Over the past year and five months or so, since the pandemic took hold, you may have found yourself at times struggling with self-motivation.
With so many changes – working from home or being furloughed, long periods at home rather than out and about – sometimes we benefit from those nuggets of brilliance to give us a push, light up the day and make us act.
Even as life opens up further, you may enjoy and benefit from words of wisdom such as these.
I hope you enjoy these and that they give you food for thought.
1. “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them” (Albert Einstein – theoretical physicist who developed the theory of relativity)
When you have a challenge or difficulty to resolve, do you ever find yourself going around in circles, round and around…? The answer is always the same.
Questions
In coaching when someone is stuck, I like to suggest some creative thinking and approaches to resolving problems. You might like to try asking yourself some of these questions.
a) If there were no one in your way, what solution would you like?
b) If money were no barrier, what would you do?
c) Tell me who you admire? What do you think they would do in your shoes?
2. “Do not give your attention to what others do or fail to do; give it to what you do or fail to do” (Buddha – founder of the world religion of Buddhism)
Do you ever hear people denigrating others, saying how poor they are at their work, at a particular sport or hobby, and that s/he (the person speaking) is so much better than the other person? It doesn’t make pleasant listening. An issue that comes up in coaching is how unhelpful it is to compare ourselves unfavourably with others. It is also unhelpful to compare ourselves favourably with others. What I encourage is for people to compare themselves to themselves, how each person is growing, developing skills, experience, qualities and moving forward – to be able to say this is where I excel and this is where I can improve.
Suggestions
a) Make a list of all your skills and talents, what you do well without comparing yourself to anyone else
b) Note down what you feel you could improve on
c) Research and decide the steps to take to achieve this – and put them into action
3. “The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot” (Michael Althsuler –motivational speaker & expert on Leadership, Sales & Peak Performance)
Many clients express how overwhelmed they feel by the constant volume of work and things to do – personal stuff too. The day flies by and their to do list simply gets longer. In any to do list there will be must do’s, don’t want to do’s, horrible to do’s, and hopefully some to really enjoy and give you that sense of achievement.
Actions
a) Make sure you decide your destinations, to where you will steer your craft. Don’t allow others to decide for you and so lose sight of your dreams
b) Plan your actions according to your goals – identify and do those tasks first that will take you to your landing stage
c) Do the ‘don’t matter too much tasks’ afterwards, later in the day, during your less productive time of day – or the most important ones will sit there waiting until you’ve finished the unimportant but easy tasks – and that may mean sitting there for a very long time!
I hope you find these motivational quotes inspiring and the ideas thought-provoking.
