Friday, May 15, 2009

The Rules of Motivation


Motivation is like fuel. It gives us clarity and focus. It prevents us from procrastination. It makes us enthusiastic about our task and keeps us from boredom.

Where does motivation comes from? Think about it. Who gives us motivation and under what condition? Why are these conditions made to be so? What is the purpose that motivation exists?

Motivation comes from a specific part of our brain. Now, as you all know, our mind is made out of consciousness and unconsciousness. Motivation goes from a part of our unconscious self. There are many ways to categorize our psychology but for the stake of simplicity, this part of the brain that release out motivation fuel shall, from this point forward, be called the Brain.

Your Brain issues motivation signals to your body in order for you to act in a way that you perceive to be “productive” to your life. However, you do not control this part of your Brain. In a matter a fact, you must follow its rules in order to attain more motivation. The rules are...


Rule #1: You receive the amount of motivation proportional to your goals and needs.


Simply, the higher your goals and needs, the more motivation you will receive. In fact, your Brain gives you just enough motivation to archives those goals and needs. No more, no less. If you want to achieve more, desire more.


Your Brain gives you just enough motivation to achieves your goals and needs


The reason why our Brain gives us just enough motivation is because it is in its interest to preserve your energy and lifespan. Your Brain does not want you to do more than necessary to fulfill your needs. Achieving your goals means living a hectic and stressful life – one that involves a lot of thinking and strategizing. According to your Brain, the less you do, the longer you will live.

Rules #2: The Brain is influenced by a lot of external factors.


You need to accept that the external factors play a huge part in motivating people. In addition, you probably have to realize most of your motivation comes from your needs (external factor) and not your goals (internal factor). Below are some examples:

Situational factors - When good things happened to you, you feel happy and more motivated. When bad things happened to you, you feel sad and less motivated.

You would also feel really motivated when you realize that you are in danger of death or deadlines. Fear is a very good motivator. Too bad these motivations will only last as long as the bad situation is present. Once the bad situation is over, your motivation level drops back to its original level.

Temporary encouragement – Actually, all encouragement only produces temporary motivation. Whether the encouragement comes from books, people, or object; whether you are motivated by positive thinking or by jealously; the source of these motivations will not last forever. One day, your Brain will get tired of the same trick.

Financial needs - Poverty or lack of money will motivate you to earn more money regardless of your emotion.

Do realize that you cannot follow the same motivation strategy as other people simply because your financial situation is not the same. The student from China can study all day long without thinking about leisure or romance simply because that student knows that he would have complete with other really desperate people back in China. Meanwhile, you are stuck in your own country with easier competition.

The problem with most people is not that they don’t have enough to survive, but the fact that they are content. Yes, you might not be 100% satisfied with your current situation, but you can still sleep at night not worrying the consequences of not achieving more. Simply, you are content and all you additional goals are just wishful thinking. That leads to the next rule.

Rules #3: The Brain does not accept wishful-thinking as goals. All goals need to have valid plans.


Just wanting is not enough. The Brain does not accept wishful-thinking goals. Goals must have valid plans. Valid plans that contains well defined objectives. Everyone desires to be rich but not everyone comes up with a valid plan.

And you can’t really fool yourself either. You can’t cheat your own Brain into believing that your wishful-thinking is valid plan. After all, your Brain is part of you. You cannot hide your own lack of confidence from your Brain.

The requirement for a valid plan is rather subjective to the person. If you are a logical person, then your Brain would require that your goals to be more detailed compared an impulsive person.


Note: However, there will be a lot of obstacles to overcome in order to attain a valid plan. That is beyond the scope of this article for now. This blog that you are currently reading would further the explanation on Art of Planning.

Rules #4: The Brain gives you slightly less than enough motivation.


Gotcha! The fact is: you will never have enough motivation to achieve 100% of your current needs and goals (even if you have a valid plan). You will eventually slow down as you reach your goals. And in the end, you won’t even make it to the finish line. Why?

Our Brain knows that we will always want more once we have achieved the original target. Human beings are greedy. Our Brain cannot let that happened because that would mean spending more energy. No matter how noble or desirable your goals are, you will never fully achieve those goals.


The previous figure wasn't quite right


Conclusion


Well, the above are only rules – rules without exception. If you want true motivation, stop looking for it on the outside and instead look for it deep inside yourself. We all have our most basic needs and our maybe-something-better needs. It’s time that you start addressing the later. Translate those needs into goals. Prepare a plan for those goals. And then work hard – work 16 hours a day – until the day you achieve your goals.



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Saturday, May 9, 2009

The Principle of Least Important



David Allen, author of Getting Things Done has a good idea. According to him, you should separate your collect from your process, and action. That pretty much sums up his book. I find that idea to be very true and had applied it ever since.

Wait a minute, what do you mean, that’s it? David Allen initiated the productivity revolution, no? He inspired countless of productivity blogs, productivity book, and productivity Moleskine. Shouldn’t I give more credit to the David Allen, the foremost authority in Productivity? Shouldn’t I give more credit to the book of the 21st century?

Sorry, but Dave’s book ain’t no book of the century. I hate to break your heart, but Dave only has one good idea. A year after I read the book, I’ve forgotten most of the content in his book. The truth is, the purported “system” peddled in the book are either common enough to be found in other books or doesn’t work. Do you know why it doesn’t work? It’s because Dave left out the-principle-of-least-important.

The-principle-of-least-important states that the least important task in your life does not get done. Never! Don’t even be mistaken that I am saying that a least-important-task should be put into your on-hold bin until there is a time where you are free to complete that task. That task should not be complete, ever, in this lifetime, if there are more important tasks in your hand.



Importance is Subjective


What matters more is subjective. Deciding how important a task is can be sometimes difficult. It depends on how critical is the task to your strategy, the task urgency level, and the current situation.



Criticalness

Some tasks are so important that they need to be done or else dire consequences will follow. These are the critical task. There is no way of avoiding these task which out suffering huge losses in life.


Strategy

All tasks that you choose to do should provide some sort of benefit. Thus, all tasks that you do are important. Even the most trivial task like brushing your teeth and washing your hands can have greater impact to your life than your vocation.

You must be aware of how each and every task that you do provides benefit that contributes to your goal. Some task provides more benefit thus more impact, others less.
Only then will you be able to determine which is more important.



Urgency

Some tasks have to be done right away as soon as those tasks appear. However, not all urgent tasks are critical. Some urgent tasks can be ignored without suffering any noticeable consequences. Some can be delegated or delayed without jeopardizing any good will. Other urgent task can be simply completed with lower quality, saving us time and effort, without impacting our long-term goals.


Situation

Things change. What is not important now can suddenly be more important. Datelines can suddenly be cut short, opportunities can suddenly becomes scare. You must revise your strategy and change the importance of your task according to your situation. The key to success is objectivity, adaption, and improvisation.

 

Simplified Priority level

In electronics, all requests that is made into the microprocessor have priority levels. The priority levels are clear-cut. There is no confusion. Request with Level 1 priority beats requests Level 2 priority. We will categorize our tasks priority into clear cut manner.

The priority levels are as below:

H – High
M1 – Medium High
M2 – Medium Medium
M3 – Medium Low
L –Low

You might be asking why there is no H1, H2, H3, L1, L2, or L3. Well, I am keeping the priorities level simple. All high priorities task needs to be completed so there is no point putting additional level for high priorities. All low priorities task are too trivial. It doesn’t matter much which task you complete. If you have the time but can’t decide, just simply grab one.




Stop Doing the Least Important Task When Interrupted


One of the productivity pitfalls that people felt into happens when they are interrupted. Especially when we are interrupted contacting by trivial issues. We stop doing our current task and instead focus our attention on the new task without giving a hoot on whether it is important or not!? This habit is like a plague. It does not make sense at all once you realize how illogical the situation.

Follow the process flow below if you wish to redeem your productive self.





End note

The-principle-of-least-important states that the least important task in your life does not get done. You will need to be able to determine the importance of your task according to your long-term strategy, the task criticalness and urgency, and the current situation. Lastly, do not let the less important task interrupt your more important task
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Friday, May 8, 2009

Your Three Enemies




Do you have enemies? What? You don’t? Come on; think harder, surely there is someone. An enemy is someone who does you harm. Is there anyone who would do you harm? How about something? Something that does you harm, in the most malicious way ever.

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.”
- Sun Tzu, author of Art of War

Well, we all have enemies. The fools who say that they don’t are doomed to be fools forever. Don’t kid yourself. Your enemies are there saying up awake, never resting, ever so determine to do harm to your life. Each of us, at our birth, has exactly three enemies. They are Death, Mediocrity, and Despair (appearing in that order).

Death

Death is imminent. The moment that you are born, you are fated to die. Your time on this earth is numbered. There is only so much you can do. Make no mistakes, in the end, no matter how smart, how strong, or how fast you are, Death will catch you; and you will die. It’s a no-win situation.

"A no-win situation is a possibility that every commander may face. How we deal with death is at least as important as how we deal with life."
- James Tiberius Kirk, Starfleet Admiral

You might think Death will only catch you when you are in old age. That’s wrong. Death can come any time. Human beings are fragile. Without proper shelter, clothing, food, clean water, and medication, our body falls sick and dies. Those stuff cost money and if we don’t have money, we will also die.

You can’t beat Death. Accept this fact. What you can do is delay your death for as long as you can by living a healthy lifestyle. Live your life your fully so that you do not regret as much when you time comes. Adopt the most advance time management techniques and cutting-edge productivity skills that this world has to offer.

"I don't believe in the no-win scenario."
- James Tiberius Kirk, Kobayashi Maru test taker


Mediocrity

So you decide to achieve greatness in your life, be it fame, wealth, influence, or family? Good for you. Now prepare to battle the second goliath in the roster, Mediocrity.

“Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! Now if you know what you're worth then go out and get what you're worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain't you! You're better than that! I'm always gonna love you no matter what. No matter what happens. You're my son and you're my blood. You're the best thing in my life. But until you start believing in yourself, ya ain't gonna have a life. Don't forget to visit your mother.”
- Robert Balboa, two time Heavyweight Championship of the World

The second adversary is the one that you have to battle every day in your life, if you are planning to achieve anything worth achieving. Setbacks after setbacks after setbacks will beset you. Sometimes, it may be due to bad luck; sometimes, bad planning and strategy; sometimes, bad weather.

Let it make it simple for you to understand this. You are probably going to have an insignificant and ordinary life unless you haul your ass off the coach and do something drastic now – pronto.


Despair

Mediocrity doesn’t fight fairly. Just when you think that you have gotten the upper hand against Mediocrity by deciding to become something better and by deciding that you will not rest until greatness is achieve, suddenly, the last other opponent, Despair steps in.

While Mediocrity deals physical attacks by laying setbacks on your desire to greatness, Despair deals emotional attacks. Despair attacks the heart by making it wept at the sheer side of odds that are stacked against you. Despair lowers morale and motivation; and if you let it, drives you to chronic depression and subsequently suicide (or insanity, if you are lucky).

Yes my friend, life is an internal struggle as much as it is an external one. Despair by itself is already more formidable for anyone to handle. Emotional turmoil beset us all the time. Until we learn to properly control our fear and worry, we will never conquers Despair.


How to fight Despair

Step 1: Read “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living” by Dale Carnegie.

This book is the single most effective solution to help your get over chronic depression. I could write a tons of stuffs about the this subject; however, this blog is about a more ambitious topic, so I leave the basic to this book.

Objective: Learn the basic techniques
Caution: These are just basic powerful techniques. You may find yourself complacent.


Step 2: Get external help.

Join a religion. That is the simplest and cost-efficient way to get expert helps on combating depression. Get other people to help pull you out of depression. There is tons of religious institutions in this world that are more than happy to receive you with open arms.

Objective: Cure your chronic depression. Be happy.
Caution: Don’t get caught up in religions dogma. Remember your focus. Being happy makes you complacent.


Step 3: Be depress again. Accept that “Your current life sucks”.

The first two steps should be enough for you if you want to life a simple and happy life. However, if you really want to win in this life, you will have to deal with the root of the problem.

Reflect on your life. Make a mental list of all your deficiencies and weaknesses. Look at your successful friends and compare them with you. Admit to yourself that “Your life sucks”. Admit that you did not fix your problems earlier and that sucks too.

Cry. Cry because you care about your life. Cry because your life is important. Cry because you are weak. Cry yourself to sleep.

Objective: Realize that how much your life sucks (just like everyone else’s life).
Caution: If you slip back to chronic depression, repeat step 1 and step 2.


Step 4: Get angry

Get angry with yourself. Release all the pended up anger that you have stored away all these years of being unproductive and unloved. You have denied yourself the right to be angry with yourself for so long because of the depression.

Human beings are emotional creatures. We are happy when good things happen to us and sad when bad things happen. We get angry when our values are compromised. If your values have indeed been compromised, if you have indeed failed to live up to your standards, you should indeed be angry in a productive way.

Objective: Release all your pended-up anger.
Caution: Do it in a non-harmful way. Do not self-destruct.


Step 5: Draw the line. From this line onwards, you are going to change. You shall not stop until you make it

Decide that from today onwards, you will change. You will not stop until you have changed. Neither shall you compromise your goals.

Channel your pended-anger towards this goal. Turn it into determination.

Objective: Decide to change for a better future.
Caution: Despair will always be there. Whenever you take an need task, whenever you face with impossible odds, Despair will continue to haunt you. Having the right techniques and support is crucial to continue fighting Despair for as long as you live.


How to Fight Mediocrity and Death

Defeat Mediocrity by proper planning and strategy and the use of your time and energy. Aim to succeed by using your strength, minimizing the impact of your weaknesses, pursuing all your opportunities, and eliminating your threats. Most important of all, do not give up.

Defeat Death by being healthy and live a long live. Make a list of things that you want to complete before you die. Achieve the goals in this list. Aim for greatness.


End Note

Okay, the solution on Mediocrity and Death is a little simplified. Those two enemies deserve a whole chapter by themselves. In fact, there would be a whole lot more to take on the Art of Planning and the Art of Execution just to be beat Mediocrity. I will leave those topics for another day. In the mean time …

“Live long and prosper”
- Ancient Egyptians greeting.
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Sunday, May 3, 2009

I Will Show You How to Be Motivated


It just suddenly hit me. After all these years of searching, after all the countless books that I have read, the answer to my life finally appears. The answer did not come from someone else but thru a serendipitous Eureka moment, backed by the distilled knowledge that I have gain since I have started reading my first self-help book at a very long age.

The answer to motivation is simple and elegant. Motivation comes from well-defined goals with realistic planning. Ergo, to have motivation, you must desire, define, and plan your goals.

That is the basis of the key that will unlock your potential. Make no mistake, I said that the answer is simple; the implementation, on the other hand, is hard. Fortunately, I have walked this path and I will show you how to be motivated.


What is Motivation?
Countless books have countless way to define this M-word. If we look at Meriam Webster dictionary, ‘motivation’ comes from the word ‘motivate’ which comes from the word ‘motive’. ‘Motive’ means




Wow, the answer is already there in the dictionary! All we need to do is to have a need or desire for something. Ergo, we’ll be motivated to take the necessary action in order to succeed in fulfilling our needs and desire.


Not So Fast, Bucko
Motivation comes from well-defined goals with realistic planning
. It does not come from wishful thinking. Take the example of the classic desire “I want to be rich”. I am pretty sure every one is this world (except the filthy rich) will say this to his or herself. So, where is the motivation for that? Why is there no action taken? Why are we still poor?

As long as the goal is not well-defined and without realistic planning to boot, there is no motivation. Imagine this, could you work hard 16 hours a day, everyday, for the rest of your life for a future that is blurry? Could you sweat blood and tears for something that you don’t even sure if you like? Could you commit yourself to a path of hardship and stresses if you are not even convince that you have an iota of a chance of succeeding?

If you say “Yes” to the question above, sorry no cigars. Those were trick questions. I never asked whether you ‘would’. I asked whether you ‘could’. Most people can shout their lungs out that they will work hard; that they will sweat and tears. I have no reason to doubt that they sincerely want to do so. Yet, where is the result?

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Classic Story #1: No Cigars

Person A goes for a motivational course. Person A gets motivated. Person A decides to dramatically improve his life here and now. Person A mumbles to himself, “I am successful!”

Person A works hard and smart in his day job. Person A spring cleans his house and arrange his CDs collection in alphabetical order. Person A feels happy and successful.

Three months down the road, Person A begins to slow down. Person A is not as motivated as he was and he knows it but denies it. Person A gradually slow down until his motivation level is back to before he attended the motivational course. Person A pretends that those three months of productivity means nothing.
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Well-Defined Goals
In this blog, you will hear the phrase “mean to an end” a lot. It is important. Most people have a hard time of telling the difference between a ‘mean’ and a ‘goal’.

Take the classic example “I want to be rich”. Being rich is a ‘mean’, not a ‘goal’. Being rich means having truckloads of money. Having truckloads of money by itself doesn’t do you much good. You have to spend it. “I want a big house, a fancy car, and travel around the world” is more well-defined compared to “I want to be rich”.

Another classic example would be “I want to be successful”. Well, being “successful” means having achieve a predetermined goal regardless of how trivial the goal may be. For example, if I manage to eat 10 hotdogs in 10 minutes time, then I have successfully eaten 10 hotdogs in 10 minutes. Else, I have failed to eat 10 hotdogs in 10 minutes. Another example, if I manage to retire at the age of 40, then I have successfully retired at the age of 40. Else, I have failed to retire at the age of 40.

Get a grip, people. ‘Goal’ is the end point while ‘Mean’ is the one of the many ways to achieve a goal. Do you know what the end of all ends is? Death.

What do you want to do before you die? What do you hope to achieve? How many kids do you want to raise? How do you want to be remembered? What would you be regretting as you lie your final moments on your deathbed?

That's right people, I am talking about lifetime goals here. Make up your mind what do you want to achieve with your limited time walking on this world and be done with it. Life is too short to be little.

Realistic Planning
Defining your goals is the easier part. All those wonderful optimism, all those possibilities, and all those “I want to open an orphanage for kittens” feel good feelings.

Realistic planning sucks. You realize that you don’t have the money, skills, nor time to complete all those life goals. You have to compromise. You have to reduce the greatness of your goals. It hits you that you are going to settle with mediocrity.

Heck, if you are going to be mediocore when you plan, why bother planning anyway? Wouldn't the "no planning, hope things would get better by itself" strategy seems better? Why go thru all the hassle?

So, we are back at square. No realistic planning means no motivation. No motivation means no achieving your goals.


This Blog Can Help
This blog is all about realistic planning that is designed to achieved the most that you can achieve in life. It’s an action blog. I expect results and will not except anything less.

Motivation comes from well-defined goals with realistic planning. Ergo, to have motivation, you must know how to desire, define, and plan your goals. This blog will show you how to make it so.
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The First Post: Why This Blog Exist


This blog exists to provide a solution to a problem. The blog exists to provide an answer to a very tough question. This blog exists to provide you with a key. Yes, a key. The key to your heart. The key that unlocks your heart and allows you to be motivated every minute of your life.

Hence, this blog is titled Limitless Motivation.

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