WAYS TO MOTIVATE YOURSELF AND SUCCED IN YOUR PLANS

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• Put your plans on paper.  Spell out your goals and ways to reach them. 
• Be specific.  The advice you give yourself must be such that you can put it into practice. 
• Break the task down into small pieces so that you can handle them easily.
• Establish checkpoints on your progress as well as rewards. 
• Remind yourself of the benefits you expect from your tasks completion. 
• Avoid temptations and circumstances that might sidetrack you. 
• Recognize your limitations.  Don’t set unrealistic goals. 
• Take advantage of your own energy peaks! 
• Use negative motivation.  Remind yourself of the consequences of inaction. 
• Keep a time-control budget.  Don’t let one task take control over others. 
• Set deadlines and hold yourself to them. 
• Make an honest distinction between “I can’t” and “I don’t want to”. 
• Get started now.  Don’t stall. 
• Improve your self-persuasion ability.  Learn the difference between reasoning and rationalizing. 
• Be optimistic.  Your chances for success will increase. 
• Decide how you want to start, what needs to be done first. 
• Read, especially literature related to your situation. 
• Use self-signaling devices – notes, signs, cues, reminders. 
• Promise yourself rewards. 
• Use the stimulation provided by good news to do extra work. 
• Recognize conflicts and make a choice. 
• Give yourself the right to make mistakes.  No one is perfect.  
• Exercise your sense of humor.  Laughter indicates a realistic point of view.