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“The three great essentials to achieve anything worth while are: Hard work, Stick-to-itiveness, and Common sense.”
Thomas A. Edison

When you think of Thomas Edison, most certainly you think of the invention of the electric bulb. This great scientist was also an inspiring and thought provoking leader. The quote above is one of the numerous motivational words on personal success. In it you have the three most important essential keys for personal success. For the most part these keys are some of the values that our parents or custodians have inculcated into us or to say to the least have tried. As these keys were potent in Mr. Edison’s time they are equally potent today. Your personal success requires the following components:

Hard-work: You probably must have heard or read, “Work smart and not hard.” However, the reality is working smart is hard work to be honest. Working smart is not indicative that work is going to be easy, without errors or smooth sailing but it implies your ability to leverage relevant information, adapt to new trends, acquire and update your skills to produce the expected results. This thus comes with hard work. Thomas Edison further observed, “There is no substitute for hard work.” Do not let people make you believe that working smart is sitting on a beach in Maui and enjoying all kinds of exotic locations. This also comes with working hard and smart. Ask any successful individual today what is the number one secret of their personal success the unequivocal answer will be hard work. As Mr. Edison remarked, to achieve anything worth while hard work is a prerequisite just as our parent thought us.

Stick-to-itiveness: Dictionary.com defines stick-to-itiveness as dogged perseverance; resolute tenacity. J. Robert Buchanan stated, “You’ve got to have reasonable goals and the stick-to-itiveness to get there” To achieve personal success you have to persevere through the process, be tenacious in your objectives and the action plans that are congruent with your desired objectives. There will be temporary detours and difficult moments on your personal success journey but you must negate any haphazard tendencies and not abandon the ship, throw in the towel and let your ideas go unfulfilled. Whatever insurmountable challenges that stands on your path to your personal and professional success you’ve got to have this stick-to-itiveness mentality to achieve your goals.

Common sense: The last but not the least of the three keys for personal success is common sense. As I research various quotes for common sense this particular one by C. E. Stowe which states “Common sense is the knack of seeing things as they are, and doing things as they ought to be done.” resonated. It can’t be plainer than that, the knack of seeing things as they are and doing what you are suppose to do to get the anticipated results. According to Mr. Edison, achieving anything worth while requires common sense. Go to work on yourself applying these three keys and your personal success is guaranteed.

Dedicated to Your Success & Mine

Richard Onebamoi
Success Facilitator, Success Empowerment Network^TM

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Here is a profound inspirational and motivational quote on success motivation and personal development for your empowerment as you navigate through the week.

“Deep in the recesses of every human soul, a mighty power is always at work. It serves as a constant reminder to press onward, achieve more, be more, give more. Until we take the first step toward re- arranging our lifestyle in a more positive way, this mighty power will cause us to be- come as restless as a pregnant woman, held hostage by the piercing pain of intense labour. Giving birth to positive change will not come without shedding old habits, some old friends, old fears, and old ways of thinking.  It will not come without tossing and turning, sometimes even crying a river of tears, or perhaps lying awake in the still of the night, staring at the ceiling, praying for answers. Answers will come and positive changes will too. Though often wrapped in struggles and disappointments, torment and rejection, heartaches and pain, sickness and suffering, weeping and wailing…still, they come.” Jacqueline Benjamin Thomas

Dedicated to Your Success & Mine

Richard Onebamoi
Success Facilitator, Success Empowerment Network^TM

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“If you live long enough, you’ll make mistakes. But if you learn from them, you’ll be a better person. It’s how you handle adversity, not how it affects you. The main thing is never quit, never quit, never quit.”
Bill Clinton

Developing a Never Quit Attitude (NQA) is a priceless success power point and it is critical to any endeavor. The unfortunate thing is that most of us have had to learn the hard way one of the most important success power points of all times. It is very important to understand that in any enterprise one must develop a Never Quit Attitude because there will be times in your pursuit that things will not necessarily work your way or meet your expectations. There will be temporary detours in your personal and professionally advancement plus the uncertainty that abounds in our world. Thus, there is a need to develop a Never Quit Attitude so as to find answers and solutions to prevailing circumstance rather than quitting anytime and every time you are confronted with difficult challenges.

My friends, a Never Quit Attitude is not just blind optimism but it is having a sense of confidence that every thing will work out for your good. It is the willingness to seek answers and solutions in moments of despair and disappointments. It is the courage to try one more time when the naysayer says it is impossible. Success is not about never failing but it’s about never quitting. Stay consistent to your goals and objectives no matter how slow things may appear. This is one of the keys to success that great achievers have used to achieve extraordinary results in their field of interest.

It is important to develop a Never Quit Attitude (NQA) as you aspire to fulfill your dreams and goals. Before considering moving from one project to another because of temporary detours, this of course will only create a series of unfulfilled projects that can have a negative effect on you in the final analysis. Napoleon Hill remarked, “Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.” That is well articulated, the rewards of your efforts is not fully released and enjoyed when you quit, examine what works and what does not work and move on.

Winners never quit and Quitters never win. I hope this post will help and inspire you to never give up on your dreams and aspirations

Dedicated to Your Success & Mine

Richard Onebamoi
Success Facilitator, Success Empowerment Network^TM

If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing your thoughts and subscribing to my RSS feed. If you would like to subscribe to Success Empowerment Newsletter and receive free 21-day Success Power Points e-course. Click Here to subscribe by email.

The law of expectation states, “Whatever you expect with confidence becomes your own self fulfilling prophecy.” Expectation is what you are anticipating and looking forward to come to pass. We all have expectations in life either personal or professional, weather these expectations are achieved is another thing. What are your expectations in life? For most people their expectation holds too many uncertainties to say the least. With that said, if your expectation was not met you can do one of two things either you change that expectation or you allow the situation to frustrate you.

Unmet expectations or lack thereof have caused tremendous troubles for a lot of people. Most individuals have abandoned their dreams and aspirations because of unmet expectations. The road for success is not without you having expectations. Therefore, your capacity to change your expectation is crucial to your overall success motivation. Here are 7 ways to change your negative expectation to positive one.

Change your focus: What is your focus? Change your focus to change your expectation. If your outcome is not what you expected, you can alter that outcome by changing your focus to produce your desired expectation. It is important to understand that what you focus on is what you bring into your life. As a result it’s important to focus on what you really want and nothing else.

Develop a very clear vision: Most people never take the time to develop a vision of what they expect for their lives, on the contrary, most of the time life is treated like a dress rehearsal. It’s improbable to expect what you have not clearly defined. Consequently, to change your expectation you have to clearly define what you expect.

Disrupt the process: If you intend to change your expectation you have to simply disrupt the process that creates the patterns of your negative expectation. Processes such as negative thinking habits and self-talk. These kinds of practices can produce unwanted expectation. Take action to disrupt negative practices, develop and enhance the practices that will move you in the direction of your anticipated expectation.

Lear what to do: Learn what to do. It’s amazing how many people actually learn to do something about their situation. These individuals are willing to learn what to do that will move them to the right direction. You apply the same strategy that is not working or at its best its producing outcomes that are not in harmony with your expectations.

Enlist the help of a mentor: I can not stress this enough. The help of a mentor or coach is invaluable. Your relationship with this individual is no that of comrades but associates that will hold accountable to your actions. He will to help you to strategize a course that yields your expectation.

Change your attitudes: Attitude is everything. To change your expectation you have to change your attitude, for this will affect how you see things. With a negative attitude toward your project will produce negative results. A positive attitude is the key.

Finale

This list by no means is exhaustive. Create positive expectation of your intents by making legitimate decisions. Nurture your expectations by never settling for anything less than what you desire and that serves your best interest. Whenever you want to change your expectation take immediate action to apply these few tips to produce what you are expecting.

Dedicated to Your Success & Mine

Richard Onebamoi
Success Facilitator, Success Empowerment Network^TM

If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing your thoughts and subscribing to my RSS feed. If you would like to subscribe to Success Empowerment Newsletter and receive free 21-day Success Power Points e-course. Click Here to subscribe by email.

I am thrilled to share with you that I have achieve my goal of having 100 posts on my blog. At this time I’d like to extend my heart felt gratitude to all those that made this journey worthwhile and a success. Thanks to my readers and those who took the time to comment and share their thoughts on the various posts that resonated with them. I appreciate you all.

On the other hand, I have been contemplating on the subject for this 100th post and my heart has geared me toward this subject: Burnout: A Potential Danger for Success Motivation. It is obvious that most people have or are experiencing burnout on their success journey be it personal or professional. Burnout will short circuit your progress and hinder your success hence it is important to avoid or deal with it efficiently the moment you are experiencing it. Now, let us examine what burnout is.

Burnout Defined: According to Merriam Webster Dictionary, burnout is, “1. Exhaustion of physical or emotional strength or motivation usually as a result of prolonged stress or frustration and 2. A person suffering from burnout.”

Further definitions:

1.    It is a state of being extremely tired or ill, either physically or mentally, because you have worked too hard.
2.    It is the psychological exhaustion and diminished efficiency resulting from overwork or prolonged exposure to stress.
3.    It is the exhaustion that result from excessive demands which may be self-imposed or externally imposed by families, jobs, friends, value systems or society which depletes one’s energy, coping mechanism and internal resources.

When you are experiencing burnout problems seem insurmountable, everything looks bleak. Burnout for instance can be compared to the point at which a rocket has used up all of its fuel and has no more energy or power. This power is generated because the fuel has gone through a process of conversion that now provides the needed energy for its activities.

Lets translate that into man’s world. Imagine when all the elements that are necessary to provide the needed strength, motivation and aptitude in other to function and perform are used up it will result to burnout. This could easily leads to frustration in view of the fact that when in conditions like this your productivity will drop dramatically and you will be far from achieving your desired goals and objectives.

Burnout symptoms: The burnout symptoms can vary from individual to individual, but the following are some warning signs that indicate and determine if an individual is on the verge of burnout. There are physical and emotional symptoms and they can include the feelings of:

• Emotional exhaustion
• Detachment
• Irritability
• Feelings of Depression and Isolation
• Physical Fatigue Frustration
• Failure
• Despair
• Cynicism
• Apathy
• Lack of desire
• Decreased productivity
• Increased absences and/or tardiness
• Feelings of Anger and resentment

The first step to getting help is to acknowledge that you need assistance and slow down. The second step is to seek out professional help and guidance through a partner or family members, trusted friend, therapist, or workplace employee assistance program. The journey to success can be challenging, but it is also empowering and life changing. Whatever you do take it a day at a time and do not work yourself to the point of burnout.

Dedicated to Your Success & Mine

Richard Onebamoi
Success Facilitator, Success Empowerment Network^TM

If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing your thoughts and subscribing to my RSS feed. If you would like to subscribe to Success Empowerment Newsletter and receive free 21-day Success Power Points e-course. Click Here to subscribe by email.

Goal-setting “master skill” for success. With this single skill you can almost outstrip any setback and have the advantage in your personal and professional endeavors. In the often-quoted study undertaken by Harvard University in 1979, graduates were asked how many of them had written goals with action plans for their achievement? Here was the finding from that study:

• 3 percent had clearly defined written goals
• 13 percent had written goals
• 84 percent had no goals in any shape or form.

Ten years later a follow-up study was conducted on the same students from Harvard University and it was discovered that the three percent who wrote their personal goals were ten times more successful than the other 97 percent who either had written their goals haphazardly or had none.

From the above study, it shows that goal-setting is a master skill for success and its application can yield results short and long term. A lot of people will always tell you that goal setting is easy but why is it that they never have any goals written down? The assumption that the simplicity of an exercise invalidates its effectiveness is an oversight. However, taking action to process ideas and putting pen to paper is important for your success motivation. Therefore, it is imperative to reiterate that goal-setting is a function of success motivation.

I have been thinking and processing this thought that most people are drawn back at the idea of goal-setting just because of the phrase goal-setting. Now, let’s demystify that word goal setting. Henry David Thoreau queried, “Have you built castles in the air? Good, that is where they should be built. Now go to work and build foundations under them.” Most individuals are focused and engulfed with the thoughts of what I don’t want more often than what I do want. This has always been and still is a major setback to the process of goal-setting and goal achievement. Let’s break this process of goal setting down into less intimidating terms that will sensitize and inspire you to do what you ought to do on your success journey.

Begin the process of goal-setting by:

1.    Taking action: this is the action that initiates the process of goal setting as against just being dormant expecting things to change by themselves.

2.    Identifying what it is you want in each aspect of your life. Most people are unclear and confused about the answers to this question. By resolving this question you are very well on your way to the process of goal setting.

3.    Processing and marinating over these ideas. You have to allow yourself incubate these ideas until they are crystal clear.

4.    Writing them down. Here you have to put your clear and crystallized ideas on paper. This will also serve as a point of reference as you progress on your success journey.

5.    Thinking about how to achieve them.

6.    Making a list of what you will have to do to achieve what you want.

7.    Taking action: This is the process of execution that will move you toward your goal achievement.

Goal setting “master skill” for success is a definite skill that you can learn and master through consistent practice. You will make progress, see more of your dreams and life aspirations come to fruition through this process of goal setting. I cannot stress this point enough that goal setting is a function of success motivation. Take action today and you will be part of the three percent adults that actually put pen to paper and also be part of the three percent that become successful.

Dedicated to Your Success & Mine

Richard Onebamoi
Success Facilitator, Success Empowerment Network^TM

If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing your thoughts and subscribing to my RSS feed. If you would like to subscribe to Success Empowerment Newsletter and receive free 21-day Success Power Points e-course. Click Here to subscribe by email.

Motivation is often defined as the process of arousing, directing and maintaining behaviour toward a goal. You have declared your objective and set goals such as building a business, becoming a better public speaker, acquiring new skills or improving your health and so forth. One of the keys for success is to stay motivated. The difference between success and failure, misery and fun is usually motivation.  In one of my recent post on Five Ways to Motivate Yourself I indicated that staying motivated is significant to the achievement of whatever you set to achieve. The following motivational tips will help you to stay focused on your goals for success:

1.   Set priorities: Here is how to work effectively and stay motivated. Write down your task to be accomplished at the beginning of the day. Then, prioritize the activities in the order of importance. This will help you avoid clusters of unfinished work that can demotivate you and diminished your results.

2.   Use your goals: One of the advantages of goal setting is that it gives you short-term and long-term motivation and focus. Once you have planned your project and set your priorities, turn your attention to developing several goals that will enable you become successful.

3.   Surround yourself with positive people: You can leverage from the kind of people you associate and surround yourself with either positive or negative. Therefore, make a wise choice of associating and surrounding yourself with positive individuals at the same time stay away from the naysayers. This single factor will keep you motivated in no small measures.

4.    Clarify your intents: You are unlikely to succeed in any enterprise without clarifying your intents. One of the things that can keep you motivated is to clarify your intent, as unclear desires are hindrances to your motivation.

5.    Decide to follow through: From the onset you have to make a decision to follow through on your projects. For between you and the action to be taken is the decision to act and follow through on your action. Your decision will help keep you motivated in the face adverse circumstances.

6.   Create a clear plan of action: Someone said: “failing to plan is planning to fail.” It would be ridiculous to be halfway through building a house before taking into consideration the cost but only to discover the lack of resources. To save time, you must have an action plan to get your tasks done from start to finish.

7.   Acquire the needed skill or knowledge: Lack of knowledge or skill in any particular project can lead to lack of motivation. Consequently, before embarking on a project, evaluate what knowledge or skills you have, what skills you need to acquire and what others you need to improve.

8.    Create conducive atmosphere for development: Very often certain atmospheres are not conducive for development and growth. Thus hindering any meaningful progress. Lack of progress breeds lack of motivation 95% of the times. Hence, it is imperative to create an atmosphere conducive for development to stay motivated all the time and through the process of goal achievement.

Hey Champ, don’t lose your steam, stay focus and motivated and I’ll see you at the top.

To Your Success

Richard Onebamoi
Success Facilitator, Success Empowerment Network^TM

If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing your thoughts and subscribing to my RSS feed. If you would like to subscribe to Success Empowerment Newsletter and receive free 21-day Success Power Points e-course. Click Here to subscribe by email.