I’m no stranger to feeling stuck in life.
I’ve trained with some of the best coaches on the planet during my 20-year sports career, and again when I competed in the 2008 Olympics.
But when I wanted to start my own company, to share my knowledge about motivational psychology and training with others, it wasn’t as easy as I’d thought it would be.
Launching a new business is not easy. You have to give up the comforts of a stable paycheck to delve into the unknown, an unpredictable abyss. A lot of things keep us from making the leap—things like fear and insecurity. And one thing above all the rest: motivation.
Related: 17 Motivational Quotes to Help You Achieve Your Dreams
When I looked back on my days as an athlete, I understood what was different. I remembered what (or who) made me push myself even when I didn’t want to. The difference was, as an athlete, I had structured days and a coach to report to. Structure keeps us focused and a coach keeps pushing and challenging us.
Thankfully I passed this stage and I founded Onbotraining, an online coaching service that helps people achieve their goals. I decided to collect the lessons I’ve learned along the way and to share them with others, like you, striving to better themselves.
So here are my 10 best tips for achieving anything you want in life.
1. Focus on commitment, not motivation.
Just how committed are you to your goal? How important is it for you, and what are you willing to sacrifice in order to achieve it? If you find yourself fully committed, motivation will follow.
2. Seek knowledge, not results.
If you focus on the excitement of discovery, improving, exploring and experimenting, your motivation will always be fueled. If you focus only on results, your motivation will be like weather—it will die the minute you hit a storm. So the key is to focus on the journey, not the destination. Keep thinking about what you are learning along the way and what you can improve.
3. Make the journey fun.
It’s an awesome game! The minute you make it serious, there’s a big chance it will start carrying a heavy emotional weight and you will lose perspective and become stuck again.
4. Get rid of stagnating thoughts.
Thoughts influence feelings and feelings determine how you view your work. You have a lot of thoughts in your head, and you always have a choice of which ones to focus on: the ones that will make you emotionally stuck (fears, doubts) or the ones that will move you forward (excitement, experimenting, trying new things, stepping out of your comfort zone).
