Content

• To step
• Part 1 of 2: Getting the right posture
• Part 2 of 2: Setting goals
• Tips
• Warnings

Elvis Presley once said, "Ambition is a dream with a V8 engine." Having a dream is essential to achieving success, but you don't get there by just dreaming. Being ambitious is a skill that you can develop over time and it requires hard work, persistence and most importantly, strategy. Follow the steps below for the successful pursuit of your dream.

To step

Part 1 of 2: Getting the right posture

1. Give yourself positive affirmations. Positive affirmations are statements that are almost the same as complimenting yourself. These aren't just meant to boost your confidence; they can actually improve your problem-solving skills under stressful circumstances.
   • Think about your most valued personal qualities. Do you consider yourself creative? Intelligent? Talented? Create positive affirmations related to the traits that best describe you as a person.
   • Say to yourself 10 times a day, "I am intelligent. I can use my intelligence to achieve my goals. I am creative. I can use my inventiveness as a tool to solve my problems. I am a gifted person."
   • Make sure to use positive affirmations that are realistic and related to you. Don't say something like "I can concentrate well on a task that needs to be done" if you are actually having trouble concentrating. This can have a negative effect and undermine your self-confidence. Instead, say something like "I am able to work hard towards better concentration," or future affirmations such as "I can learn to concentrate better."
2. Focus on what you can gain rather than what you can lose. Focusing too much on all those things that can go wrong will only make you more anxious and focus on what you not should do instead of what you well has to do.
   • Think to yourself, "If I train every day, I'll look great." You will therefore become optimistic and want to train enthusiastically every day. If you keep thinking, "If I don't run today, I'll get fat and don't look anymore," then you will be too worried to do the job properly.
   • Working from doubt and fear can ensure that you no longer take any action at all. Because you're so afraid of screwing it up, you may find yourself doing nothing at all, just to play it "safe". Taking no action will not get you where you want to be.
3. Get "I'm not in the mood" from your vocabulary. The idea that you only do something when you "feel like it" is poison to your success. Of course, inspiration will come in unexpected moments, but don't rely solely on inspiration to get things done.
   • When we say to ourselves, "I just can't get out of bed to exercise," we are really saying, "I can't get myself out of bed. put in the mood to exercise. "Nothing ties you to your bed or physically stops you from exercising in the morning. The real hurdle is the idea that motivation only comes from within, rather than ordinary daily efforts.
   • The most prolific artists and writers are prolific because they could rely on routines that forced them to work several hours a day, no matter how uninspired they felt.
   • Think of motivation as a verb and not a noun. Motivation is something you do consistently, not something you are going to wait for.
4. Use "if-then" planning to think about things to do. Give yourself a specific time frame to do a task, or you will find yourself putting off the task until the last minute.
   • Don't say, "I'll do that thesis later." but say, "If it is 2 p.m., than I will start writing my thesis. By deciding in advance what to do and when, you will be less tempted to postpone when the time comes.
   • Since you've already made a decision about this in advance, at two o'clock in the afternoon you're less likely to ask yourself, "Do I really need to do this now?" or, "Can't this wait a little longer?"
   • “If-Then” planning has been shown to increase the achievement of set goals by an average of 200-300 percent.
5. Think of failure as a process of elimination. It is not the end result of all your efforts, but a traversing method to achieve a goal.
   • When Thomas Edison finally created the light bulb, he famously made the statement, "I didn't fail; I just found 2,000 ways not to make a light bulb."
   • Both Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant have been top scorers in the NBA several times. What you may not know is that they both also top the list when it comes to the number of missed shots of all time. When you try many things, you will fail at something several times. Don't be afraid to make mistakes or fall short. Failure is only permanent if you stop trying.
6. Enjoy your successes, but don't dwell on them. This is called "resting on your laurels," and can cause you to become complacent about what you have accomplished instead of focusing on your next achievement.
   • It is important to enjoy what you have achieved but not get stuck in it, because there is a chance that you will be less likely to achieve the next goal. Because success is in, you can enjoy it and it is a reward, you soon find yourself back to square one and not daring to explore further, afraid of failing.
   • Wallowing in your success is usually only useful if you have not yet established the next goal. When you work towards a goal, however, enjoying your success for too long can cause you to stagnate and come to a halt.

Part 2 of 2: Setting goals

1. Set specific goals in terms that can be measured. Similar to the "If-Then" schedule, setting measurable goals can give your brain a concrete place from which to make progress.
   • It is always important to try to do your best, but "trying to do your best" is not the best method of measuring your success. Instead of saying, "I'll do my best to walk two km today," you say, "I'm going to try to walk these two kilometers in less than ten minutes today."
   • Since "doing your best" is a subjective statement, you will find yourself using this phrase more often if you find yourself having a hard time moving forward with the task. For example, if you find yourself running out of breath while running, you could say, "Okay, I'm done. That was the best I could do. ”A specific goal will help give you that little push to accomplish something you've imagined in your head.
2. Create a specific strategy to achieve your goal. Now that you have established a specific goal, map out detailed instructions on how to achieve that goal.
   • For example, “To run 2km in less than 10 minutes, I will jog 10 laps around the tennis court near my house, every day for two weeks. Then I will go 20 laps around the local reservoir (which is much larger is) jogging. "
   • Even people who have specific goals will not eventually achieve them if they don't have a concrete plan to do so. If there is no strict plan for achieving your goal, then you do not know if you are doing enough to achieve it.
3. Set difficult but realistic goals. It is feasible to be able to run a mile in ten minutes if you are healthy and have a fair amount of jogging experience. But trying to run a mile in ten minutes while suffering from asthma or physically recovering isn't realistic.
   • End goals shouldn't be so simple that you don't have to try hard for them. If you can run a mile in ten minutes, try it now within 8:30. Setting goals that you can easily achieve is very good for your confidence, but it does not increase your performance or help you grow as a rider.
   • Your end goals should also not be so high or difficult that you cannot possibly achieve them. For example, trying to run a mile in four minutes is possible for Olympic track runners, but probably unattainable for the average jogger. Setting goals that are too difficult can make you frustrated and angry, or it can make you not take your goal seriously.
4. Have short and long term goals. If you only set yourself long-term goals, you can lose sight of them along the way, making you less purposeful and unmotivated. Short-term goals help you remember why you do what you do.
   • Achieving a goal increases your self-confidence, you feel more competent. Setting various short-term goals and achieving them in succession show you a direct improvement in your performance and increase your motivation.
   • For example, run a mile within nine minutes this month and work your way up to 8:30 minutes next month. Your long-term goal may be to run the mile in seven minutes by the end of the year. You achieve success more easily if you work towards it in a good trend.
5. Plan the next goal right after you reach one. A recognizable characteristic of ambitious people is that they do not stop striving to make progress.
   • This strategy is especially important to combat complacency (as described in the previous section). Immediately setting a new goal focuses your focus on work instead of wallowing in complacency. While it's important to rest between two end goals, plan the next one as soon as possible.
   • Once you can run the mile in seven minutes, plan to run a short marathon in the next two months. Use the remaining weeks to rest your legs and plan a strategy along the way to achieve your new goal.
6. Give yourself a concrete reward every time you meet a goal. For example, have a T-bone steak every time you run a mile in under seven minutes. Rest and reward are just as crucial to success as hard work and perseverance.
   • Stress can be productive in small metered amounts because it helps you focus and stimulates the brain. However, too much stress will slow your performance. This negatively affects your confidence, which will hinder your progress and eventually cause you to give up.
   • Being constantly stressed is not only bad for morale, it can seriously affect your physical health. Chronic stress can be bad for your heart and lead to diabetes or asthma. It can also make you more prone to colds and flu.
   • Rewarding yourself is not the same as wallowing in your success. Rewards are a form of emphasis and will increase the likelihood that you will continue to pursue your goals. You don't stop to admire your success, but emphasize your hard work and give you motivation to keep going.

Tips

• Be organized. It's easiest to keep your goals in mind when you're not held back from getting things done, the clutter in your room or the boxes of books you haven't sorted out yet.
• Make lists. Stick them to your bed or in the bathroom - where you are guaranteed to see them!

Warnings

• Some people will call you a workaholic. Don't believe them. Keep your social life healthy but keep chasing your dreams and brush off those mean criticisms.