Motivation..

What keeps you motivated?

Ever felt that you’re biting of more than you can chew? That you’ve been so high-strung (running at a fast pace) that you’re close to "burning out”? If these are feelings/thoughts you have, welcome to the club of humanity. Training at least 25-30 hours a week, on top of other commitments like school and such, I am definitely guilty of this. In addition, growing up in an Asian/Singaporean environment, which is so results-oriented and demanding, the struggle is (extra-upsize-confirm-plus-chop) real!

Whatever your profession/dilemma you feel you’re caught in, I hope to inspire and encourage you to take that step of faith and continue to pursue your goals/dreams no matter how unfavorable the circumstances might seem.

5 P’s that keep me going!

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Politeness Do this with a genuine heart. Many discussions often go from debates>shouting matches simply due to the wrong choice of words! This helps to prevent and even diffuse arguments/disagreements; composed and confident people can catch and keep people’s attention as they are kept on task. I like to add a simple “thank you” or “please” in my day-to-day interactions with the coffee shop helper to even bus captain, these small gestures go a long way and have even made ones day at times! After all, you’d never know.. You could be talking to the next (insert important figurehead). Making a good first impression never hurts!

Punctuality **Arriving on-the-dot does not count** I often arrive at least 5-10 minutes early for my meetings. This eliminates the anxiety of being late. The consequence of being early: Calmness & Collectivity In addition, you won’t forget to bring things (you’re thinking if you’ve left anything at home already have you). In the long run, this would improve other others perception of you: likely resulting in you being entrusted with more tasks and businesses.

Playfulness Why so serious? One must always being able to strike a balance between being too playful/serious; or the consequences would follow: -Too playful: people don’t take you seriously when you interact with them, very important especially if you need to get your message across to the other party. -Inversely, being too serious usually results in others not wanting to be around you as you’re “no-fun”, or a “party pooper”. Whatever you call it, it’s never nice to be left out or ignored. I try to engage in friendly, low-stake competition, especially during training, as it’s easy to become too “serious” at times. (Disclaimer: No reimbursement from me if you lose something precious to your buddy..) Striking a balance between both promotes stress relief and lightheartedness. After all, who doesn’t love positive vibes?

Positive Self-talk

Things are only as complicated as we make it to be! How often have you pondered over things that aren’t actually needed to be worried about? (E.g. someone not texting you back..)

The beauty lies in sophisticated simplicity. I find that the gravity of the situation (difficult/easy) is entirely up to oneself. Instead of seeing things as challenges, I like to take them as stepping-stones that lead me closer to my goal. On top of planning how my day goes, I like to begin the day with a short time of reflection, which allows me to focus my thoughts before I start the day. This is especially important it you wake up on the wrong side of the bed!

Practice

All in all, knowing these various pointers are not good enough (unless you plan to teach social skills) Being human, we all make mistakes. However as we learn from them, we in turn would grow in maturity as a human being: being too shy/afraid to make that first step results in people never progressing forward in life. I try to step out of my comfort zone at least thrice a day. Bear in mind that there’s no such thing as being STAGNANT? One can only improve or deprove. The choice is yours, what shall it be? No one loves a hypocritical leader. This is especially if you’re a leader in your organization as it would only build a healthy working environment relationship. You can only expect others to follow after being modeled for. Conclusion Just as it takes practice to learn how to swim (unless you’re a fish), having substantial knowledge and a plan alone is not enough. Developing and polishing the combination of people skills will increase !!Time to P(ee)!!