Motivation to Success!

A lot of us every New Year after 2 cans of Lager to many make New Year resolutions of all kinds. We are going to climb Kilimanjaro barefoot, give up smoking after we finished the 400 packs we got in Lanzarote, walk the dog 8 days a week, never get angry anymore at politicians, get fit watching Davina McCall fitness DVD’s, support our local sports team instead of watching reruns of Leinster’s Heineken Cup win on Sky Sports 7 and so on.

Inevitably by the 5th of January you have blisters from walking the kitchen floor barefoot, got another 100 packs for New Year of your neighbour who came back from Gran Canaria, realise there is only 5 days in the week you want to walk that dog, get hit by another 5% levy and spit at the politician on your telly, eat 10 packs of crisps and drink 2 more cans of lager watching Davina do it for you and order in ESPN cause they have the Premiership rights for the 5pm matches on Saturday.

How does this happen? What can you do for this not to happen? Here’s my 10 tips for sticking to that New Year resolution and becoming the envy of begrudgers everywhere!  

1- Write it down in detail. This makes it real and gets it registered into your subconscious. Put it in your diary on page 1, write it on a notepad and stick it on the fridge. Make sure it is somewhere you go very regularly so you constantly remind yourself of it. This helps you staying motivated.

2- Believe you can do it. If your goal is realistic and you can visualise yourself achieving it, then you can do it. Make a clear mental picture of you achieving it. Seeing yourself succeed puts you in the right frame of mind.

3- Make a list of all the ways you will benefit from sticking to your New Year resolution. The more ways you can find, the more motivation you will receive from them.

4- Set a timeframe and write it beside the goal. The date by which you will have achieved what you set out to do. Again you are making it real both visibly and in your subconscious.

5- Think about all the difficulties you may encounter on your way to achieving your New Year resolution. These difficulties may come from inside you (such as willpower, lack of a certain skill etc…) or may come from external influences (such as uncooperative family members, time spent at work etc…). By identifying them you can already start looking at a way around these before they occur.

6- Check what information you lack right now to be able to start your journey to success and take steps to get this information ASAP.

7- Make a list of people you need help from; whether they are friends, relatives or professionals. By asking for their help, you validate them. Ask yourself what you can do for them so they will gladly help you.

8- Use all of the above information and make a detailed plan. Be precise, thorough and specific. Write down step by step how you will succeed. Brake down the resolution into manageable steps and plan them 1 by 1.

9- Celebrate every completion of one of the steps. Pat yourself on the back, give yourself a treat. Congratulate yourself. It keeps the motivation meter at 120%!!!

10- Never give up! You are always closer to achieving than you think you are. So NEVER give up. While change is always good, nobody said the transition period is a bed of roses. There will be thorns, admire them for what they are and move on!

I want to congratulate all of you in advance on bucking the trend and making 2010 the year where you turn those New Years resolutions into real achievements!! WELL DONE!!!

P.S.: remember there is always a friendly Life Coach nearby to help, motivate and support you. He/She is only a phone call or email away.

4ward 2 Success are delighted to announce that Patrick Mercie is delivering a series of open workshops designed specifically with enhancing your quality of life in mind! Patrick mentions that the idea behind these workshops “is for people to stop the blame game and start taking responsibility for their own future”.

The first of these interactive modules is a ‘Goal Setting’ workshop which will take place on Thursday the 3rd of December, from 1900 to 2100 PM, in the Mall Suite of the Absolute Hotel. For directions check http://www.absolutehotel.com/directions

What is unique about this workshop is that it is interactive and will yield individual results for ALL the participants. It will also give them something concrete to work towards for themselves afterwards.

The workshop consists of four integral parts:

1. Goal identification through value based exercises
2. Reality check using the SMART checking system
3. Golden tips for enhanced success on goal achievement
4. Design of your own action plan.

At the end of the workshop there will be an opportunity to meet and talk to Patrick.

Your investment in this workshop is €35.

Profile: Patrick graduated and qualified as a Personal & Business Coach with the Irish Lifecoach Institute (ILI) in 2007 and has this Diploma accredited by the Life & Business Coaching Association of Ireland (LBCAI). Patrick has been successfully coaching people from all walks of life towards taking responsibility of their future by acting on it today. Patrick’s style of working is interactive, motivational, energetic and above all positive minded. Patrick has been described by his clients as ‘infectious’ in positive thinking and attitude.

To book one of the limited places on this workshop fill in the form below and send with cheque for €35 to 4ward 2 Success, 35 Meadowbrook, Mill Road, Corbally, Limerick.

For more info on the workshop or 4ward 2 Success programs email Patrick on patrickmercie66@hotmail.com or call him on 083-3008963.

Book a Place on the ‘Goal Setting’ Workshop in Limerick on 03/12 from 1900 to 2100 for me please:

Name: …………………………………………………………………………………….

Address: …………………………………………………………………………………

Mobile: …………………………………………………………………………………..

Email: …………………………………………………………………………………….

Please enclose cheque for €35 and send to:

4ward 2 Success, 35 Meadowbrook, Mill Road, Corbally, Limerick. You will be contacted with confirmation of your place at this workshop.

Today is the first day of Lent here. For a lot of people that equals the first day of a 40 day ‘giving up things’ period. Traditional ‘culprits’ are alcohol, cigarettes, sweets, chocolates, television. Personally I will try to give up on judging people. Not for 40 days, for good. It won’t be easy but I will do my best.

Anyway as usual I digress (maybe I should give that up as well)J. I just wanted to briefly point out one thing to look out for when ‘giving up things’. As with most stuff when you remove something it leaves a void or vacuum behind. The question is what are you going to do with that void? You are used to have that pint, sweet, cigarette, TV soap at certain times during the day. Now that you decided to give them up, you created a vacuum or void. What are you going to do with that time?

If you don’t think about this you might have an extra glass of wine instead of the sweets whilst you didn’t want to have an extra glass of wine to start with. So that void has been filled with something you didn’t want to, negating the good you thought it was going to do.

Instead think about what you really like doing and is good for you and replace the free time with it. Instead of watching the TV, go for a walk. Instead of the sweets have a fruit salad. Instead of going to the pub, go support your local sports club (that’s one for the armchair fans who after this rant I will no longer judge on it J).

Filling the void purposefully with positive things you like enhances the chance of you sticking with it after the 40 days have past. And if not then you had fun doing it instead of feeling it was a chore.

Enjoy your 40 day transformation. Enjoy your new found habit. Have a great Lent!!

Patrick Mercie – 4ward 2 Success – 25/02/2009

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