Be Your Own Cheerleader
Self Motivation.
I was honored to learn that one of my wife's closest friends started reading my BLOG recently. Kathy mentioned that her friend asked how I maintain such a positive outlook and if I really followed all that I suggest here. Kathy said she told her that I am human and I do slip up (sometimes more than I would like) but that she's always there to give me a good smack in the right direction to get me back on track.
The truth is....I am human and I don't always have the most positive outlook on life. It's hard to have a positive attitude all the time especially living in today's society. We are bombarded with negativity in the media. Society has lost its ability to connect. People are miserable at the jobs they work in. The economy is very rocky and unpredictable for most. Hollywood prefers to give us dark stories rather than the inspirational feel-good movies they once did. I could go on and on...but I won't.
Life is negative. It would be easy to pack up the tent and join the bandwagon of negativity and call it a day. I won't. Why? Because if I did, I think the overwhelming sense of nothingness would kill me.
Single individuals can change the world. You right now have the power to affect another person - your kids, your parents, your spouse, your co-workers...a complete stranger. That power can be used for good or bad depending on the outlook you carry with you. In order to have the right outlook, you have to be willing to pick yourself up when things look glib. It's in those times that you not only find what drives you but it's how you become the example from which all others learn and follow.
I have learned to stay positive through self-motivation most of the time because I have become my own cheerleader. I realized pretty early on in my entrepreneurial career that no one was going to be waiting for me at the end of a long day or at the conclusion of a big deal to pat me on the back and say, "Great job kid!" No one was going to be there to encourage me to try harder when the chips were down. Nobody was going to pick up the ball from where I dropped it and drive it across the goal line for me.
The only person, in the end, I can honestly count on is me. I have to be my own motivator, my own coach. I have to be willing to let my heart override my mind when I think the impossible can't happen. Finally, I have to be there to pick myself up, dust myself off and cover those scrapes and bruises and push myself back into the game despite the score.
Sure I am lucky to have an amazing support structure with my wife and kids, my parents and the literally hundreds of people who have become Ripplers since I started this thing. However, it's me that I am most dependent on. It is me that has to listen 24/7 to the negative thoughts that my brain likes to dish out constantly and overcome them. It's me who's alone driving to that important meeting while my heart races with thoughts of rejection. It is me that has to pick myself up out of bed and take on the challenge of a new day.
If I can't be the loudest cheerleader and motivator of my actions then most assuredly I would never listen to anyone else. I have to take point in all aspects of my life - attitude, motivation, drive, desire, friendliness...and of course all things Ripple if I don't want the negativity of life to invade my very soul.
And so do you.....pick up the pom-poms and get to work! You need to have some self-motivation.
Ripple On!!!
ICYMI: Launch Pad Monday