Prozac for angels

Let me tell you a quick story. When I started my business in 1993, I faced all the challenges experienced by most new business start-ups. I also had to deal with the all the negative situations; the people who said – “The Speaking and Training business is a hard market to break into, it’s very competitive, you’re very brave! There was also the rejection from potential customers and the people who’d let me down at the last minute.

I quickly realised that if I was going to be successful, there were two things that I really needed. Lots of BRAIN ENERGY and lots of BODY ENERGY.

Sure-fire tip number 1 is – Build your Brain Energy.
Imagine that you’ve just been rejected for a bank loan, or you’ve just been turned down by a potential customer, or a publishing company has rejected the book that you’ve slaved over for the past couple of years.
If you react with – “Oh no, not again, I’m really fed up with this. These people are a real pain. They’re making a big mistake. What am I going to do now?”
This sort of reaction drains your brain of energy, adds to your stress levels and destroys your self motivation.

Reacting drains the brain – thinking less so.

Get the thinking part of your brain working and say to yourself – “I’ll make an appointment today with a better bank! I’ll phone the next potential customer on my list right now! The next publishing company will see the potential in my book!”
There are also many minor situations that happen every day that’ll drain the energy from your brain. If I receive a parking ticket, I pay the fine right away; get rid of it; forget it and move on. Moaning and complaining about it drains the brain and the fine still has to be paid.

Do not, and I repeat, do not say – “Oh no, what am I going to do now?” Every time you say – “Oh no” your brain has a huge drain of energy.
Build up your brain energy using lots positive self-talk.
Your level of success in terms of your happiness, emotional wellbeing and anything else you desire is a direct result of how you talk to yourself. The most important relationship you’ll ever have is the one you have with yourself.
Listen to the self-talk that goes on in your head and ask yourself – “Is what I’m saying allowing me to be confident, on top and going for it?” If so – great!
“Or is it holding me back and stopping me achieve my goals?” If this is the case – STOP IT, change the program!
Think about the things you say to yourself and make every statement in the present tense.

Don’t say, for example – “I’m going to make a success of this business” or “I’m going to get organised,” or “I’m going to be much more confident.”
Say – “I am totally in control of my life. I am totally confident and positive. I’m achieving my goals. I have determination and drive.”
What you’re actually doing here is re-programming your subconscious. If you talk to yourself in a positive way, that’s what your subconscious will focus on and you’ll have lots of brain energy

Sure-fire tip number 2 is – Build your Body Energy
The body and the brain are linked together so when the brain drains of energy so does the body. However, the body also does a lot of running about, up and down off the seat and often takes a bit of a beating.
For it to work well, it needs to be in good condition in the first place. We all know by now that if we eat too much or eat the wrong things, smoke too much or drink too much alcohol, then our body is in danger of breaking down.
However, if you want more body energy, then you’re going to have to do some exercise. (Do I hear you saying – “I need the body energy before I can do the exercise!?”) You know as well as I, that if you take more exercise, you will have more energy.

Now I know you think you don’t have the time. You may also be the type that doesn’t want to go to the gym and lift heavy things or leap about in an aerobics class; however, you need to take some exercise that makes you sweat a little.
I’m sorry, but a round of golf doesn’t count, it isn’t the kind of exercise you need. Golf is great and it’s good for the stress but it doesn’t make you sweat.

If you’re going to walk then walk fast for a distance, enough to push up the heart rate and increase the breathing.
Again, get your internal program right and start to think how you can make your exercise enjoyable. I see some people at the health club making the whole business a real chore. They get on a bike or a rowing machine and try to kill themselves for twenty minutes. If that’s your thing then fine but please don’t make it a chore, plug into the sound system and catch up with what’s on TV.

If you’re really not into exercise then please make sure you have other activities outside of your workplace and make them fun. Too many people are going home and slumping in front of the TV – successful people don’t do that.

Make no mistake about it; if you look after the body and the brain; you’ll have lots of VROOM! (And that’s another word for self-motivation)

Successful companies often see a sudden rise in the number of people leaving them. Employees often leave a good company for a better one, and competition is high in the market place today. If your company is losing a lot of its trusted employees, you need to re think about the motivation factors in affect at the work place. Keeping your employees satisfied does not necessarily mean that you would have to spoil them or let them be lazy. Here are a few ideas to help keep the employees happy, while getting the work done at the same time:
1. Have a little fun at the work place!

You need to understand that maybe your employees are under a lot of pressure to perform at work, and maybe it is the high pressure that causes some of them to throw the towel in and leave. Adding a little bit of fun at the office may just encourage the workers to be a little more at peace with the environment in which they work. You could create breaks where everybody forgets work for a few minutes. At other times, you may see employees sharing a quick joke, and it is better not to discourage that. A happy employee will do a lot of work in a smaller period of time than an unhappy one being forced to sit at his desk and not move from there.
2. Treat your employees on a personal level.

Very often there are misunderstandings at the work place, and being the boss you could sort them out the best, provided you know every employee on an individual basis. Misunderstandings are often the result of poor communication, and knowing each worker on a personal level can help you see where a misunderstanding could have happened.
3. Give Incentives and Bonuses.

This goes a long way in making the work place more effective. Just make sure you do not have favorites who you just need a reason to reward – that is more destructive to the other employees than not giving bonuses at all.
4. Respect the expertise that an employee may have.

If someone is an expert at his own area, he really doesn’t like being told how to get the job done. So, try and not interfere with the methods employed. Instead, concern yourself only with the results that are achieved.
You may well want to add to this list of how you could make the work place an enjoyable place to be in for the employees as well as for you your self. Remember, there is no harm done with a little bit of a casual atmosphere, as long as work goes on smoothly.

The word encouragement emanates from the Latin word Cor, meaning heart. It means to give courage, confidence or hope. Having courage is having the ability to disregard fear and to be brave. The easiest way to be brave and fearless is to listen to and follow your heart. To further your level of success you must establish a system for self-encouragement.

Pursue activities that you feel passionate about.

Performing activities that you enjoy and that are fulfilling will help you to build momentum toward your life of EASE. As mentioned in Step Three of the Creating Your Life of EASE chapter, in the Activate your Life Book, it is the feelings that achieving your goals will give you that make them fulfilling in the first place. The most important aspect of establishing your system for encouragement is to focus your attention on the feelings that achieving your ideal life will give you. There is no point performing activities that do not make you feel compelled to perform them. You will know if the activity is correct for you by instinct and by the feelings you get when you perform them. Before setting any goal or performing any activity, ask yourself the following questions:

Why do I want to achieve this goal?

What is the underlying feeling it will give me?

What does this mean to me?

Is this feeling compelling enough to maintain my motivation in the long term?

Self-acknowledgement

An excellent way to encourage yourself, and to become more aware of your progress, is to acknowledge yourself for your achievements. Often we get caught up in the things that we havent achieved in our lives, which take our focus away from what is really happening.

If you are struggling to see any personal progress I recommend writing a list of everything you have achieved in your life. This will very quickly give you a different perspective on your life and the progress you are making toward your goals.

Perhaps the best way to acknowledge yourself is to reward yourself every time you achieve a significant goal. Rewarding yourself builds motivation and confidence. Each time you achieve a goal, CELEBRATE! You deserve it!

Rewards also close-off the energy that was created while moving toward the goal. If you dont acknowledge yourself for achieving a goal, it will actually become unfinished business and, even though you have achieved it, some past energy will be stored thus not making 100% of your energy available in the present.

Design a list of rewards that you can give yourself for achieving your goals. These could be tangible rewards such as a dinner out with friends, a new piece of clothing, a pampering day at the spa or a well-earned holiday, or intangible rewards such as feelings. You will notice, as you begin to achieve your goals, that the feelings of achieving the goal are often the greatest rewards. The feelings of strong self-confidence, self-belief and heightened self-worth that come with achieving your goals are priceless.

Self-appreciation

Another excellent way of encouraging yourself is to have gratitude for all of the things you have in your life. Often we get caught up in the negative things or the things that we dont have or dont want in our lives, and this takes our focus away from all the positive things that we do have.

If you are struggling to find the positives about yourself, I recommend keeping a pen and paper beside your bed, and each night before you go to sleep writing down everything that happened during the day that you are grateful for. Within no time you will have a very different perspective on yourself, your life and the things and people in it.

Accountability and support group

Identifying key people in your life that you can share your vision of an ideal life with and asking them for their encouragement and support to help you to achieve it is a great way to encourage yourself. Even better, why not all support each other and form an EASE creation group, where you meet regularly to discuss your goals and vision for your life of EASE. In doing this you will not only encourage each other and feel supported, but you will also keep each other accountable to follow through on your plans.

List the people you would like to have in your EASE creation group.

If you follow just one or two of the suggestions in this article I guarantee you will start to build a greater sense of internal motivation which can only lead to you achieving all of your goals in a lot easier fashion.

“Being an elite performer on the playing field of life is not about being perfect. Rather, it is about cultivating a mental focus towards mastery in every area of your life. It is about committing yourself, from the core of your heart, to manifest and polish your highest talents and become the person you are destined to be.”
Robin S. Sharma