Do you feel as though you're in a rut?  Does nothing feel engaging or entertaining?  When you want to make sure you're still in the right direction and you don't want to settle for a mundane life, you'll discover that you need to start challenging yourself.  

When you take on a challenge head first, you're forcing yourself to grow. When your self-esteem needs a boost, challenging yourself can help you see yourself in a new light.

What Kind of Challenges Should I Pursue?

No matter what type of challenge you undertake, don't assume you're going to get started on it "sometime soon." Think about what steps you need to take to get there today.  Whether it involves making some phone calls or getting some certifications, make some time to get it done as soon as possible.  

* If you have the desire to start a new career, call a career counselor for guidance or the local university for class schedules.

* If you challenge yourself to achieve better health, call a nutritionist or the local gym for rates and advice.

* If you always wanted to learn how to play a musical instrument, call the music store to inquire about lessons or rental fees.

Don't delay when something is this important, but remember that moving slowly is much better than not moving at all.  When you want to make sure you're achieving the results that you deserve, you'll discover that choosing to move at all is a big step.

Practice Setting Goals and Holding Yourself Accountable

Another way you can start conquering small challenges is by setting some achievable goals.  For instance, say you want to improve your writing skills.  Then set yourself a goal to write at least a paragraph a day. It's a simple, realistic goal that will help you improve your skills.

It's very likely that you will become more productive when you have a limited amount of time to accomplish your simple challenge. So if you only have 15 minutes to concentrate on your challenge, then make the best use of it and simply focus your energy on making it the most productive 15 minutes of your day.

Measure Your Progress Regularly

In order to build your self-esteem, you regularly need to see how far you've come.  Make sure you keep track of your progress on a regular basis.  

* Keep a diary that lists all you've accomplished in the day.

* Keep a list of all books you read last month.

* Keep a weight journal to track how many pounds you've lost.

Over time, you'll find that this is a great way to keep yourself moving forward.  Looking at past progress is a great way to replicate your success, so keep note of how far you've come.

The Power of Numbers

If you're struggling to challenge yourself, remember that you can get someone else to work with you.  Do you have any goals that you and your loved ones share?  If so, take some time and see if you can encourage each other. This encouragement will help to build your self-esteem because you'll see progress toward your goal.

We must always strive for constant self-improvement. In doing so, we'll see just how capable and competent we really are!

To Your Success & Motivation,

T. L. Pakii Pierce
Publisher, Upgrade Your Mind
"Change Your Mind, Change Your Life"

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Posted by T. L. Pierce on July 18, 2009 at 06:20 PM in Self-Improvement | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)

Establishing A Clear Vision

In my last installment "Unlocking Your Potential Part 1", I spoke largely about establishing clarity in our lives. That is, really understanding that in order for us to move from where we are to where we want to be requires "seeing" clearly where we desire to be. Now some of us can hardly see past the next moment whereas others can clearly see years from now.

Regardless of how near or far you can see, what is important is that you can see! I want speak to those of you who like me and many others have had dreams in delay or perhaps got sidetracked by life general. It is important to establish a clear vision. Your potential releases itself upon specific, clear objectives that you set in front of you and which also places demands upon you to rise up beyond where you are to where you want to be.

That my friends begins with a single step that is initiated by the single most important decision you will ever make towards recovering your dreams. That single most important decision is the decision "to begin again". You must forge ahead regardless of where you've been and what you may think of where you are now. It is what we think that is critical to renewing our goals of success and refueling our motivation to take the necessary action that will move us closer to accomplishing our goals.

One definition of vision is "a mental image of what the future will be or could be like". To establish your clear vision, decide in your heart what your most positive future could be like and get a mental picture of it. Hold it there tightly! Fight to keep it there! To keep this discussion a bit practical and less success and motivation guru-like (since I'm no success guru anyway)...if you can only see to the next moment then that is what you must do! Seeing clearly from moment to moment gives you power to make decisions that will strengthen your ability to see longer and farther into a more positive future for yourself by allowing you the opportunity to make the important decisions now that will get you there later. Your life changes by what you do and what you do now. Again, no matter how near or far you can see, just decide to see! Decide to see a positive future moment for yourself!

You Must FORGE ahead

To recover your dreams, you must forge ahead. You must defeat whatever resistance you've experienced up to now and decide you must see again and dream again. That is the one step you must do for yourself and it is the biggest gift you can give to yourself. There are many things around you that can assist with you that defeating resistance to dreaming and taking action towards your dreams. This blog a resource, encouragement from life long friends, your pastor, your spouse or other types of support resources... but you and you alone have to take that encouragement into your heart and mind and ignite once again those previous dreams in your heart and reach towards your future once more. And you can do it. One small step leads to the next.

A step in this discussion is any decision and action you take that moves you out of feeling stuck and discouraged and into creating positive momentum and motivation for your long term success. What you really want to do is a establish a small series of "wins", accomplishments or completed tasks which lift your spirit regularly and renews your will to win and to get it going.

I've created an acronym to perhaps help encourage your renewal. It is build from our word "forge" in this discussion. To "forge ahead" means to move forward gradually and steadily. And that is what we want to do. As much as we may feel rushed on all sides these days by the pressures of life, take your renewal and recovery gradually and steadily. Temper your success and motivation with clear, specific actions with reasonable expectations for yourself and about your progress and outcomes.

You don't want to defeat yourself before you get started. So here's how our acronym breaks out: F-O-R-G-E

F = "Forget the Past"

0 = "Opportunity Abounds"

R = "Refocus Your Efforts and Energy"

G = "Getting Starts with Getting it Going"

E = "Experience Renewal of Mind, Body and Spirit"

Here's our acronym as a statement we can repeat to ourselves to help us refocus our thoughts and take positive actions each day:

I "Forget The Past" because "Opportunity Abounds" anew each day. Therefore, I "Refocus My Efforts and My Energy" towards "Getting It Going" and "Experiencing Renewal in Mind, Body and Spirit".

Final Thoughts For You

One of my favorite success and motivation coaches once said "You don't have to get it right, you just have to get it going". That forever changed my perspective on moving towards my own goals. "It" can be and is whatever you need to do and have to do. You just have to do "it'. It is important to know however that you don't have to be perfect or get "it" 100% correct or accurate. That's a beautiful thing! No pressure! You are free to fail forward and into your greatest success to date. Remember to take time to renew your mind, body and spirit. You must take care of your self in order to take care of you dreams.

To Your Success & Motivation,

T. L. Pakii Pierce
Publisher, Upgrade Your Mind
"Change Your Mind, Change Your Life"

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Posted by T. L. Pierce on May 4, 2008 at 04:23 PM in Success Motivation | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack (0)

Are you frustrated by an inability to unleash your full personal power of self to make a difference in your own life for success and happiness? Is your motivation lagging and are you just dealing with life as it comes at you? Listen, you do not have to lead each day frustrated by the lack of productive action in your life any longer. There are many people just drifting through life for one reason or another. The result however, is that these individuals are not using their abilities to effectively create the life they long for or the life they deserve.

We all have natural potential that far exceeds our ability to fully use in a single lifetime. However, it is important to realize that you don't have to waste another moment of your life in frustrated underachievement. It doesn't matter what you may have accomplished or what you may not have accomplished in the past. You past no longer matters. What is important is deciding from this day forward that you will move forward with a clear, specific, definite purpose in mind.

Let me repeat that. You can decide right now to move into your tomorrow with a "clear, specific, definite purpose in mind".

Unlocking Your Potential

What you think about most will emerge in your life. Everything around has been the product of someone's imagination. Your thoughts are creative and powerful. What you think about most becomes your reality. IYou, and you alone are creating the world in which you now live. Why is this important? Why am I starting our discussion about potential with a discussion about thought? Because all that you will accomplish from this day forward, to unleash your personal power and to unlock your potential will depend on what you think.

Life is always lived from the inside out. We all live our lives in the direction of our most dominant thoughts. When you are unclear about who you are and what you want in life you will only produce mediocre success at best and more likely continue to experience frustration, sadness, depression and many other negative emotions that steal your energy, slow down your motivation and delay your success.

Clarity of thought is the first step to unlocking your potential. What you need to do is decide what you absolutely want to do with you life. This is the decision to begin to unlock your potential. See, your mind needs clear direction and you need a clear vision of what you want to do. It must be something that excites you and energizes you! It must be something that you begin to obsess about and talk about and breathe about! What is it that gets you revved up? What excites you? If you had all the resources in the world, what would you really be doing?

It's Water Under the Bridge!

Perhaps you've heard the cliche, "it's water under the bridge now". This is normally a statement of resignation that a certain event has now passed and that there is nothing that can be done about it and that one should forget about it and move on. If you are to begin to unlock your potential then you must consider all things in the past as "water under the bridge". You cannot move forward by holding onto the past. It is time to establish a future oriented mindset. You have to clarify what you want and think about how you are going to get it. Clarifying what you want will set in motion the necessary events that will put you on the path to greater power and success.

By clarifying what you want you begin to define who you are in the world. By defining who you are in world you have to establish the values by which you live. You become a more positive thinking person when you know where you are going. Confidence begins to rise and you begin to realize natural abilities coming to aid you in creating greater success for yourself. You begin to attract people and resources into your life that accelerate your process of change, success and motivation.

Clarity is critical. Hopefully you understand now that clarity is the "beginning" of a lot of positive events which result in positive change in your life. You are not powerless! You are more powerful than you know! Unlocking your potential starts with deciding right now that your past, for better or worse, does not determine your destiny. Your decisions from today will determine your destiny, your future. If you can see a brighter future you can have a brighter future. You don't not have to be weighed down with regret, disappointment and frustration. You do not have to wish for the better days now past. Your best days are ahead of you!

"Sure, that sounds great but how do I get clarity", you say. Great question. Nothing is as easy as it sounds but most things are not as complicated as they seem or need to be. In my next article I'm going to discuss "How To Recover Your Dreams". In that installment we'll talk about establishing a clear vision for more effective and focused living.

To Your Success Transformation,

T. L. Pakii Pierce
Publisher, Upgrade Your Mind (tm)
"Change Your Mind, Change Your Life!"

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Posted by T. L. Pierce on April 15, 2007 at 09:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)

The Situation

I’ve been reading a few emails I’ve received recently and the common theme has been a discussion around struggle and opposition. As we reach for success and make the effort to sustain healthy motivation for change we encounter to bothersome stuck states.

Stuck states are those conflicting situations where we have made up our minds to make a change for the better and our intentions are set to take positive action and yet we find ourselves unable to take the first step. We can be stuck on bad attitudes, negative expectations, fear of failure or toxic relationships among many other possibilities.

The Scenario

Whatever the case may be, the bottom line is that there appears to be opposition to your success motivation goals. It is important to realize that your journey is your own. However, many others have gone on before you and have overcome failure and walked into personal success. You are not alone and there are solutions for your challenges.

You can and should expect conflict on your journey to success. You have to decide here and now that you will enjoy the success journey of your own choosing, expect positive change, except responsibility for your outcomes and see opportunity at ever turn.

The Solution

The greatest determining factor in breaking through your barriers to success, getting unstuck and out of failure patterns is to choose opportunity for success instead of opposition to success. What do I mean? Simply, that you must change how you interpret your challenges. Every instance opposition in your life carries and opportunity for you to learn, live or give. Ask yourself the following questions when you face a challenging situation:

1. What can I learn about myself from this situation? (What attitudes, character traits, choices, etc. does this situation reveal about me?)

2. How should I live in the face of challenge? (Choose courage, faith, love, hope, etc.)

3. What can I give in the situation? (Give yourself another chance, give your time to help someone else, give the gift of forgiveness for some offense, give up your own pride, give up on negative thinking)

Your perspective will be your directive in overcoming your challenges. By developing the habit of seeing opportunity for success instead of opposition to success you immediately place yourself in the winners circle. Success is the result of simply believing in yourself and choosing to persevere. But you have to be see the world positively. If you see your world positively then you will expect positive results. If you expect positive results you will take positive action under any and all conditions of life.

The result is that you will not get stuck or stopped by conflict or life challenges. You will be motivated for personal success because of hope that is born of a positive expectation. An expectation that you can indeed change your life by changing your mind. Upgrade Your Mind™ is what your success is all about.

The opportunity of opposition is that every challenge we face is but a moment where we can make choices the learn more about ourselves, live bigger instead of smaller and give more of ourselves to others instead of less. The opportunity is to always choose to live bigger instead of playing life smaller.

Your success becomes available to you once you are willing to own your dreams, have the determination to break free from negative thinking and negative choices while never giving up as you take positive action in the direction of clearly defined goals whose motivation is your success and personal happiness. When you change your mind, you will change your life.

To Your Success Transformation,

T. L. Pakii Pierce
“Change Your Mind, Change Your Life!”
Publisher, Upgrade Your Mind™

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Posted by T. L. Pierce on March 14, 2007 at 12:09 AM in Success Motivation | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Your Success Isn't What You Think It Is

Daily Success Motivation and Self-Improvement

Your Success isn't what you think it is. Your success is what you think you are and your motivation for pursuing success is intimately tied to your thoughts about yourself and your place in the world.

Defining Success For Yourself
Your were created for achievement and success. While our motivations for pursuing success can stem from greed to fear of lack to a sense of right and entitlement, our success is intimately tied to what we think about ourselves. You should first understand that success isn't defined just by material gain. I believe the purest definition of success is being happy what your life, your accomplishments and your relationships.

We all define success in many different ways but ultimately we are successful when our life choices, the things we accomplish through our life choices and the relationships we build, all allow us to express our life passions and purpose.

Whether we head a company or do volunteer work, when we are expressing ourselves through our sense of purpose and passion and we are happy we the results we are getting...then we are truly experiencing success and our motivation for success all the more clear through our love of the work we do.

Defining Motivation for Success
When we engage success with any effort other than a love and a passion in the pursuit of happiness our lives become drudgery and our efforts become mechanical. Life becomes dry, routine and seems forced. It seems a lot of people define success by how much money they make and possess. And it also seems that many people dream of doing something different. You know, pursuing that life they really want to live, the business they really want to start or that career they really want to go after but they don't think the can make the change or make enough money to be happy.

I have good news for you! Your provision is tied intimately to your passions! You don't have to worry about money when what you do is what you love. Provision or money, will easily flow to you and there is always an audience or client base for just about anything you can think of doing when you consider making money from what you love to do. What I'm saying is that the amount of money you make is not the highest definition or shouldn't be the highest definition of success but you can and should make as much as money your passions and interests can potentially bring to you.

Your Wealth Is Who You Think YOU Are
There are many people who are rich and miserable and there are many people who are rich and full of joy. The same goes for working-class individuals and the poor. Your state of happiness starts with your state of mind and your success is not rooted in what you think it is, it is rooted in who you think you are.

You must think about who you really are and where your place is in the world to find satisfaction in your motivation to define and pursue your personal success. To pursue success soley for the material gain alone is not a compelling enough argument to sustain your efforts to succeed when the going gets tough. You will need a higher purpose that is connected to the joy of being happy with yourself and what you are convinced you can contribute to the improvement of the lives of others and world in which you live.

Think about your personal value and unique talents. There is no other you in the whole world and history of the human race. There will never be another like you again. As you pursue your success, start with thinking about who you really are and how your gifts, talents, passions and interests can be used to improve the lives of others. My favorite book says that "A man's gift makes room for him and brings him before great men".

What are your gifts (talents, passions, interests)? Think about your gifts, then use them and your success will become reality.

© 2006 T. L. Pakii Pierce
Upgrade Your Mind
"Think Well & Finish Strong!"
Daily Success Motivation and Positive Thinking for Powerful Life Change

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Posted by T. L. Pierce on November 1, 2006 at 11:54 AM in Self-Improvement | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)