By Steve Garber
I’m going to start by breaking the rules of positive motivation by sharing some negative statistics: Did you know that 40 percent of Americans make New Year’s resolutions, but only 8 percent achieve them? To be blunt, 60 percent of us don’t bother to set goals, and four out of five of us fail at those we make.
For example, gym memberships are through the roof this month. The health club industry says that sales increase by 35 to 50 percent in January and a full 80 percent of those members stop using their memberships by the second week in February. The list could go on.
You yearn for sustainable success. You want the health, fitness, money, career, home and lifestyle – and you want them to last.
So how do you achieve this sustainable success? Last month, I wrote about vision and its power. When you have a real vision in which you believe, you can often find resources you did not expect to find.
Take, for instance, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has talked about how hard it was to transform himself from a skinny kid in Austria to the youngest Mr. Universe in history. He says that it didn’t take the “discipline” that you may think. Instead, it was the power of his vision that kept him working toward the outcome that made him very happy, satisfied and rewarded. He worked hard, but it wasn’t a chore.
Vision is incredibly uplifting. Have you ever looked down in any way when you are “envisioning” something good? You look up – physically at things and people. Vision keeps your spirits up.
When you are passionately committed to your powerful vision, people can decide to join with it or not – but you have to really want it. Passion carries you through when the going gets tough, the days get long, the exercise or diet restrictions get challenging or the extra effort at work starts dragging you down.
You also need positive people involved in your vision and your life. Nothing can be achieved without a team of people. Notice if the people around you are positive and supportive. Help them see the positive in themselves; help them see how your vision benefits them and others.
With vision, passion and people, everyone will profit. And they will each sustain the results. There really is no other way!
Steve Garber is director of Third Level Ltd. Contact him at 561.752.5505 or sgarber@thirdlevel.com.
