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Wednesday, 16 January 2008

the trouble with me

is that I'm an excellent procrastinator. If it was a job, I'll be filthy rich without even trying.
Consequently - I still haven't made any progress with my thesis, surprise surprise. So I've been stumbling upon
websites on top of websites for some desperately needed motivation.

Today, I came across this excellent, excellent site which gave me exactly what I sought for.
The postings are truly refreshing - and woke me up from the slumber I've put myself into for the last couple of months. Here's the tips they gave:

(DISCLAIMER: here's the page where I got the following from)

(1) Work With The Compass, Not The Clock

Delay your gratification but keep your eye closely on your objectives. Most importantly, don’t compare with your peers. It’s easy to get frustrated if you’re constantly watching how long your pal take to graduate, generate his first $10,000 or move up the corporate ladder as compared to what you’re doing.

Spend more time instead evaluating if you on the right track in the beginning. For example, are you’re embarking on the right course of study? Is your marketing strategy effective for your business in the first place? Do you like what you’re doing in your job? Once you’re clear of the direction you’re heading, you’ll be less focused on the urgency to perform “up to speed”. Remember. You work with the compass. Let others work with the clock.

(2) See How Far You’ve Gone, Not How Far You Have To Go

Staying motivated throughout this seemingly long route to success can be quite a challenge. Especially if you’re working on it alone. Instead of counting down the number of years you’ve to go before graduation, the amount of dollars to reach $10,000 or the days to the next promotion, take a moment to flag down the milestones you’ve accomplished thus far. Celebrate each one of them with a nice pat on the back and top it up with a nice reward. Don’t forget to practice the art of daily motivation too. As you continue to do so, you’ll find that you’re still counting.

But this time, you’re counting your blessings. Not what you’re missing.

(3) Don’t Doubt Your Beliefs Or Believe in Your Doubts

At times, you may be tempted to judge if you should have taken this route instead of that seemingly quick and easy path. Don’t. Because although you may able to find a lot of quick and easy schemes, it’s very unlikely you’ll find one that sustains. By doubting that you can achieve success working a particular slow but impeccable plan, your resultant actions can ruin the efforts that you’ve put in so far.

Take for example, liquidating a well designed index funds portfolio to invest in riskier instruments or giving up a course of study just because you’re not performing well in the first year. At the end of the day, those who succeed are the ones who persist, never once doubting their beliefs in the process.

Now I've got to make myself focus.

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