences do occur in our lives but we should never let them become our obstacles and hold us back from moving ahead. The least we can do is to avoid them and keeping marching ahead with additional determination with a hope that our next experience would be a lot better one for us.

In order to overcome and get rid of your bang ups you need to take your lessons from a canoe. A canoe will only take you across the stream if you took up the planks and began paddling the canoe. Only sitting down in the canoe and watching the water in the stream would not help you reach the other end. If you are a person who is easily disturbed by your bang ups then you must get up and do something positive to get over the problem. Learn to paddle your own canoe with greater strength and determination across the rough stream.

The famous English historian Thomas Carlyle wrote his first draft of the French Revolution and gave it to his neighbor John Stuart Mills to read and comment on it. After a week when Thomas Carlyle asked John Mills if he had any comments on the script, he was given a very sad story. John Mills said that he was sorry that his maid had used the scripts to start up the fire. All the labor of Carlyle was lost in the fire. Where would he get the energy to start again?

This was his bang up, his shock and his sorrow but one day Thomas Carlyle saw a mason constructing a brick wall, placing one brick at a time. He was immediately motivated to begin writing his draft again one page a day. When he finished the assignment it turned out to be better than the first try. His bang up could not hold him back from completing the book on French Revolution.

The third thing that holds people up is their Gang Ups. These are the various opposite forces that get together to oppose and go against us. During these tough times of stiff competition more than often our competitors, opponents and enemies have the tendency to get together and mount a program to defeat us and make things more difficult for us. This ganging up should not frighten us or it should not deter us or worry us to continue doing our work effectively and forge ahead as usual. These types of Gang Ups can drag us down if we are not careful and prepared to fight back with equal stamina.

Fighting competition is difficult and it requires a lot of strategic planning and courage. When our competitors get together and combine their forces to make us lose then we need to put up extra efforts to block these with additional opposing forces. The important thing is that we should not have any fears but face the opponents head-on and diplomatically.

A small merchant once operated a tiny grocery shop in the middle of a developing town. As part of commercial expansion on his left developed a huge up-market quality shopping complex and o his right came up a large department store. This small businessman was being crushed between the two giant commercial competitors.

On the day of opening, both the new competitors opened their doors with big banners that read “Grand Opening Sale”. The little merchant in the middle woke up in the morning and played it cool. He hung a sign over his doorway that read “Main Entrance”. This is how the little merchant overcame the ganging ups of the two large business people. He still felt that his little shop was the main entrance to the big world next door. So we all can beat the ganging up of others if we played it cool and are enthusiastic about what we do.

The fourth aspect that holds us up is our Rang Ups that we develop within us over the years. Our rang ups are our trophies, our prizes, our praises and our achievements. These are excellent medium for our personal human development but when we begin to think that we have had too many trophies, too many prizes, a lot of praise and tons of achievements in our life and we can now rest and slow down, then we begin to rust.

Best is not good enough during these difficult economic times because everyone expects a lot better results from us. After having a few victories, or winning some prizes we cannot say that we have had excellent results and have done our best so we stop working any harder. We cannot say, “I have reached my target” “ I have gone to the top of the ladder.”  “ I do not need to work harder any more.” This kind of attitude becomes our Rang Ups, which hold us back from progressing further.

We cannot afford to rest on our laurels. If we want to keep going towards our success we cannot think of retiring early. Only a few medals, awards, victories and prizes are not enough for us to be successful in life. If we want to stay on the bicycle of life then we have to keep paddling otherwise we are likely to fall down. Our wheelbarrow of life and work has to be lifted with a firm grip on the handles and pushed continuously.

No successful and enthusiastic person can afford to let the canoe of life and work wonder and float aimlessly in the sea of experience. We have to keep paddling our canoe efficiently.

If wishes were horses not only the beggars but we all would ride on them. Our wishes need to be made of sterner stuff and be positive and then with our solid actions we would be able to make them come true. If we wish to achieve success we have to keep working harder and harder. There is no room for a plateau or slow down after we have had one or two successes. Continuous enthusiasm is the answer to overcoming our Rang Ups. So let us learn to prune now and we would gather beautiful rose buds sooner than later.

There are peaks after every plateau and the one who keeps going to new heights witnesses multiple achievements. We cannot afford to be satisfied with a few of our achievements.

What should we do to overcome all these Rang Ups? There are five ideas of Ultra Positive Steps (UPS).

1.We must Wake Up! Come alive and snap the cords of laziness. Break the chain of lethargy. Wake up and go.

2.We must Make Up our minds and act decisively now. Do not delay our right actions. Do it now. Stop procrastinating.

3.We must Shake Up those negative thoughts and develop our positive mental attitude for peak performance.

4. We must Break Up all the obstacles. Shatter all the barriers to our progress.

5. We must Take Up all the crowning opportunities and achievements that are our destiny. Walk away with honors and strive for excellence.

When this happens then nothing should hold you back.

Lecture Twenty-Four

Being A Positive Thinker Makes Us Creative

Writers around the world have given us many ways to build positive mental attitude within us but I have developed my own nine great steps. These steps have assisted me to develop my positive mental attitude.

Step 1:

I try to say something positive to everyone I meet everyday no matter what the actual situation might be or how depressing the things are around me. Simple cheerful greetings and a smile goes a long way in building our positive mental attitude. Praising God for giving us a wonderful day, beautiful evening, bright and sunny morning and a happy moment can be an excellent start when we meet people. It is a wonderful day! What a beautiful evening! This is a great moment of happiness!  You are having great time!

Then genuine praise of people could produce very positive mental attitude.  Just say something positive to people you meet. You look smart today! Your hair do is very trendy this morning! You have a pretty dress! Great to see/meet you! You look very happy and energetic today!

Step 2:

I try to see everything positive everyday in every situation.  Just make a point of saying it out. That is an excellent comment. Your customer service is admirable today. Your help is very much appreciated. You played a good game today. He is making the best use of his time. This is good food. Sweet little baby!  Very economical car! Etc

If I can show my positive feelings with deep commitment and put it genuinely to people I interact with I would begin to see every problem of mine as my wonderful opportunity to get involved. All my difficulties would soon turn into smooth dealings and my joy would treble. This joy would certainly be pandemic.

Step 3:

I try to develop a strong habit to think that whatever I am going to do today would definitely work to my advantage. All my plans would materialize and I would be able to complete all my tasks and responsibilities in time and with pleasure. Everyone would appreciate the work that I would do today. My work would turn out to be a quality-loaded activity.

All such internal feelings that I produce would definitely spread quickly around me and make the whole atmosphere vibrate with positive mental attitude. I would generate pleasure in the mind of people I interact and come into contact with.

Step 4:

I nominate and appoint myself the leader of my own “Why Not Club”. I frequently ask this question to get my work done. Why am I not getting what I want? Why am I not able to succeed? If people around me are not able to help me or they are not able to give me what I want or need then I ask the question. Why not? Having got my answer I go and get it myself.

Step 5:

I activate every possible idea that comes into my mind with a DIN pin. DO IT NOW. There is no procrastination or no delay of action. If I want to achieve success then I know that there is no place for any delay and leaving the things till a later date.

Step 6:

I have learnt to practise positive expectations. I expect that everything would happen as my plan. If I were determined, things would be done as per my command and enthusiasm. There is no question of taking a defeatist attitude. I expect good results from all my efforts.

Step 7:

I practice, exercise and experience the power of positive persuasion. I persuade myself, my friends and my family members to take positive stance and actions. I count my blessings and not my troubles. To develop my power of persuasion I understand and use the BUT principle. If I say, “I cannot run” then I should find out what I can do, “But I can walk”.

“I cannot hear but I can see” is another example.

“I cannot talk well but I can write clearly.”

Step 8:

I have disciplined myself to become a positive reactionary. Life for me is 20% what happens to me and 80% how I react to what happens to me. Therefore my positive reaction is very important for me because my own positive reaction would make 80% of things happen, as I desire.

I found out that if my reaction to what is going to happen to me were positive then it is certain that it would happen, as I want it to happen.

Step 9:

I always keep my positive emotions charged and get it recharged as the need arises. These emotions generate fresh enthusiasm within me. We human beings are rhythmically creative creatures full of positive emotions such as faith, hope, love, trust, belief, courage, joy, security, cheerfulness, confidence and admiration. It is advisable to use these.

Remember to say to yourself “NO” when the conditions are not right for action.

Say “SLOW” when the time and conditions are against you.

Say, “GROW” when you are not ready and prepared to take an action.

Say, “GO” when everything is right for positive actions.

All these motivational suggestions depend on what kind of person you are. If you are a person who wants emotional fulfillment, is non-sharing, non caring, selfish and always ask questions like, “What is there for me?” or “Does it fit my plan?” This type of person would find it hard to bear any burden so they need to grow up.

On the other hand if you are a person who wants fulfillment in material things then even people become things for you. You have no emotions for other people. You need to grow up in different direction.

If you are a person who relates well to other people, gives service and wants to help others continuously and live for others by creating goodness for everyone then you are ready to go and take advantage of all the opportunities that lie ahead of you. We call you a mature person.

There is some aspect of each type in every person but we should aim to be the mature person. If this happens then a simple housewife becomes a homemaker; a lover becomes a good partner; a lawyer becomes a counselor; a teacher becomes a personality builder; a doctor becomes a healer of people; a salesperson becomes a supplier of human needs; a businessman becomes a job opportunity creator and a capitalist becomes a builder of better society. Everyone can become that mature person.

Creative living is hard and trying but interesting. It turns a mature person into a great performer. Greatness for them means trying to be great. Confidence gives birth to creativity in every person. So let us become what nature wanted us to do by growing up and achieving higher results in as many things as possible.

We must learn to be free and knowledge allows us to get freedom. In order to develop the right knowledge we seek the company of six honest serving words- WHAT, WHY, WHEN, WHERE, WHO and HOW. When we frequently ask questions using these honest words we get helpful answers for our personal development.

Sound knowledge would take away our fear of making mistakes and our progress would be deeper and stronger. Gradually we can get the courage to leave the wharf to sail out to our destination with definite objectives. We jump the hurdles of fear and doubt to nourish our self-image and begin to demand results from ourselves. We promise a lot but deliver even more.

I want to leave you with this presentation that requires no further explanation.

Bill Gates’ Rules on Life for Kids of Any Age

Love him or hate him, he sure hits the nail on the head with this! To anyone with kids of any age, here's some advice.

Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did NOT teach, and kids will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try cleaning the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

If you agree, take note. If you can read this - Thank a teacher!

Remember that everyone is potentially talented but in different ways and different fields. No one knows everything but let us try to widen our knowledge so that we can be a force to reckon with in the community. The greatest learning tool is the web when we can use the search engines such as Goggle to be up to date in any field.

Let me finish off by telling you that the best three-letter word in any learner’s dictionary is ASK. So you have to ask everyone around you to enrich your life.

Good Luck.