A Thin Line Between Failure & Success

Most of the time, the difference between what makes something or someone a success instead of a failure is extremely narrow. You can walk a fine line between sheer success and utter failure. The thing is, the longer you walk that line, the larger the gap becomes. Let me give you a simple definition for both failure and success that you can easily use to assess what you are doing in your own life and help you get on the side of the line where you can get the most out of your existence.

What is failure?

Failure isn’t one occurrence. That would be an error. Failure is the accumulation of errors over a continuous period of time. For example, if you don’t clean your home one day, that’s not a failure. It might be an error. However, if you don’t clean your home 30 days in a row and your home is a big mess, then it’s no longer an error, but a failure. Usually, this is what causes people to experience failure whether it’s in their personal life or professional one. They repeat the same error day in and day out, and the sum of the errors just pile on until it’s a complete failure. You could eat junk food one day, but if you eat it every single day, then you suffer the consequences of such continuous errors with poor health and poor body image. What about if you put off doing a task for one day? What if you put it off every single day? I see this all too often in my line of work, where the accumulation of errors builds into failure, which then builds into disaster! Think about certain bad decisions or choices that you have been making in your life lately. Make the promise to yourself right now not to repeat this every day. One trait that I have noticed with high achievers, is that they are able to correct an error extremely quickly. If you want a chance to succeed, you need to learn from your errors and correct them FAST. The quicker you learn from your errors and avoid repeating them, the better you can avoid any failure, and the faster you can achieve success.

What is success?

On the opposite side of the spectrum, success is the accumulation of good decisions made continuously over a period of time. For example, if you work out one day, you won’t see any result or success. But if you work out every day for 5 months, you will see noticeable and measurable results, and that is real, tangible success. If you write one page a day for a year, you have a book. If you eat good healthy food every single day of your life, you will have a healthier body. Success is quite simply managing to accomplish good disciplines on a daily basis. The reason why the majority of people do not achieve a high level of success is the lack of consistency. They will eat well 3-4 days out of 7, and work out 1 or 2 days per week. They will complete their tasks 3 times out of 10. Mediocre consistency creates mediocre results. If you want to experience life on a whole other level of personal success, you need to be the most consistent person possible.

As you can see, the line between success and failure is very thin. Sometimes it’s not obvious that we are doing something that is wrong, so it’s crucial to have an open mind and be critical of oneself. But it’s the act of doing things a certain way over a period of time that widens the gap between success and failure so tremendously. The key here is to spot your errors early, learn from them, and fix them. Then, whatever you are doing that works, keep doing it every single day by developing the habit of consistency. This is an absolute sure-fire way to obtain massive amounts of success.

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Ross Galan, NLP Spiritual Life Coach

Ways to Wake Up Motivated!

If you have trouble waking up in the morning with motivation, you are not alone. From the research that I do and the number of people I speak with, this is a very common occurrence. I myself dealt with this issue which lingered on for years. I would go to bed guaranteeing to myself that I would wake up with all the motivation in the world, ready to tackle anything in front of me, only to have all of it completely forgotten in the morning. It’s quite frustrating, to say the least! There are simple things that you can do that will help ensure that you wake up with the proper level of motivation to get you to have a productive, successful day. Here is my personal list of things that do just that:

Get out of bed immediately

Arguably, the worst thing you can do to your motivation in the morning is to stay lying in your comfortable bed. You will try to debate with yourself, whether you should get up or stay a little longer. Guess which side usually wins? How do you get yourself out of bed immediately? My trick was to put my annoying alarm clock in another room. I had no choice but to get up and look for it to turn it off. So I was immediately out of bed. I hear now they make alarms that bounce around so that you have to get up to catch it…I think that’s pretty clever too! Getting out of bed asap is the #1 priority if you want to wake up motivated. It’s the foundation, without that, everything else fails.

Drink a large glass of water

Once you are out of bed, you should drink water as soon as possible. You body becomes quite dehydrated during sleep, and this lack of water in your system causes you to feel fatigue when you wake up. Drink some water, and guaranteed you will feel better and immediately more lucid and motivated. I always keep a full glass of water in my room before bedtime, so once I am done running around to shut my alarm off, my glass of water is ready for me.

Stretching
I remember many years ago, I had a personal trainer that told me that if you stretch for 5-10 min. every morning, guaranteed you will have a much better day. For some reason, this always stuck with me, and I truly believe that it does wonder for motivation in the morning. When I say stretching, I don’t mean the quick stretch you do when you get out of bed. I mean, do full stretches of your arms, legs, neck, everything. Stretching increases circulation of the blood to various parts of your body, which is very important in the morning, since your system was inert for many hours. This increase in circulation increases energy levels, and energy is crucial to motivation. This 5-10 minutes of stretching in the morning can really make a difference as to what type of day you will have.

Glance at your goals

As I mentioned above, one of my biggest problems in the morning was the fact that I had forgotten all the motivation and all the things I was pumped up to do with my day once I got up. It was as if I had a case of amnesia and that within the span of sleep, everything that I was so excited about had disappeared. My way to resolving this issue was to keep a list of my goals next to my bed. I have my goals for the day, as well as my long term goals. This helps remind me what I have to get done and why it’s important to get it done. A visualization board can also be very useful. This is where you create a montage of all the things you want in your life on some type of board that you keep around your home. Looking at this right away in the morning is a wonderful method to get the right amount of motivation that you need to jumpstart your day.

Psyche yourself up

Many years ago I worked in sales and within two months I had become the #1 salesperson in the company. Although I was a newbie, I was more motivated than anyone and it paid off big time. One of my tricks was that I had the ability to psyche myself up so much as I was getting ready in the morning, that by the time I had arrived for work, I was on fire. I couldn’t be stopped. Instead of saying to yourself how it would be better if you could just go back to bed or that you just don’t feel like doing anything, learn the habit of having constructive self talk. Build yourself up. If you need a boost, use self-help tapes. Those are always great to listen to and the morning is ideal to get that motivation going. You can put it on as you get ready, even listen to it as you stretch for example.

Music
Listening to your favourite music in the morning can help put you in a good mood, which will then increase your energy and your motivation. I know I find it very boring in the morning if it’s all quiet. Feeling bored makes you want to go back to sleep! Music helps tremendously in creating an atmosphere that is more fun and more upbeat, which is required to get that motivation in the morning. You can set your alarm to play your favourite song, there are programs that easily do so available on the web, and the easiest way is probably to use your cell phone to play your favourite tune as your alarm ring tone. If you want some fun songs that can really help motivate you in the morning.

Remember that one Desires

What is that one thing that you want in your life? What is it that you absolutely desire? Waking up with that one thought in your mind can provide you with the motivation to move mountains! We all have that one “want” that is the driving force behind everything that we do. Having this in your mind first thing in the morning can make the difference between a lackluster day and a day where you completed everything that you set out to do. This desire should never leave you. It should be with you at all times, and particularly as you get out of bed. This desire should be so grand and so spectacular that it overrides every negative or non-productive thought that may cross your mind in the morning. Think about your one desire and make it the first thought that pops into your head as you open your eyes in the morning, and watch your motivation skyrocket.

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Ross Galan, NLP Spiritual Life Coach

Ways to Motivate Yourself At Work

To succeed in the workplace, you need to be at your best, and you can only truly be at your best when you are motivated to work. With the proper inner drive, everything can seamlessly fall into place. So how can you motivate yourself at the office day in and day out? Here are 6 ways to do just that:

Create early momentum

The way that you start your day will dictate the pace of the rest of your day. So it is crucial to start with a “bang”, so to speak. You need to mentally prepare yourself for the day ahead as soon as you are out of bed. Then, you can ride that wave of momentum all the way to the afternoon. It makes a huge difference, no question about it. Psyche yourself up, go over everything that you plan on doing on that day and remind yourself that you are not only capable, you are doing it, period.

Think about your salary

It’s no surprise that money is a great motivator. However, after some time at the same job, we tend to forget that big motivator and what it brings to us. Remind yourself of the money you are getting for the work you are doing, and think about all the things that you want to do with the money. Whether it’s to buy that new car you want, or pay for your home, or save up for that great vacation you are looking forward to, never let it slip your mind that you are working for money that can help you achieve things in your life that are of great importance to you. If you work in an environment where you can actually affect your salary, such as being an entrepreneur or a salesperson, then money should be one of your biggest reasons to motivate yourself to work harder than anyone else. As a matter of fact, even if you are salaried and your income is not dependent on how hard you work, you should always work at the best of your abilities and this brings me to my next point.

Focus on long term growth

Whatever your current position, there is most certainly room for advancement. There is always some other position that you can work towards, and this can be one of the best ways to motivate yourself at work. I remember at a job I used to work at a long time ago, they had announced that they were looking for a new manager, and told everyone that they would assess everyone’s credentials and abilities over the next two months. You wouldn’t believe how this helped turn around the work ethic of certain people. The ones that really wanted the position had a huge motivator pushing them to reach for that goal. You should approach your work thinking that the higher ups are always looking for someone to promote. Trust me, that usually is the case, even if it is not said in public. So concentrating on your potential career growth can definitely increase your motivation to do stellar work and be at your very best to ensure that you do get the recognition that you deserve, and get promoted to a higher position.

Only positive talk

In a recent article about the advantage of working from home, I talked about how one of the main negatives of the office is the fact that you have employees and co-workers always badmouthing the company and bringing everyone around them down mentally. Needless to say, it is incredibly difficult to remain motivated when you keep hearing about the negatives of the workplace. There is good and bad in every office. Focus on the positive, surround yourself with like-minded people that enjoy their work and are there for a reason (such as the ones listed above), and you will be guaranteed to always be in a frame of mind where your motivation is pristine. When you allow negative discussions at work to enter your mind, you subconsciously start doubting your reason for even being there, so you think you will possess the right motivation to work properly? Definitely not, so at all costs, always be positive when it comes to your discussions about your job.
Compete with your peers


When I used to work on a sales floor, I would walk around the room looking at each other’s numbers and performance during breaks and lunches, as a way to motivate myself to do better than they were. I even remember working closely with a colleague where we would always try to out-do each other. We shattered sales records because of this. Even if you are not in a position where your work dictates your salary, you should always strive to perform better than everyone else around. Such things like being more professional, quicker at answering questions, quicker at resolving issues…these are ways that you can compete with your co-workers within your own mind in a way to motivate yourself to increase the quality of your work. Competition can lead to great accomplishments.

Personal pride & accomplishments
At the end of the day, do you want to go back home and be proud of what you have done? The way I see it, if you are somewhere for 7+ hours per day, shouldn’t this be pretty clear that this is an important part of your day and your life? Treat your job, whatever it may be, with pride and witness your motivate & your success soar! I remember once, I crossed this garbage man on the street that was just having a blast, he was singing along, smiling to people, and doing a fantastic job. That’s how we should all approach what we do. Even if what you do is not your ideal job, there is a reason why you are doing it…focus on that reason, and while you are at it, might as well make it a joyful, pleasant experience. When you can go home and be proud of what you have accomplished during that day, when you can be satisfied with your work ethic and attitude, then you are truly living life the way it was meant to be lived.

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Ross Galan, NLP Spiritual Life Coach