If this the predicament that you are facing, you may be interested in hiring the services of a professional life coach, who would be of tremendous help in directing you in your mission to attain the goals that you have firmly fixed in your mind.

Life coaching, these days, has turned into a booming profession due to the urgent demand for counselors to assist people involved in business and various other careers. Nonetheless, a professional life coach also operates in other fields such as alcoholism, addiction, psychology, jobs, relationships, therapy, and various other fields.

Life coaching is something like a partnership that is present between you and the coach.

Now, what actually is this partnership?

This partnership is concerned with your personal way of life with which the life coach assists you and the way in which you can relate to it. Go to motivational speaker for more information.

It would be a good idea if you were able to hire a professional life coach, with whom you are on close terms. You can rely on professional life coaches. On the other hand, soliciting assistance from a well-known life coach does not guarantee you success. You need to reflect on the kind of assistance that you require and balance that against the credential of the potential life coach. Check out the competency levels of the professional life coach. To assist you with this task, the following can be borne in mind:

A great professional life coach delves into your principles, your viewpoints, your ambitions, and your objectives. Life coaching establishes the fact that it is an extremely noteworthy session since it delineates your position with regard to your professional and personal roles. Professional life coaches normally conduct the sessions via the telephone with the duration of each session on life coaching being 45 minutes.

However, they are clients, who may convince their life coaches to give a more personalized contact, and may be entitled to face to face sessions, or even group sessions.

A further area concerning life coaching is the internet where some life coaches conduct their sessions online. Now, these professional life coaches are skilled in the fields of psychology, therapy, human resource, social working, education, and many more specializations.

Wherever you prefer the session to take place, you need to get in touch with someone who is able to extract the very best from you. Be careful on whom you invest your money in, and ensure your investment gives rise to fantastic returns. Obviously, these professional life coaches will tend to charge you for services rendered.

Life coaches make you realize that the luck factor should not be blindly relied upon. Further, you are informed that your apprehensions should not bog you down and prevent you from moving ahead. You may put forward numerous queries to the life coach, request for useful strategies, which will help you make profitable investments, put ideas into practice, and concentrate on your objectives.

Loosen up your defenses, stop thinking about your negativity, release your resentment, and in its place, start on a new note and learn to live an improved, satisfied, and blissful life not just for this day but forever. Maintain a sense of balance between your professional and personal life. You definitely can bring this about. Your professional life coach can assist you in your endeavor. Visit Life Coach Author for more information.

It does not have to be that way because we all have complete control over the way we think and feel (whether you believe that or not!) and can regain control by using a variety of methods, one I recommend is affirmations.

Negative self-talk can be a roadblock to doing your best, pursuing your dreams, and enjoying life. On the other hand, positive self-talk – especially when using positive affirmations – can spur you on to do great things and live an exciting life full of passion!
Using affirmations can change how you think about yourself and how you view the world around you. These positive statements can bring you the motivation you seek, as well as happiness, joy, and passion.

When you are feeling negative or down, repeating affirmations can immediately improve your mood. Even though affirmations can work immediately do not think of them as a quick fix. Positive affirmations are most effective in the long-term so you can get what you deeply desire out of life.

When you use affirmations, you are literally reprogramming the way you think. You replace your negative self-talk and doubts with positive, motivating thoughts. Eventually, these positive thoughts become reality.

These motivational affirmations work because they push away the negative thoughts that are limiting you day in and day out. You can leave your negative thinking in the past if you fill your current thoughts with positive, motivational affirmations. Go to motivational speaker for more information.

Before you know it these positive affirmations will become second nature allowing you to change your life systematically, one thought at a time. Here are ten motivational affirmations you can use to improve your mood:

1. I welcome positive energy and I use that feeling to accomplish more.
2. I use my energy to live my life to the fullest.
3. No matter what I’m working on, I’m always committed to completing my goal.
4. I trust my thought processes. They are clear and I am very capable.
5. I can find my own intrinsic motivator.
6. No matter how hard I may fall, I get back up, dust myself off, and forge on.
7. No matter the challenge, I will see it through.
8. I enjoy being responsible for my actions.
9. My life is full of purpose, exciting chang, and many recognized deeds.
10. By commemorating the smallest nuggets of success I am motivated to complete the larger tasks.

Use this list of affirmations in those moments of frustration or self-doubt to help you find the motivation you need to continue. Repeat them in the morning when you first wake up, or make them your last thoughts at night before you sleep.

Add your own energy into them by making them your own, change the words or add to them. Affirmations are far more powerful when you create them for yourself because they have special meaning for you. It doesn’t matter where you get them, as long as they speak to your heart and are focused on the present.

We all need a motivational boost from time to time. Now you don’t have to look to other people or situations to keep you moving forward. Keep your affirmation list updated with the thoughts you’d like to be thinking, repeat your affirmations several times a day, and soon you will easily be able to command and master your emotions rather than having them control you. Visit motivational speaker for more information.

A motivational speaker, instead of focusing on the financial gains that he or she will most probably get from these seemingly “needy” people, should focus his or her attention to actually motivating people to actually be the best that they can be through their sheer motivation to change their lives for the better that is actually inspired by such a speaker.

A motivational speaker is, most often rather should be seen as, an expert, the one person who “normal people” can rely on when it comes to instilling positive thinking in them as well as providing them not just the answers that they want to hear but the answers that they would actually need and eventually help them with their lives. Speakers are actually regarded quite highly by the people who depend on them for the “answers.”

A good motivational speaker should exude confidence (not cockiness!) by being extremely knowledgeable as compared to most people, even one’s own colleagues about a specific topic. This is what makes speakers highly in-demand especially when organizers are trying to set-up an event or a seminar that aims to educate people about a certain topic. However, a motivational speaker shouldn’t just rely on book smarts to be able to help him or her throughout his or her motivational speaker career. Various experiences can actually help enrich a speaker’s expertise and knowledge about a certain topic. This is actually that will serve the speaker on a positive note considering that the audience during seminars actually want real affirmations of what the speaker is trying to teach them. People who are in doubt need the actual proof for them to be able to motivate themselves to believe. Go to Life Coach for more information.

For those who are aspiring to become a motivational speaker, here are a few reminders from public speaking experts that you should know before actually pursuing your dream as a motivational speaker as well as being able to get the attention of the people and companies who might want to get your services :

*First and foremost, for you to be able to motivate other people and get them out of the rut that they’re in, you must have a pleasant-sounding, clear and well-modulated voice. The type of voice that a speaker should have so as to be able to command attention. This is incredibly important because as a motivational speaker, or any kind of public speaker for that matter, you must be able to get a hold of your audience’s attention and make them believe in what they’re saying (this is NOT to say that you should “brainwash” your audience into doing something that are already against their will and moral standards based on what non believers of adhering to a public speakers advice). Still, having a good voice cannot assure you of a career as a motivational speaker.

You must also have the added charisma, charm, intellect, wit and sense of humor that can make people irresistibly drawn to you. Also try to brush up on current events or whatever new information that you may see as “relevant’ to your speeches. Relating your talk to present events or things that of interest to your audience would help capture your audience’s interests more.

*As a responsible motivational speaker, you must always keep in mind that you should value your audience because these are the people who actually took the time (and money) to be able to hear out on what you’ve got to say with regards to the topic on hand. This should actually motivate you to actually showing up on the venue on time, properly dressed and groomed as well as very much prepared for your talk. A good motivational speaker should know that people actually come to these seminars to learn new things from you and not just hear about rehashed material. They expect you, the motivational speaker, to be able to supply them with the information that they’re looking for, so always be prepared.

These are just a few tips to help you get started on being a motivational speaker. Remember, when it comes to holding your audience attention you must always be yourself. Be natural in your gestures. Absolutely no pretensions because people are incredibly smart and they can actually see through those who are just putting up a front. Visit Author for further information.

Thousands of small business owners and managers turn to coaches every day to improve their personal skills and business results. You can, too. But first you have to determine if you’re ready for coaching. Then you have to select the right coach.

Are you Ready?

Rosa started her business out of her home. She made money, but not as much as she felt she should. She was frustrated that she couldn’t find time for her family. That’s when a friend suggested that a small business coach would help. For more information refer to motivational speaker

That’s a typical situation. Most small businesses owners don’t start out using a coach. They usually come to coaching when they’ve had some success and when they know they could have more. They usually come to coaching when they’re ready to listen and when they need a little knowledge and a little nudge to do the right things.

The best coaching in the world won’t help you if you’re not ready to be helped. So before you go hunting for a good small business coach, answer the following questions.

Are you ready to listen to the things you need to hear? A good coach will ask you about things you haven’t thought of and push you to think outside the box. That’s often scary.

A good coach may also tell you to change the way you do some things. That’s hard for many small business owners because it means admitting that you’ve made some bad decisions and choices.

Are you ready to take a hard look at your business? Even the best coach can’t help you if your business can’t deliver quality to enough people at the right price. Sometimes a business simply can’t succeed because the market is too small or too hard to reach.

Are you ready to pay the price? Coaching does not come without a price. You will pay a price in both money and time. You may even realize that you need to invest in new things for your business.

Coaching is not a magic bean. You have to work at success every day. I tell my clients that ?€œsuccess is based on persistency and consistency, not magic.”

You’re ready for coaching if you see coaching as an investment in yourself and your success. Your next challenge is to find the right coach for you.

Choosing the Coach for You

Great coaches, like great chefs and great football players, are rare. And, sometimes, even a great coach is not the right coach for you. Here are some ways to evaluate coaches. Go to Life Coach for more information.

Look for a coach who’s run a small business. Before I started coaching I built two successful small businesses. I’ve really “been there and done that” so I know what my clients are going through.

I also use coaches myself. The ones that work best for me have small business experience. Small businesses are different from big businesses and you need a coach who understands the special challenges.

Look for a coach who’s been doing it for a while. My job as a coach is to help you know what to do, but it’s also to help you do what you know. It takes time to learn to coach well.

Look for a coach who won’t nickel and dime you to death. It seems to me that there are two kinds of coaches when it comes to billing. There are coaches who charge you by the minute, hour or session. And there are coaches who are always accessible or available for short conversations between sessions, if needed without piling on extra charges. I find the latter works better for my clients.

Look for a coach that you’re comfortable with. Successful outcomes demand a productive relationship between you and your coach. It won’t work if you feel talked down to or belittled or if you feel like your coach doesn’t care about you. If you feel any of those things, look for a different coach.

Look for a coach who’s picky. The best coaches are selective about the kind of clients they work with. We expect a lot of our clients and we limit the number of clients we work with so we can concentrate on helping each one succeed.

After some soul searching and some research Rosa started working with a small business coach. It wasn’t always easy, but together they found ways to help Rosa’s business grow and help her reap the benefits of success. They took her business and life to a whole new level.

It can happen for you, too. If you’re ready, if you’re willing to embrace change and if you’re willing to pay the price, a small business coach can help you become an amazing success story. Visit Author for further information.

Literally speaking, motivation is based on the word “motivus” which is a Latin term that denotes a moving cause. It is the element that pushes an individual to take action or initiate change. It is the one that keeps an individual to get going.

To best explain the importance of motivation and how it affects the behavior of a certain individual, you should look into this article and discover the whole story of motivation theory.

There are many motivation theories that were conceptualized on account of giving people a vivid picture of what motivation is and how important it is to be motivated. Here are some of the theories of motivation that you should take into account.

Consistency Theory

The consistency theory is based on the principle that people need some form of regularity and control in their lives. It is very important to have consistency for the reason that it is the key element that binds everything as one. Being consistent is necessary not only because it holds everything together but also because it drives people to reach that standard level of stability in this world.

Self-discrepancy Theory

This theory deals with the human self-esteem and how it is affected by the dealings with cognitive elements of the self. People are encouraged to have that sense of consistency depending on their point of views or how they perceive things. This sometimes led to some problems because people have different expectations. This is evident when people don’t get what they wanted for example you want to win the first prize for the essay writing contest but you end up on the 3rd place. You feel dissatisfied and depressed for you don’t get what you like to achieve. Refer to motivational speaker for more information.

Reactance Theory

Reactance theory is based on the notion that when people don’t feel comfortable and they think that they can do what they want, they experience a bad feeling. This bad feeling is known as reactance. When they feel this, they will be motivated to do what they were threatened to do, which is a sign that their freedom has not been suppressed.

Goal-setting Theory

The goal-setting theory implies that people set goals for themselves. But you see setting goals for yourself is more effective unlike when other people set your goals. This is because people are more encouraged to fulfill the goals that they have set for themselves for it’s based on what they believe.

Acquired Needs Theory

The theory of acquired needs explains that needs may vary depending on people’s experiences and these needs may change as time goes by. This theory is also referred to as the Three-Need Theory or Learned Need Theory. Generally, the needs of the people are classified into three. These are the achievement, affiliation and power.

On the whole, understanding all the theories of motivation can be a great help to you especially when it comes to harnessing your leadership skills. Motivation is a very important ingredient in the success of every individual. Without it, your life will not be bright. Visit motivational speaker for further information.

The reluctance to include team building in the day to day running of a business and the employees within is often down to one of tow things; a complete lack of knowledge and understanding or a misunderstanding of the knowledge they do have.

For many the words ‘team building’ mean very little in the context of their place of employment. They think of football teams or some other such sporting activity. Team building to them means ‘The Premiership’ transfer market with vast amount of money changing hands. They cannot see how team building could possibly relate to their office or shop job.

To many others the term conjures up images of a bunch of reluctant office workers giving up their weekend to be marched across a wet and windy area of the Cotswolds by a retired Sergeant Major., all in the name of team building. Again this is completely wrong.

Team building and team building exercises are as important to any business as employing the right people. So much of business today relies on good relationships and communication due to the competitive nature of the world we live in. If your staff is not part of a strong unit that has good working relationships within it and cannot communicate successfully then how can you expect to bring in the best business possible?

Team building has several aims and each is linked to the running of a successful business.

Motivation – Without a good feeling about what you are doing you cannot perform to the best of your ability. This can be achieved in many ways using goals and incentives. Refer to Motivational Consultants for more information.

Communication – People work best when they clearly understand what they are doing, but also why they are doing it. Communication is important at every stage and is vital to achievement and success.

Imagination & Creativity – One of the biggest aims of any team building exercise should be to allow room and scope for creative thinking. Often a task will be completed but not necessarily in the quickest, most productive or appropriate way. Allowing the opportunity to contribute different ideas, often highly unusual ideas, can produce unexpected but important approaches to problem solving.

Improving Leadership Skills – Without good leadership a team of people is not really a team at all, it’s just a group of people performing tasks. Leadership can come in many forms and doesn’t have to be a case of cracking the whip; in fact good leadership is the opposite of that. Leadership is the ability to co-ordinate and manage people in situations where problems need to be overcome in achieving a common goal.

Time Management – Given enough time most things can be done. Unfortunately time is a precious commodity and we never seem to have enough of it. Team building teaches effective time management and helps identify where time is being wasted and how to use it properly.

There was a time when the Sergeant Major image of a team building weekend wasn’t too far removed from the truth, but those days are long gone. Team building exercises are just as likely to take place in a sporting venue or restaurant as they are on a mountain or in a classroom. There are now so many different approaches to team building and whatever approach suits you there will be an appropriate team building venue and exercise.

Whatever route you choose to take it is important that you come away from the experience feeling positive and encouraged. Visit Motivational Speaker for further information.

And the interesting thing about that “spell” is that once you genuinely like this speaker, you naturally are open to his presentation, you listen more attentively and you are more open to suggestion if the speaker is driving to a point.

So as you prepare to begin doing some public speaking, its natural to want to know how to make that spell work for you. We all have a natural feeling of insecurity or inferiority and we worry that the audience will not like us and our presentation will go badly.

So you wonder if that speaker just naturally more likeable than you or did he use some public speaking magic to make the audience like him.

The answer is twofold. First, no, that public speaker is not more likeable than you. That is just your insecurity talking to you and you need to tell that insecurity to take a hike because it is not going to do you a bit of good becoming a better public speaker.

And secondly, yes there is something that public speaker knows to make his or her audience like them but no, it isn’t magic at all. It is something anyone who stands in front of a crowd can use and it will work every time.

The secret really isn’t very complicated at all. You just have to learn to like the audience. That may seem simple but buried in that idea is a powerful principle of psychology. When you step in front of a crowd and you have trained yourself to like them, it comes out in every aspect of your posture and the way you behave.

You will smile more, make eye contact and actually find yourself wanting to interact with them during the course of your presentation.

Now don’t be concerned if your speech or presentation is not interactive in a dialog sort of way. But if you have spoken to a small group before, you know that there is a lot of interaction going on even during a one way speech. Refer to Keynote Speaker for more information.

That speaker who charmed you that day with that “magic” knows that interaction goes on all the time. As you speak, you get feedback in the form of body language and facial expressions that let you know how you are doing.

And by starting out with a fundamental warmth and affectionate relationship with an audience, that feedback is warm and affectionate as well and that only makes the presentation more of a success.

The trick to learning to like your audience lies in looking for good reasons to like them. We use the word “trick” for a good reason.’ Any reason to like them will do.

You don’t have to like every individual in the audience. You might like the clothing they are wearing or the faces of individuals in the audience. You might like certain ones you know or a few you met and found a chemistry with early on.

You can even like a crowd just because you find a few in that group attractive. By focusing on the ones you like, your warmth toward them will spread to the rest of the audience as you speak.

Before long you will have that crowd in the palm of your hand and using that magic spell to make your presentation a success. Then you will remember this little “trick”. And you will use it often for public speaking success every time. Visit Keynote Speaker for further information.

You may not know exactly how you can motivate someone, but you may want to think about the person’s feelings before you try to give them a heart-felt push. You do not want to sound nagging when you are only trying to be encouraging. It is easy to give someone your opinion, however, it’s not always so easy trying to figure how to say it.

The first tip on how to motivate others is to take out the negative and reinforce a positive note. You do not want to sound like you are tearing into your friend or loved one. You just want to give them some support to go for the things that they enjoy.

If you are dealing with someone who seems to have no direction, you may want to think about asking him or her questions about their future. Support begins with a nice long chat and if you two can understand each other, then you two should be able to have a good solid and strong relationship needed to motivate.

The second tip is to listen. When you are being asked to give your support, you will need to not judge. You will need to give the person some advice, but that does not mean that you have to take what they are saying to extremes. The key is to listen.

If you strongly disagree with the person, you should ask them to see your point of you and then make your points about your view, but not the way that it should be. When you stop giving orders and start talking about the way things make you feel, then you both will begin to have a healthy relationship and motivation will only come from a healthy relationship. Refer to motivational speaker for more information.

Sometimes you are going to be asked to give your support or blessing and you are just going to have to give it regardless of rather you like it or not. If you are giving your support to a friend or family member you may want to think about what your words may do to your relationship. Motivation could be something that makes or breaks a friendship or relationship. You may end up losing the person’s respect if you continue to try to control instead of helping out.

Lastly, you are going to have to think about the reason why you want to motivate the person. Most of the time it is because you truly care about them and you don’t want to see them go to a place that is unhealthy. You may be trying to give your support in orders of controlling, of saving, or of love.

The last think that you can ever do is try to motivate someone in the name of control. You may just need someone to talk to about it because no one can control anyone. You have to give someone room to choose, however, if they are being destructive, you may feel the need to control to save them. This is when you take professional advice and support them to seek new ideas.

You will want to make sure that whatever reason you are supporting someone is out of love. You not only need to motivate the person, but you have to care about the person for them to turn their life around or reach their goals. Visit motivational speaker for further information.

Team motivation is always affected by a lot factors. According to many experts, the clearness of purpose, the actual challenges faced, the existent leadership, the camaraderie and the development opportunities present in the team will affect its overall performance.

Clearness of Purpose

One of the most crucial components that can keep a team together is clarity of purpose. As long as the members of the team hold a common goal or determination, they will be motivated to act in agreement. According to late studies, team motivation lives at its utmost when all the members of the team have a full understanding of their function and they strongly believe in what it is they are doing. To achieve clarity of purpose and to afford each team member a common sense of ownership over the team?€™s goal as a whole, everyone should be involved in the decision making process. Furthermore, involving each person in setting the focus of the team is critically important to be sure that everybody acknowledges the direction the team is headed in and what specific roles each person is going to play to accomplish the common goals of the team.

Present Challenges

Team motivation may be determined by the present challenges faced by each team member. In most cases, teams work easily during crisis and intense challenge. According to analysis, human beings have the born ability to fight and defend. This power to fight and defend is greatly heightened when it is done by team efforts. To keep a very high team motivation level, you need a few challenges to examine the ingenuity, bravery and staying power of your team members.

Camaraderie

The human desire of each team member is very important. Each person needs to belong and to be loved. It is very important that each team member can feel the camaraderie of all team members. According to recent studies, extremely functional teams do not just work together; they also know how to play and have fun together. To improve the social human relationship between the team members, openness, respect and honesty should always be practiced. A team is like a family and needs to be close knit like a family. Should you choose to lie to the members of the family, you are bound to cause yourself trouble with all the members. Refer to Motivational Consultants for more information.

Leadership

Above everything else, leadership is the most crucial aspect in maintaining a high team motivation level. A team needs to have someone who can and will keep things together and someone who will do the dirty work every once in a while. The best of Team Leaders are just like the head of any family. He or she should always without regard take full responsibility of each person in the team. When making the decision to choose a team leader, you should always take into consideration the ability of the person to inspire loyalty, trust, respectfulness and love from each of the members of the team.

Stephen Meyer, Proudly doing my part to help others with our Home Based Business Opportunities. It CanHappen4u2 Home Business Opportunities. Visit Motivational Speaker for further information.

Attitude is the very basis from which springs the preparedness to face life’s challenges. If we have a defeatist attitude, we will invite defeat. If we have an attitude for success, we will invite success.

So how do we develop an attitude of success? Here are a few thoughts:

1. Surround yourself with people who feel good about themselves.
These are the ones with a positive attitude. Negative- minded people will pull you down and then leave you cluttered on the wayside. Positive-minded people will pull you up, reveal your hidden potentials and make you success-minded. Be infected by them.

2. Always seek to step up.
Ever heard of a mediocre success? There is no such thing! Success is always a step higher than mediocre. Seek always to step up from where you are. Hone your skills. Always seek to be better at who you are and what you do. Never rest on your laurels. Life is a continuous ladder; there is always a rung higher from where you are. Refer to motivational speaker for more information.

3. Look for opportunities in every challenge.
Do not allow yourself to succumb to negative feelings when you find yourself in a difficult situation. Challenges are there to spur you to think, to act, to connect with others, to motivate you. Food for thought: When written in Chinese, the word “crisis” is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.

4. Learn, learn, learn.
Some wise old soul once said, “An idle mind is the devil’s playground, and it’s called Alzheimer’s disease.” That may not be totally true, but there is a point to it. Our minds need to be fed; and let me stress this: not with junk! But with food that will bring out the creativity and potential of our minds. The road to success for many has been paved with brilliant ideas learned and then put into effect.

5. Be of service.
Help others be successful and they will help you succeed. On the ladder of success, push the one above you towards the top and pull the ones below you. If you pull down the ones above you, there will be no room to move farther up. What is worse, if you pull the one above you and he falls, he might take you along with him.

It may not take overnight to build an attitude for success. It’s a process. However, when you begin the process, you might well discover that success is just around the corner. Visit motivational speaker for further information.

If you don’t believe me, watch Disney’s feature-length animation film, Ratatouille. The movie takes place in Paris and is about a rat named Remy who dreams of becoming a gourmet chef.

Only problem is he’s a rat! Go figure. Remy has a highly developed sense of smell and a keen appreciation for food. He yearns for a better life and desires to raise himself out of a meager existence of living in sewers and scrambling for crumbs and rotten cheese.

Ahh, but it’s not to be, mon ami. You see, he eees after all a rat! And responsible rats have to look after themselves. So Remy’s Dad puts his talent to use by making him the Chief Sniffer. Remy’s sole job is to sniff all the rotten food and human leftovers day in and day out to make sure there’s no rat poison in the food for his Dad’s rat colony.

Yuk! Talk about one stinking job! I’m treading on dangerous ground here, but can’t we all relate to this story on some level? I mean, sometimes we just fall into doing work that’s less than desirous and not even close to what we’re really, really passionate about in our hearts.

Sometimes we just settle for far less than the best we deserve in order to ‘make a living’ or meet other people’s expectations of us. Pretty soon we fall into a rut – a routine – and get cozy. Welcome to the Rat Race! The never-ending treadmill of constant busyness. A dream stealer disguised as a golden ladder to nowhere.

Ratatouille is a story about one rat’s dilemma to either play it safe by sticking to his normal rat routine and winning the approval of his friends and family or enter the forbidden human world and risk everything in pursuit of his dream to become a gourmet chef in the most prestigious restaurant in Paris.

We can all learn from Remy’s adventures and wisdom. I certainly did, and I’d like to share with you some insights I took away from the movie:

> LOOK UP!

After being chased away by a gun-totting human and being tossed and turned in a raging river, Remy gets separated from his friends and family and ends up shivering, stranded and feeling utterly lost in a dark, cold gutter. This is what mythologist Joseph Campbell would call ‘the approach to the inner most cave.’

Remy spends days in this gloomy dungeon paralyzed by fear and never venturing out. In this moment of darkness and delirium, a mentor figure appears in his imagination – the late Auguste Gusteau, France’s culinary genius.

Gusteau gently encourages Remy to look up and venture out! And so, with some trepidation, Remy climbs up the drainage pipes and enters a brave new world. He is shocked to see the magnificent city of Paris unfold before him with its shimmering lights and the Eiffel Tower beckoning him forward. Refer to Life Coach for more information.

All these years Remy has been scrounging around underground with his fellow rats while getting occasional peaks of his hero Chef Gusteau work his culinary magic on TV in glamorous Paris. Now, hungry and tired and being stranded for days in some dingy gutter, he realizes that he’s in the very heart of Paris – at the doorstep of Gusteau’s famous restaurant!

So what’s the application here?? I mean, it’s not like we’re living in some kind of rat hole! (Sorry Remy). Well, first of all, it’s important to realize that with each seed of failure and loss there’s an equivalent seed of new hope and opportunity. And second, when we get into a rat of a rut, it’s important to look up and venture out.

How do we do that as humans? One of the fastest and most memorable ways to ‘look up’ and develop a higher perspective is to once in a while upgrade some of our routine experiences: flying first class instead of economy, staying in a five star luxury hotel, joining a pricier, more exclusive business or fitness club, or attending a prestigious auction or art gallery.

Upgrading some of our experiences serves the multiple purpose of sending a message to our subconscious that we value ourselves while opening up higher learning and networking opportunities and developing friendships with people that can help us grow.

Of course, you don’t always have to shell out big money to accomplish this. You can offer to volunteer and help out at these types of establishments or events; you can join an online newsgroup at one of the higher brow establishments such as Washington Post, New York Times, or Harvard Business Review and participate or eavesdrop on some of the conversations; you can read a biography; or – if you can muster up the courage – you can ask to meet with someone you admire to learn how they became successful.

I used this last strategy once when I was working at a bookstore quite a few years back. Harry Rosen, world renowned men’s clothier, once walked into the store looking for a Kiri Te Kanawa opera video. Of course, as Murphy’s Law would predict, we didn’t have the video and he left the store promptly.

I then wrote a letter to him saying I tried various suppliers but could not find the video but really admired his success and was wondering if he could give me a tour of his head office and share with me how he became successful in his field.

A couple weeks later I got a reply letter back from his secretary to call and arrange for a time to meet with Mr. Rosen. I ended up meeting him at his penthouse office and getting a brief tour. He showed me his architectural design concept for a new store he was opening up in Chicago and we spent close to an hour chatting. (Actually, he was doing most of the chatting while I was listening and taking notes).

I later learned that there were a number of very important people wanting desperately to meet with him and that they’d be lucky if they even got fifteen minutes with Mr. Rosen.

One thing I never did get a chance to do is watch that Kiri Te Kanawa video. Visit Author for further information.

Fear of failure (or success) and a lack of energy leads to procrastination. People who procrastinate become frustrated and generally accomplish nothing. To change this negative behavior, you must first identify the things that cause you to procrastinate in the first place. Feelings of fear, rejection, and unworthiness take a real toll on your self-esteem. Taking steps to improve your self-esteem will make a huge difference in your energy level and will motivate you to make other positive changes in your life.

Human beings are motivated by two things: pleasure and pain. Make a list of the things you would like to accomplish and how you will reward yourself when you do reach your goals. When you are making your list, be sure to include the consequences you will suffer by procrastinating. Refer to Motivational Consultants for more information.

Keeping the reward in mind will make it easier to stay motivated. Overcoming irrational fears and phobias are crucial to your self-esteem and energy level. The act of procrastinating itself creates self-esteem issues. Guilt, stress, and anxiety are results of low self esteem and lack of motivation.

Procrastination is a habitual behavior. You can break the cycle of self doubt and procrastination if you make the decision to do so. Keep a list of the things you need to accomplish, both long and short term goals, and reward yourself for each thing you cross off your list. It is not easy to break old habits, but it can be done and soon you will find that the new behavior is second nature.

Keep in mind that your emotional health is closely related to your physical health. A sensible diet and exercise will do wonders for your self-image.

You will find that when you make an effort to change your negative behavior you will have more energy and your self-esteem will soar. Procrastination will no longer control your life and you will be motivated to accomplish your goals. You can change your self-image and become a highly motivated individual if you take the time to find out why you lack motivation and take steps to improve your self-esteem. Visit Motivational Speaker for further information.