6 Success Secrets of the Super-Motivated

This article is from the March 2016 edition of the Toastmaster magazine.

As an author and motivational speaker and coach, I often get into discussions about what it takes for someone to get and stay motivated. What is their secret?

After talking to many people I realize there is one discernible difference between someone who is motivated and someone who is not. It is in the way that they think. I call people in the former group the super- motivated. They realize the impact their own daily thinking has on their life.

Here are six tools super motivated people use to get and stay motivated:

1.Proper Exposure
The super-motivated realize that the old concept of “garbage in, garbage out” is very true. So rather than exposing themselves to negative news (like the evening newscast) or negative television or even negative stories on the Internet, they avoid negativity altogether and instead choose to focus on upbeat and inspiring information. They focus on good news, not the bad. They are not ostriches with their head in the sand—they know there is bad news in the world; they just choose not to spend time and energy on it. It’s a “waste of mind.”

2. Put goals in writing
There is absolutely no question that one of the ways to improve your thought process is to write down your goals: short-term, midterm and long-term. The action of writing them down and actually looking at them on a regular basis will reinforce the direction you are heading. This is sending a short reminder note to your brain consciously and subconsciously—telling it, “Hey this is what we’re doing.”

3. Network with positive people
Super-motivated people realize that the quality of their lives is in equal correlation to the quality of the people that they associate with. If you associate with negative or toxic people, then you will be negative as well. I refer to these people as ESVs, which stands for energy-sucking vampires. So be very careful about who you associate with.

4. Keep a journal
Keeping a journal is another way to reinforce positive thinking and positive thoughts on a daily basis. Carve out a little time in the morning to write down positive affirmations and goals and dreams to start your day off on the right track. Hal Elrod referred to this practice in his book The Morning Miracle. If you start your day this way, you start your morning on the sunny side of the street. Try it; you will like it.

5. Modify what you say
What is interesting about people who are super-motivated is they realize that what they say and how they say it affects their thinking. It’s almost like the chicken and the egg: What you say affects how you think; how you think affects what you say. The key is to catch yourself when you say something negative. If you’re giving a presentation at work don’t say, “Boy I sure hope it goes okay.” Instead say, “I am going to knock it out of the park and it’s going to be great.” Positive self-expectations and positive statements can change the way you think. And believe it or not, your brain believes exactly what you tell it. If you tell it something is bad, it believes it.

6. Think about how you think
As far as we know, we are the only species that has the ability to think about how we think. I don’t think turtles sitting on a log in the sun think about their life and how their thinking is affecting it. You, however, have the ability to think about how you think. I have found that once my thinking changed, my life changed dramatically both personally and professionally. Don’t underestimate the impact of your thinking, both on a positive and negative level. It is the ultimate power tool.

So do you really want to have a great life and be extraordinary and not just average? Do you want to be fired up and achieve your dreams? Then you can decide to be that person–it’s all just a choice. Now I am going to ask you to take some time today to pick a few of the actions from this article and commit to doing them this week. I guarantee they can change your life.