“Big changes don’t have to be hard, but they do have to start with a choice. This is where real change begins. This is where you take control and choose how to live your life”
The Four C’s Of Motivation: Choice, Courage, Challenge, Commitment
We all have choices in life. Choices are important because they are a critical part of self-development. Connecting with your core values allows you to be the most authentic version of yourself in all aspects of your life. They are the principles of your behaviour and are central and defining to who you are. Discovering what your core values are can increase your confidence and strengthen your decision-making skills. Identifying your core values can help you make major life transformations, because when you make a decision based on what is true to you, you will trust that you have done the right thing. The reality is, if you plan on being anything less than you are capable of being, or anything other than true to your own core values, you will probably be unhappy all the days of your life simply because you are not living with integrity. Most values will originate from your source of beliefs and will often fall into one of these categories:
- Personal Values: Humility, Integrity, Compassion, Accountability & Discipline
- Relationship Values: Trust, Loyalty, Family, Honesty & Lifestyle
- Societal Values: Humanity, Dignity, Justice, Collective Responsibility & Education
“Everything you need is deep within you. The strength, courage and confidence to change your life you already possess. You just need to look within yourself to find it”
Courage is from the heart. The root of the word courage is cor – the Latin word for heart – In one of its earlier forms, the word courage meant, “To speak one’s mind by telling all of one’s heart”. Courage is about vulnerability and being brave enough to show up in the midst of all your insecurities and say, “Here I am…”
Courage has the potential to be one of the most powerful solutions to many of your personal problems. It is the quality of being ready and willing to face negative situations whether emotionally or physically with a mental and moral strength. It is a willingness to persevere and the ability to take action in the face of adversity. The best way to help courageous people to succeed is through encouragement.
Courageous people speak out against injustices. They put aside their fears of failure and take the first steps towards victory. Even if that means facing rejection, criticism from others or attempting things they have not tried before, despite their fear of looking foolish. It is the power of the mind to overcome fear.
Without courage, the opportunity to succeed diminishes, simply because you don’t have the ability to persist. Personal courage is the one value that provides you with the stamina and drive to follow your values in the most difficult of times and against the greatest adversity. It is also what will drive you when you want or feel you need to make personal changes within yourself. Courage is the most important of all values because it is the one that makes all the other values possible.
One of the primary inhibitors of moral courage is fear of the consequences. The difference between confidence and courage is, in confidence you believe you can do it, with courage you give it a go, despite your fears and yet without courage we cannot develop confidence. Fear can be paralysing and it is very easy to get attached to your comfort zone, yet it is courage that can set you on your own unique path of personal growth that can span an entire lifetime.
Our biggest personal growth comes from overcoming problems and situations that challenge us and that is when fear has the potential to set in. Fear of failure, fear of the unknown, avoiding new experiences to circumvent uncomfortable feelings all hinder our potential. Instead of moving forward, our personal growth is stunted because we choose to stay in a safe place, never risking, never evolving. Nothing is forever except change and yet we can choose to take a step toward making the change as we learn to be the best version of ourselves that we can.
- Acknowledge your fears, don’t sweep them under the rug
- Confront what you are feeling
- Use positive self-talk
- Set and achieve SMART goals
- SMART = Small – Measured – Achievable – Realistic – Timed
- Find your purpose
- Look in the mirror, acknowledge what you want to achieve and go for it
- Get comfortable with being uncomfortable
- Practice ‘Mindfulness’
- Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we are doing
- Make being brave a habit
- Recognise that we all need support. Sometimes you might need a Personal Coach to take you where you want to be
- Embrace failure, because you know that you have the ability to turn around and get right back up and try again
“The greatest challenge in life is discovering who you are. The second greatest challenge is being happy with what you find”
A challenge is a call to ourselves to participate in something that is going to draw us out of our comfort zone, embrace the exhilaration of overcoming obstacles and encourage us to master our mind. When we choose to seek our own happiness, we accept the challenges life throws at us, while choosing to keep moving forward, enjoying the journey along the way.
- Everyone has to deal with challenges and while some situations are extreme, don’t allow yourself to become a victim of circumstances. Sometimes the anxiety can take a hold of you and you feel that the challenge has control over your future. Try not to fall into a state of worry and fear. Recognise what needs to be overcome, focus on the task ahead and be purposeful. Make a plan. While you don’t know what the future will bring, you can always plan ahead. Know that you are not alone.
- Everyone needs support at some stage in their life
- Ask for help and accept it
- Think big, don’t allow yourself to be limited
- Feel your feelings deep down as they will help stimulate you
- Have a positive mindset
Commitment unlocks the doors of the imagination. It allows vision and gives us the right motivation to turn our dreams into reality”
Think about the commitments you have in your life. What do they all have in common? A promise! A commitment is a promise to bring the best version of who you are to the table each and every day.
It is a promise that says, “No matter what, I will do my utmost to deliver. To you, to me, to my family, to my community. I promise to do the best that I can.“
Committed people have priorities and they stick to them. They develop a routine that slowly and steadily allows them to work towards their goals. They are loyal to their family, their friends, their job, their sports team and most of all they are loyal to themselves because they are determined to succeed. Commitment is not easy. It is a pledge that you give your time and energy to something that you believe in. To practice commitment you need mental resilience, particularly in the face of adversity.
Commitment without motivation though, means that while you are determined to achieve your goals, you will find it difficult to do so because you will unlikely experience any joy in what you are doing. External factors may influence your drive, but real commitment comes from internal motivation. You must feel personally driven to persevere because it’s something that you want to do and not because it is expected of you.
When you make a commitment, it is a non negotiable promise. You have to look at it realistically and avoid making promises that you cannot keep. The act of taking responsibility for the commitment that you have made is a principled lesson in character development.
At the end of the day, your ability to be open and honest shows courage in the face of adversity. It shows that you can honour your commitments when you make a promise, take responsibility when necessary and have integrity in all that you do. Living your life through a set of values will help you strive to be the best version of yourself that you can be.
When you live true to yourself, you create healthy relationships, including the one with yourself. As you grow and evolve as a human being, you will learn that the answer to what is true to you exists at the core of who you are. You just need to give yourself the space and time to listen and learn.
You have to be honest, you have to be vulnerable, you might be scared of what you see, but the path to real and lasting change comes when you learn to quiet the inner critic, step into your courage, acknowledge your vulnerability, look deep into yourself and know without a shadow of a doubt, that you can achieve everything you set out to do. You can be the person that you want to be.
- Find your internal motivation
- Learn to focus
- Raise your self-awareness
- Always do what is right
- Keep your promises and make promises you can keep
- Hold yourself responsible
- Be honest with yourself
“If your mind can conceive it and your heart can believe it, then you can achieve it”