What’s different because I was here? 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself
Notes from the Philosopher’s notes version of ‘100 Ways to Motivate Yourself – Change Your Life Forever’ by Steve Chandler
There was an interesting motivational talk given by former Dallas Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson to his football players before the 1993 Super Bowl:
I told them that if I laid a 2×4 plank across the room, everybody there would walk across it and not fall, because our focus would be that we were going to walk across that board, but if I put that same 2×4 plank up 10 stories high between two buildings … only a few would make it because the focus would be on “falling”.
Focus is everything.
Johnson told his team not to be distracted by the crowd, the media, or the possibility of losing, but to focus on each play of the game itself just as if it were a good practice session.
The Cowboys won the game 52-17.
Once we get the picture of who we want to be, “definitely planned work” is the next step on the path. Definitely planned work inspires the energy of purpose. Without it, we’re short on intention. We don’t know where we’re going or what we’re up to.
“It is impossible to work with a definite sense of purpose and be depressed at the same time. Carefully planned work will motivate you to do more and worry less.”
Are you feeling depressed? Know that, it’s *impossible* to work with a definite sense of purpose and be depressed at the same time.
The news is not the news. It is the bad news. If we realized exactly how much vulgar, pessimistic, and manipulative negativity was deliberately packed into every daily newspaper and most television shows and Hollywood movies, we would resist the temptation to flood our brains with their garbage. Unfortunately, the news that “shocks” us is what sells.
“Replace worry with action. Don’t worry. Or rather, don’t just worry. Let worry change into action. When you find yourself worrying about something, ask yourself the action question, “What can I do about this right now?” And then do something. Anything. Any small thing.
I once came up with a system for action that helped turn my worrying habits completely around. I would list the five things that I was worried about-perhaps they were four projects at work and the fifth was my son’s trouble he was having with a certain teacher. I would then decide to spend five minutes on each problem doing something, anything.
“We do not sing because we are happy, we are happy because we sing.”
If you want to be enthusiastic, you can get there by acting as if you were already enthusiastic. Sometimes it takes a minute. Sometimes it skips a beat. But it always works if you stay with it
It’s hard to stay motivated when you’re confused. When you simplify your life, it gathers focus. The more you can focus your life, the more motivated it gets.
Fear of doing it can only be cured by doing it.
One hour of planning saves three hours of execution.
When we leave this world, we will ask ourselves one question: What’s different? What’s different because I was here? And the answer to that question will be the difference that we made
100 Ways to Motivate Yourself, Chandler, Steve, Career Press, 2004
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