What is the best way to stay focused and motivated?

Stephen Lindquist asked this question in the LinkedIn Group:

"I am interested in getting into consulting, blogging and Ebay selling. What is the best way to stay focused and motivated in trying something new without getting negative or discouraged?"

So I decided to write this post to answer his question.

There are several ways to stay focused in our goals, and the most efficient I know is to get enough reasons to stay focused. Jim Rohn said many times that is breakthrough was when his mentor told him "Jim, you don't need more potential or talent to became successful, you already have enough potential and enough talent, what you need is more reasons!". For you to understand this statement I will give you a couple of examples, imagine that someone in your family is dying from cancer and in order to save him you would need to get a substantial amount of money, what would you do? Or if someone called you and told you "I've got your daughter, and if you don't get me a million dollars within a month I will kill her." I guess that in both this situations you would do anything in your power to get the necessary amount of money. The good news is that you don't need to get in this kind of situations to be successful, to get what you want. What you need is to get yourself in that kind of mindset. Napoleon Hill in his book Think and Grow Rich, explains very well how to get in that kind of mindset, and instead of me trying to explain it, I will leave you his own words:

"The method by which DESIRE for riches can be transmuted into its financial equivalent, consists of six definite, practical steps, viz:

First. Fix in your mind the exact amount of money you desire. It is not sufficient merely to say "I want plenty of money." Be definite as to the amount. (There is a psychological reason for definiteness which will be described in a subsequent chapter).

Second. Determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the money you desire. (There is no such reality as "something for nothing.)

Third. Establish a definite date when you intend to possess the money you desire.

Fourth. Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire, and begin at once, whether you are ready or not, to put this plan into action.

Fifth. Write out a clear, concise statement of the amount of money you intend to acquire, name the time limit for its acquisition, state what you intend to give in return for the money, and describe clearly the plan through which you intend to accumulate it.

Sixth. Read your written statement aloud, twice daily, once just before retiring at night, and once after arising in the morning. AS YOU READ-- SEE AND FEEL AND BELIEVE YOURSELF ALREADY IN POSSESSION OF THE MONEY."

This will get you in the kind of certainty necessary to keep you focused. Certainty is the holly grail between someone taking action or not. One word, certainty! When someone is absolutely certain, "if I do this I will get this result, and that result is going to change my life", you will do it. On the other hand, if you think that is not going to work, than you are not going to do it.

Ok, once you have done this and you are certain that you are going to achieve your goals, your dream, how the hell are you actually going to achieve them!? The answer is very simple "BREAK IT DOWN!", if the task seems to big or to difficult to be fulfilled, break it down! Imagine that you have a goal to write a 400 pages book in a year, and you have never written anything in your life, at first this task seems almost impossible, but now imagine that you have to write a page and a quarter everyday, it already seems more manageable (you can actually do this in this site), and if a page and a quarter seems to much for you, think of writing a paragraph every couple hours. Do one thing a day, one subject a week to make progress to your goal.

If something does not work, change it! Change your approach, change your methods, until you get the result you wanted. There are no failures, you cannot fail and you never fail, you always success to get a result, it may not be the result you expected, but it's a result anyway, and you learn from it and then you try it a different way to get a new result. The key here is to keep going, keep trying, never stop, don't give up! As Anthony Robbins uses to say:

"The truth of the matter is that there's nothing you can't accomplish if:

1. You clearly decide what it is that you're absolutely committed to achieving, 
2. You're willing to take massive action, 
3. You notice what's working or not, and 
4. You continue to change your approach until you achieve what you want, using whatever life gives you along the way."

Concluding, in order for you to succeed in achieving your goals:

1. You must have enough reasons for achieving them, if you don't have enough reasons go get then, otherwise you will fail.
2. Make a plan for achieving your goals, define when and how you are going to achieve it, be specific.
3. Break your plan into tiny, achievable tasks, that you can do every day
4. Measure your progress to success and change your plan accordingly whenever necessary

Have a wonderful day,
R.