BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND

So, what do you want to be when you grow up? That question may appear a little trite, but think about it for a moment. Are you--right now--who you want to be, what you dreamed you'd be, doing what you always wanted to do? Be honest. Sometimes people find themselves achieving victories that are empty--successes that have come at the expense of things that were far more valuable to them. If your ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step you take gets you to the wrong place faster. 

This habit is based on imagination--the ability to envision in your mind what you cannot at present see with your eyes. It is based on the principle that all things are created twice. There is a mental (first) creation, and a physical (second) creation. The physical creation follows the mental, just as a building follows a blueprint. If you don't make a conscious effort to visualise who you are and what you want in life, then you empower other people and circumstances to shape you and your life by default. It's about connecting again with your own uniqueness and then defining the personal, moral, and ethical guidelines within which you can most happily express and fulfill yourself. Begin with the End in Mind means to begin each day, task, or project with a clear vision of your desired direction and destination, and then continue by flexing your proactive muscles to make things happen. 

One of the best ways to incorporate This into your life is to develop a Personal Mission Statement. It focuses on what you want to be and do. It is your plan for success. It reaffirms who you are, puts your goals in focus, and moves your ideas into the real world. Your mission statement makes you the leader of your own life. You create your own destiny and secure the future you envision.

Taken from the seven habits of highly efficient people.

Source: https://www.stephencovey.com/7habits/7habits-habit2.php

Growth Mindset Vs Fixed Mindset

There are two types of mind set – growth and fixed. With any problem we can embrace it and take the opportunity to learn from it or we can avoid it, often out of fear of failure. Taking the path of avoidance could be described as a fixed mindset while taking the first approach of viewing an obstacle or problem a an interesting challenge and opportunity to learn could be described be a growth mindset.

It is not uncommon for people to have a mixture of both mindsets, switching between the two.

A person has a fixed mindset because they believe that certain qualities such as talents, skills and traits are fixed and that these qualities are responsible for success. On the other hand people that possess a growth mindset believe that new skills can be developed and achieved through practice.

This ideas create a passion for learning that is a typical trait exhibited by leaders, artists, creators and successful people. With a growth mindset life becomes an endless journey of new learning and achieving.

Developing a Growth Mindset

Dr Carol Dwek of Stanford University who created the term 'growth mindset' recommends that we should all celebrate trying, for example parents and teachers should applaud a child regardless of the grade for the effort that they exert in studying for it.

Encouraging children to learn any new skill that they are interested in is recommended in order to encourage them to learn the skill of learning.

To observe the difference between the two mindsets in everyday life lets imagine two people, person A ans person B, one believes that you either have it or you don't, the other believes that with enough desire it is possible to learn anything. When it come to activity, person A uses avoidance tactics, not wanting to fail or to look stupid trying. Person B is not worried about failure enthusiastically embraces the challenge viewing it as fun and exiting regardless of the outcome.

A key point to understand here is that failing is a part of learning.

Are you the kind of person that avoids feedback and often takes it personally? In order to improve we must listen to constructive criticism and an important point here is that it is to understand that it isn't you that is being assessed but the results of your activity.

Do you always take the easy road, or stop when things start to get difficult? To develop a growth mindset it is essential to practice regularly whatever skill it is that we want to develop knowing that effort is part of the journey to a more fun life.

How do you feel about the success of others? Do you encourage them to do even better, and does it inspire you to work harder knowing that as they become more successful, you are likely to grow as well? Or do you feel threatened and feel pressured to achieve more results in your own life as a results?

Developing a growth mindset will enable you to move forward and solve problems as well as approaching new task, challenges, problems, and obstacles with joy and enthusiasm. This theory of a growth mindset is supported by Neuro science. It has shown the the brain grows with activity just as any other muscle in the body does.

So begin to develop a growth mindset. A simple change in perspective on how a person view a situation can make the world of difference to the outcome and to your own achievements, possibility and development.

Author: Corey Butler

Part 5: What to Do When Motivation Fades

Inevitably, your motivation to perform a task will dip at some point. What happens when motivation fades? I don’t claim to have all the answers, but here’s what I try to remind myself of when I feel like giving up.

Your Mind is a Suggestion Engine

Consider every thought you have as a suggestion, not an order. Right now, as I’m writing this, my mind is suggesting that I feel tired. It is suggesting that I give up. It is suggesting that I take an easier path.

If I pause for a moment, however, I can discover new suggestions. My mind is also suggesting that I will feel very good about accomplishing this work once it is done. It is suggesting that I will respect the identity I am building when I stick to the schedule. It is suggesting that I have the ability to finish this task, even when I don’t feel like.

Remember, none of these suggestions are orders. They are merely options. I have the power to choose which option I follow. 

Discomfort Is Temporary

Relative to the time in your normal day or week, nearly any habit you perform is over quickly. Your workout will be finished in an hour or two. Your report will be typed to completion by tomorrow morning.

Life is easier now than it has ever been. 300 years ago, if you didn’t kill your own food and build your own house, you would die. Today, we whine about forgetting our iPhone charger.

Maintain perspective. Your life is good and your discomfort is temporary. Step into this moment of discomfort and let it strengthen you.

You Will Never Regret Good Work Once It is Done

Theodore Roosevelt famously said, “Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” So often it seems that we want to work easily at work worth doing. We want our work to be helpful and respected, but we do not want to struggle through our work. We want our stomachs to be flat and our arms to be strong, but we do not want to grind through another workout. We want the final result, but not the failed attempts that precede it. We want the gold, but not the grind.

Anyone can want a gold medal. Few people want to train like an Olympian.

And yet, despite our resistance to it, I have never found myself feeling worse after the hard work was done. There have been days when it was damn hard to start, but it was always worth finishing. Sometimes, the simple act of showing up and having the courage to do the work, even in an average manner, is a victory worth celebrating.

This Is Life

Life is a constant balance between giving into the ease of distraction or overcoming the pain of discipline. It is not an exaggeration to say that our lives and our identities are defined in this delicate balance. What is life, if not the sum of a hundred thousand daily battles and tiny decisions to either gut it out or give it up?

This moment when you don’t feel like doing the work? This is not a moment to be thrown away. This is not a dress rehearsal. This moment is your life as much as any other moment. Spend it in a way that will make you proud.

Source: http://jamesclear.com/motivation

Part 4: How to Stay Motivated for the Long-Run

We have covered some strategies for making it easier to get motivated and start a task. What about maintaining motivation over the long-run? How can you stay motivated for good?

How to Stay Motivated by Using the Goldilocks Rule

Imagine you are playing tennis. If you try to play a serious match against a four-year-old, you will quickly become bored. The match is too easy. On the opposite end of the spectrum, if you try to play a serious match against a professional tennis player like Roger Federer or Serena Williams, you will find yourself demotivated for a different reason. The match is too difficult.

Compare these experiences to playing tennis against someone who is your equal. As the game progresses, you win a few points and you lose a few points. You have a chance of winning the match, but only if you really try. Your focus narrows, distractions fade away, and you find yourself fully invested in the task at hand. The challenge you are facing is “just manageable.” Victory is not guaranteed, but it is possible. Tasks like these, science has found, are the most likely to keep us motivated in the long term.

Human beings love challenges, but only if they are within the optimal zone of difficulty. Tasks that are significantly below your current abilities are boring. Tasks that are significantly beyond your current abilities are discouraging. But tasks that are right on the border of success and failure are incredibly motivating to our human brains. We want nothing more than to master a skill just beyond our current horizon.

We can call this phenomenon The Goldilocks Rule. The Goldilocks Rule states that humans experience peak motivation when working on tasks that are right on the edge of their current abilities. Not too hard. Not too easy. Just right.

Working on tasks that adhere to the Goldilocks Rule is one of the keys to maintaining long-term motivation. If you find yourself feeling unmotivated to work on a task, it is often because it has drifted into an area of boredom or been shoved into an area of great difficulty. You need to find a way to pull your tasks back to the border of your abilities where you feel challenged, but capable.

How to Reach Peak Motivation

This wonderful blend of happiness and peak performance is sometimes referred to as flow. Flow is what athletes and performers experience when they are “in the zone.” Flow is the mental state you experience when you are so focused on the task at hand that the rest of the world fades away.

In many ways, we could describe flow as your state of peak motivation. You would be hard-pressed to find a state where you are more driven to continue the task you are working on.

One factor that researchers have found is linked to flow states is whether or not you are following The Goldilocks Rule we mentioned earlier. If you are working on challenges of optimal difficulty, then you will not only be motivated but also experience a boost in happiness. As psychologist Gilbert Brim put it, “One of the important sources of human happiness is working on tasks at a suitable level of difficulty, neither too hard nor too easy.”

In order to reach this state of peak performance, however, you not only need to work on challenges at the right degree of difficulty, but also measure your immediate progress. As psychologist Jonathan Haidt explains, one of the keys to reaching a flow state is that “you get immediate feedback about how you are doing at each step.”

Thus, we can say that measurement is a key factor in motivation. To put it more precisely, facing an optimal challenge and receiving immediate feedback about the progress you are making toward that challenge are two of the most critical components of peak motivation.

For more on the importance of measurement and feedback, check out this article: What Are You Measuring in Your Life?

Source: http://jamesclear.com/motivation