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Great minds have purposes, others have wishes.
-- Washington Irving
 

 

The MONTHLY Motivator - March 2017

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Willingness

Your biggest enemy could very well be you. Often, the most difficult force to overcome is your lack of willingness. Why? Because you will get discouraged. For lots of reasons. You’ll decide your work is not good enough. You’ll begin to think nobody cares. You’ll run into setbacks and get tired of them. You’ll be distracted by shiny objects. People will tempt you to break away from your work and do other things.

But you can handle all this. Because you are committed to getting good things done. Your own lack of willingness is your biggest obstacle but the good news is this. You absolutely can overcome that obstacle. Because the obstacle is you. It is in you. You have complete control over it.

You control what you think. You control your expectations. You control your attitude. You control your actions. You control where you go and what you see and how you interpret what you see.

So with all that in mind, go back to the beginning. Go back to the moment you made the decision to get it done. Remember why. Remind yourself how important it is. Then remind yourself that the resistance is in your head, and that you can push forward no matter what.

Sure, there are real, physical, financial, social, political, medical, logistical obstacles. And one by one, you can overcome them. You can overcome them, that is, when you first overcome the obstacle that is your own weakness of will. Make that willingness strong. How? By deciding for it to be strong. By choosing where to focus your attention. By the way you decide to feel about it. Feel that your willingness is strong and guess what? It will be.

You are your own worst enemy, yet in that reality is a much more powerful and positive reality. You are also your own best asset. You can take that unwillingness, or weak willingness, and turn it around. In an instant you can go from unwilling to one thousand percent committed.

So, are you ready? Are you ready to put yourself to work for you? Go ahead and say it. Say you are willing. Say you are committed. Say you will do whatever it takes to get good things done.

Not good enough? Who says? If you think your work is not good enough, then you can make it better. When you’ve done your absolute best and there is nothing else you can think of to do, then it is good enough. Don’t tell yourself otherwise. It may not sell. It may not earn you praise. But it is your best. If your work doesn’t lead to the results you had anticipated, step back and objectively ask yourself why not. Figure it out and go at it again. Don’t wallow in self pity thinking you’ll never be good enough. The way to be good enough, the way to be the best, is to do the work. Learn from the disappointments. Learn from the victories. Take what you learn and do more work. Get good, valuable things done every day. Find ways in every situation to make a difference.


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--Ralph Marston

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