The story of William Kamkwamba does not start as most success stories do:
William dropped out of school, when he was 14 because his parents were unable to pay the tuition fees (about $80 a year). To continue his education he went to a local library, where he found a book called Using Energy. This is how he got the idea to use wind – the only resource available in abundance in Malawa –to generate electricity for his family. When he brought home bicycle parts and other materials that he was able to collect in a local scrap yard for his project, his parents thought that he was crazy. His neighbors openly made fun of him. 14-year old William ignored them and kept on working…
What William Kamkwamba’s story has in common with other success stories is an unstoppable determination and the burning desire to make things happen.
Watch the video below and see proof that lack of money, lack of education, lack of resources or the lack of proper “tools” are not the defining factors that identify whether or not we will achieve our goals. It is our desire to succeed that counts the most!
What force directs our behavior and our actions? What makes us tick? Why do we spend, save, find a hobby, procrastinate? And why do we sometimes do irrational things that are not in our best interests?
The answer is simple – it is not logic that drives our actions. It is our emotions.
Anthony Robbins – an amazing motivational speaker and self development expert, brilliantly explained this concept in the video below. He has dedicated 30 years of his life to learning what motivates people and what it is that makes the difference in the quality of their lives and, I believe, that he succeeded!
Watch this 20 minute inspirational video below and then skip down to my final question.
So here is an important question:
What is driving YOU? What makes you resourceful? What makes you creative? What makes you daring?
When something bad happens to us, our first thought usually is “Why me?!”, “What have I ever done to deserve THAT?!”
Sometimes we think that we know the answer to this question, but most of the times we are left absolutely clueless about why bad things happen to us – good people!
Some say that it could be our bad karma catching up to us. Some believe that we are given difficulties so that we could learn our lessons and become wiser, stronger and, as paradoxically as it may sound, happier than we have ever been. And some claim that life is not fair. Period. And the sooner we accept it, the better.
But then there is a little group of rare people, like W Mitchell, who make you realize that “it is not what happens to you, it is what you do about it”that matters in the end.
And these are not just empty words. This is hard-earned knowledge from a man who survived through the toughest setbacks (including plane crash that had left him paralyzed). And yet he was able to transform these obstacles into exciting new opportunities, becoming a true inspiration for everyone who comes in touch with him.
Watch the video below and get your boost of inspiration for today!
W Mitchell, a former Marine, is now an award-winning keynote speaker, who empowers thousands of people to take responsibility for life’s inevitable challenges and to embrace the power of taking charge. He is also believed to be an inspiration behind Jake Sulley, the main character in AVATAR.
In this world of constant distractions, staying focused on your goal is not easy.
However, there are 3 techniques that can help you to maintain your focus, your energy and your optimism while pursuing your goal.
1. List the reasons “WHY” do you want to accomplish your goal.
Put it in writing, don’t just say it in your head. Try to come up with at least 20 reasons. I know it’s a lot, but the more reasons you’ll find the stronger your motivation will be.
It is easy to lose focus and motivation, when we are faced with multiple distractions, set-backs, and day-to-day issues.
By keeping positive rewards and compelling reasons in a forefront of your mind, you will noticeably improve your ability to stay focused on the goal.
2. With every decision you make, ask yourself “Is this decision going to bring me closer or further away from my goal?“
Every minute we are faced with multiple choices on what to do.
We can watch TV or run a few miles in the park.
We can have a hamburger and French fries for lunch or we can choose a chicken breast with grilled vegetables.
We can complain about our problems or we can do something about them.
When you start comparing two activities in your mind, it becomes a lot easier to make right decisions and stay focused on your long-term goals.
3. Surround yourself with reminders.
Whenever, you feel discouraged or distracted, reminders help you to get back on track.
There are tons of small things that can help us to keep your attention focused on our goal throughout the day: a poster on the wall, a picture at your desktop, a coffee mug with an inspirational quote, a statement of your goal on your bedroom wall or your bathroom mirror, a small token or a symbol of your dream that you can carry in your pocket.
The more your mind will stay focused on your goal, the faster you’ll get the result!
We all want so many things at the same time: a beautiful house, a nice car, lost of money, loving relationships, successful career… and so on. Unfortunately any worthwhile, challenging goal requires sustained effort.
And that’s where things get difficult.
Doing something for a day or two isn’t hard. Starting something new is always very exciting. But after a couple of days when a project stops being new, the excitement slowly fades. As a result we move on to a new goal, never finishing what we’ve already started.
This pattern of behavior slowly transforms itself into a habit. And we end up with nothing… Except for stress.
Not only that.. In the process of chasing after our multiple desires we lose energy, time and money.
There are two main qualities that you need to develop if you want to be successful:
Focus and consistency.
If you want to have a life of your dreams, you should realize, that you can achieve ANYTHING you desire, but you can’t achieve EVERYTHING at the same time.
As we live in a must-have-it-now society we are accustomed to switching from one goal to another with a speed of light. However, our time, energy, effort and money are all limited resources. When we divide those limited resources between our multiple wishes, desires and goals, we simply can’t accomplish any significant results.
What we are left with is hardly enough to create a momentum. So our motivation begins to wane, because we don’t see how we can ever reach our goal.
Big long-term goals require 100% of your focused energy. You can achieve any goal a lot faster, given that you stay focused on it.
You might have dozens of projects and goals in mind, but only a few of them will have a noticeable positive effect on your life.
When you begin to think in terms of priorities, things will start to fall into place and your focus and productivity will increase instantly.
Prioritizing is easy. All you have to do is to compare two goals in mind and chose one that is most important to you at the moment. Your present life and well-being is a result of choices that you make EVERY single second. Please, choose wisely!
Because if you keep on doing what you have always done, you keep on getting what you’ve always gotten.
