Do You Want Some Motivation?
photo credit: AdamKR
There are those days when we are running away with excitement about whatever it is that we want to achieve.
When I started my current job role last year I hit the ground running. Within a few days I’d made positive contact with a fair few organisations and trusted in the process when writing introductory emails detailing my proposals, backed up by upbeat and honest reference to how the work I was proposing had worked successfully in the past.
Getting positive responses feeds energy and motivation. This works well, however the momentum doesn’t last forever. Thinking about this recently it reminded me of running cross country when I was a school boy.
On the word “Go” most of the lads would sprint off whilst in full view of teachers and onlookers, striving to be in the lead, anxiously looking round to see who might catch them. It wasn’t long before they would get out of breath, slow down and stop to walk. I used to start at a jogging pace and try to get a rhythm going. I hated stopping to walk because I found it hard to get going again.
Comparing this with trying to get through life with some sort of success, there are a few pointers here.
- Sprinting off ahead at the beginning is fine to do provided we can anticipate a period when we will slow down to catch our breath or even stop for a brief period.
- Take the simplest path. There’s no use running through quagmire of mud when there is a less energy sapping path by the side. Stay focussed.
- Keep moving forward. You can catch your breath without stopping completely even at a slow walking pace.
- Don’t give too much focus to how others are getting on. Be aware of them and perhaps use them as pace makers, but don’t waste too much energy by trying to emulate. You are likely at a different stage in your journey. You can catch them later.
- Don’t give up. You’ll just be left out in the wilderness.
- Find a pace and rhythm that has everything synchronised.
- Finally, it doesn’t really matter if you are not first to get to the destination, just so long as you get there eventually. The joy is in the achievement.
I’ve been writing articles on a regular basis, pretty much every day now for almost 4 months. Part of what keeps me going comes down to connecting with people by giving and receiving feedback. Many people write about all the widgets and strategies we can use to help get more exposure. I use some of those. My experience is that the widgets alone won’t make all the difference. Here is what works best for me.
- Writing consistently every day.
- Not putting myself under undue pressure to create tip top content, just writing to a standard that I am happy with and considering that everything I write is work in progress.
- Searching for inspiration, advice and networking with other writers. That means granting feedback and acknowledging others. The gift of connecting and having understanding, empathy etc.
- Acknowledging feedback that I receive and expressing thanks for it. Any feedback and affirmation of a gift to treasure.
- Remaining upbeat whilst not pretending that everything is great all the time. Sometimes we come across unexpected knock backs. I’ve written about loss in the past. It has it’s place and reflects reality.
I’ve been practising with some tips and widgets that others use. Whether they really work or not I confess I’m not entirely sure. Some are obvious, such as using other social media such as Facebook. That shows up in my stats. Here are others that I use more out of fun than anything else.
- Advanced Marketing Institute Headline Analyser. This gives feedback and percentage score on trying out headlines. It’s interesting to play around with phrases for a headline.
- Google adwords. This is useful for key words and tags. I don’t always use it, but again, it is fun to play around with.
Oh. That’s it. There were only 2!
If anyone has any other fun things they use to try to get more exposure, please let me know.
What do you do to keep motivated?
Final words today
Quantity is vanity, quality is sanity!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYoERWmZdZ8[/youtube]
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Do your eyes get really tired from reading as mine do?
Do you have trouble proof reading your own articles and get frustrated when you have missed a grammatical error in your content?
I’ve found a great way to overcome this. It is simple and very time saving. I recommend using text reading software. I’ve tested a product called Natural Reader. The voice produced on it is very easy on the ear. It is also very inexpensive. It saves so much time and effort stops that temptation to skip content, especially when reading an instructional article. You can just close you eyes and listen if you wish. Here is the link.
Natural Reader.
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