Motivation and Mental Development

"You will be the same person you are today in five years' time except for the people you meet and the books you read!"
- Charlie "Tremendous" Jones

The people you meet
The influence of our associations with others can be witnessed in homes where children instinctively mimic their parents' prejudices, spiritual/political viewpoints and behaviours. What's interesting is that most of us continue imitating those around us for the rest of our lives. It's "monkey see, monkey do" on a grand scale! The good news, if the calibre of the people we are imitating is high, our associations work to our advantage. The bad news, if it's not, we may reap the negative side effects of our associations. How is your power of choice being used in this area? Ask yourself now, "Who am I hanging with? Who am I imitating? Who are my role models and mentors?" Now advance 10-15 years. Who will you become? Where will you arrive as a result of your current associations? If you don't like what you see, remember, you choose with whom you associate.

The impossibility thinkers
If you want to make your mission possible, don't hang with pessimistic whiners and groaning complainers. Cut them loose before their distorted, contagious attitudes infect YOU. If I were to dump a truckload of garbage on your front lawn, chances are you'd be disgusted and, if I didn't move it, you'd call the police! While this may be true, why do we allow people to dump their garbage in our minds? At the very least, choose to reduce the amount of time you spend with this crowd. I do understand you may have to spend some time with them out of necessity. Remember, however, "If you lie down with the dogs you'll wake up with fleas!" and who we become, and consequently what we attract, is always being influenced by the people we choose to associate with.

The possibility thinkers
If another human being is successful in any area of life, the question is not "Can you be successful?" but "How can you be successful?" The answer lies with finding suitable role models. By choosing to associate with those who are energetic, empowered and faith-filled, those who are already producing the results you desire, you will make quantum leaps on your path to progress and will grow significantly quicker than you would through the process of trial and error. This group consists of the few who will encourage you forward and then applaud you in your accomplishments. It embodies other winners who are also in a growth posture. As our associations can influence us mentally, you may need to set a goal to associate with those who will positively influence your future.

Along with the people we meet, our environment can also influence us mentally. A good question to ask is: "Are the environments I have chosen conducive to my mental development?" Horses wear interference blinders that remove peripheral distractions; likewise, a carefully designed environment will also enable you to get where you are going without undue temptation or distraction. We each need to program our environment in the best possible way so it will support us in our quest to make our mission possible.

The books that you read
Books can change your life! What would happen if you set a goal to read 20 minutes a day for the next six months? Reading at the pace of an average reader, in six months' time you will have read 10 books with an average of 200 pages each. Over the period of one year, you will read 19 more books than Mr Average in Australia reads! This will definitely influence how your life works out, for, as we have discovered, our input determines our output.

"As you think in your heart, so you are."
- Proverbs 23:7

As this is an extremely important area for your success, create your mental development goal now.

Mental Goal Suggestions

Areas you may wish to consider:

• Read a certain number of books within the next six months.
• Improve your vocabulary.
• Attend a self-improvement course.
• Listen to personal development coaching CDs or tapes.
• Expand your word power (an extensive vocabulary is the most recognizable common denominator among successful people despite their vocation).
• Memory development (you may wish to expand your mental capacity for better recall of information. There are plenty of courses available on this subject nowadays).
• Describe with whom you would like to associate.
• Limit television to one hour per day.
• Eliminate a specific dis-empowering thought pattern or habit.
• Spend 20 minutes a day in creative thought production.

While great teachers and philosophers down throughout the ages have disagreed about many things, they are in unanimous agreement on this: we are what we think. The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius said, "A man's life is what his thoughts make of it." Ralph Waldo Emerson expressed, "We are what we think about all day long." James Allen put it this way, "We are literally what we think." Motivation is what can really initiate you towards the goal.

Caesar Augustus