“If you are not getting as much from life as you want to, then examine the state of your enthusiasm. Norman Vincent Peale

I once came across a study of motivation that said that the older we get the harder it is to motivate ourselves.  For some reason over time people tend to lose their motivation to do things.  I have noticed the same tendency in my own life.  When I was younger it was not a challenge to motivate myself to do the things that I needed to do but now as I am older I see find myself looking for outside sources to help motivate me.  Outside sources to help stoke the fire of my enthusiasm.

I consider enthusiasm as the fuel that motivates us to do certain things.  All of us have things that we have to do.  Unfortunately these things many times are things we do not enjoy doing.  The challenge is to somehow find the necessary motivation to be enthusiastic about what we must do.   To be able to find something that motivates us from a state of passiveness to state of activeness.  It is sometimes difficult but it is achievable.

A few suggestions to help you in the area of motivating yourself to be enthusiastic:

1. Find the positive side of each situation. In every situation there is a positive side and a negative side.  The negative side is usually the most visible because it grabs our attention but the positive is always present it simply speaks in a more quiet voice.   Do what you can to bring that positive side to the surface.
2. Incorporate hope into the picture.  Hope is a powerful force of motivation because enthusiastic people are hopeful people.  Spend some time dwelling on why you can succeed and painting a future picture of a positive hopeful outcome.
3. Find a few outside sources to fuel your motivation.  In the market today there are countless sources of materials, books, seminars, etc designed to help us stay enthusiastic.   Many times our ability to stay enthusiastic is a direct result of the amount of these materials we have access to.
4. Get yourself a motivation friend.  A motivational partner is someone we can go to when we need to be motivated.  They motivate us when our enthusiasm tank is low and we motivate them when theirs is low.  Everyone needs a friend like that.

Enthusiasm is essential because it gives us the fuel stay on task and motivated to achieve our goals and dreams.

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Questions:

• Consider the situations that you are currently facing.  What are the bright sides of these situations?
• List below of three outside sources of motivation that you can incorporate to keep your enthusiastic tank full.
• How can you be a motivational friend for a close friend of yours?