Motivation to Success!

Today is Thanksgiving day in the US and I wanted to use this opportunity to say Thanks to everybody for being you. Being you was more than enough to play a part in my life and help me to be who I am today. Thanks for inspiring me, Thanks for taking the time to talk to me, Thanks for reading my messages.

Have a fantastic day!!!
Patrick

5 simple steps to enhance your quality of life

I thought that today I would just simply share 5 little rules I try to adhere to. Each one of them changed my life. They enhanced my quality of life each in their own way. There is no great mystery to them. They are wonderful in their simplicity and that’s what makes them quite powerful. I invite you to try them out and to let me know what they did for you. (I would love to get your stories here on the blog!!)

1. Strip the word perfection from your dictionary! It is a myth and does not exist. Stop looking for it in yourself and in others. Instead always do the best you can at the time. That is always good enough!

2. Target your energy carefully. If you find yourself warding off unwanted things or people at regular intervals then you are wasting energy. Drop the unwanted things from your life as much as possible. Spend your energy on things you like and you will have more of it!

3. Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. This well known serenity prayer works in every day life. Accept everything for what it is. By lowering the resistance to events you open yourself to opportunities to change the outcome!

4. Remember the saying, be grateful for small blessings. By being grateful for everything that’s good we create free space for more good things. Write down what you are grateful for in a book or diary. Thinking of all the things we are grateful for will make us more thankful to others!

5. Whenever possible make time for outdoors nature exploration. Do it running or walking, or sitting on a bench by the canal or near a river or in a forest or in your back garden. Listen to the purity of nature and look at its potential for regeneration. It puts a smile on my face every time!! Allow nature’s power to rub of on you!

There you go, didn’t I tell you they were simple! Go on and enjoy trying these out, I know they will work for you. Oh and please send me your stories!

Have a great day

Patrick Mercie – 4ward 2 Success – 25-11-2008

Goal setting a la Keith Wood

With Munster playing the All Blacks later this evening I remembered reading something a while back about the early Munster days (with thanks to Alan English – Munster Our road to glory). Keith Wood was back at Thomond Park after an exile with Harlequins.

At the start of a new season Dave Mahedy (amongst other positions Director of Sport and Recreation at UL) was at a session in UL and asked the team for their goals for the season. What followed was an eerie silence until Woody uttered the words ’winning the Heineken Cup’. The reaction was apparently one of giggles and disbelief. They had actually never thought of this as a feasible goal.

A good few players have since stated that this was the moment everything changed. It was out there. Someone believed they could attain it. It was up to them to get there. As most of us know Munster have since not once but twice attained that lofty goal.

We all have goals like that inside us. We all have wildly attainable goals. It is locating that goal within us and then putting it out there, saying it out loud or writing it down, which is the first step towards success.

So in the next few weeks, hours or days why don’t you just say out loud for yourself, or as a team, family or group what your goals are for the next period in time. And then start the wonderful journey to winning your own Heineken Cup final! I’m looking forward to hearing about them!!! And about your successes!!!!!

Patrick Mercie – 4ward 2 Success – 18-11-2008.

Change regret to achievement!

Regrets, yes I have had a few! But then again ….

I’ve turned them into opportunities for success and achievement!

I keep listening to regrets uttered to me by my friends, family, acquaintances, colleagues and social buddies. ‘I wish I had gone travelling when I was younger, but it’s too late now I have kids’. ‘I wish I had taken the last redundancy and set up my own business but with the recession now there is no point’. ‘I wish I had given up smoking years ago but I am in a stressful place right now so I can’t add that to it’.

Take some time right now and think of some regrets you may have. When you have done so, think of what they represent. Events from the past. You can not change the past. So accept them exactly as that, events from the past you cannot change.  Does it benefit you to fret over them? Do you gain from mulling them over?

Then imagine what it would mean if you accepted them as intuitive hints. Hints that tell you exactly what it is you really want. Then think what it would feel like to change that regret into something real. What would it feel like to take that trip, quit smoking, run your own business or whatever it is you always wanted to do? What would it feel like to achieve that? Now capture that feeling and hold on to that. That feeling will tell you when you are doing something that is right for you.

Now pick the one regret you feel you most would like to do something about. Where are you now compared to it? What is you current state? Be honest and don’t blame yourself, it’s ok to be where you are right now; there is no benefit in blame.

Then picture what you want to change. What do you ultimately want to achieve? What would make you recapture that feeling you had a few moments ago? That’s your goal right there. Write it down. That’s your next achievement right there in front of you. That’s what’s going to make you feel so full of energy and happiness. That’s what is going to make your life that much better.

Now you know what it is you want to achieve the next step is to plan it. How are you going to get there? What do you need to do to achieve this? You may have this worked out in your head. If so write it down. Step by step and with dates attached to it. Down to 15 cigs by the 1^st of January, down to 10 by the 15^th of January, Patches from the 1^st of February; you get the drift.

If you don’t know how to apply this to your goal don’t panic. There are many ways to get an idea of how to get there. Think of someone you know who has achieved this and ask them for help. The majority of them will be delighted to help you as it validates their efforts at the same time.

Search the internet or ask in your local library. Ask a professional. Ask your best friend for assistance, or your family. It’s not only ok to ask for help, it also allows you to tell someone you trust what you are about to undertake. If you need support or things are going a bit pear shaped during your journey, they will form your support system, the shoulders to rely upon.

Once you have the action plan together there is one more thing to think of. What could stop you in your tracks? What stress at work can make you smoke again? Could an injury stop your exercise regime? Could something you overhear stop you from asking him/her out on that date?

Thinking of this in advance may not be pleasant right now but it will give you the opportunity to prepare for it, both mentally and physically (by going to the GP and Physio for a check up to prevent that injury for example).

You are finally there. Putting the action plan in motion. Walking your talk, proud as a peacock. Congratulations!! Please allow me from experience to give some pieces of advice before I let you off on your journey to success.

Celebrate each step as a small success and reward yourself regularly. The journey is an integral part of the achievement.

You will make mistakes or have lesser days. Learn from your mistakes instead of dwelling on them. Take remedial actions with immediate effect to stop reoccurrence. These mistakes will help you towards your achievement.

Enjoy the journey!! You will look back on it with much more intensity afterwards and it will spur you to tackle regret number 2 on your list with enthusiasm.

Now go on and SUCCEED! YOU DESERVE IT!!

©Patrick Mercie – 4ward 2 Success – 11/11/2008

We tend to worry a lot about what was and what will be. Yet life is a lot easier if we learn to understand that there are two days in life we need never worry about.

The first one is yesterday. Because yesterday is gone forever, irretrievable and lost to your influence. Whatever mistakes occurred, decisions made, pains felt. No money in the world can bring yesterday back. We cannot undo a single act we performed. We cannot erase a single word we said. Yesterday is gone!!

The second one is tomorrow. With whatever worries it may bring you, its possible adversities, its burdens or its promises. Tomorrow is beyond our direct control.

This leaves but one day ever: today. Tell me honestly, do you think you can handle today if you need never to worry about yesterday and tomorrow? Can you fight today’s battles, win today’s challenges and face just today one day at a time.

Because if you can manage that, yesterday will be about nothing but memories and tomorrow the sun will still rise.

© Patrick Mercie