Motivation Lessons I Learned From Steve Chandler

1. -Make Small Changes. Great lives are made one tiny change at a time. You don’t have to completely turn your life upside down in order to learn a new job or to learn how to play a piano. Start by reading about the job or the piano. Learn what it takes to create the incredible sounds that come from some keys and strings inside a wooden box. Learn what that new job could do for your family and your future before you grab it. Every great painting began with a single brush stroke. Every great book began with that first sentence. Don’t be concerened about the entire thing, just the first bit of it you can touch.

   -Don’t Stop Thinking. Everything begins with a thought. Thought leads to creation and invention. It also creates Optimism. Don’t stop to think if it’s being done right, just start doing. You can always fix it later. Pessimists never get anything started because they are waiting for the time to be right. There’s never a right time, or a wrong time. There’s only Now, so start doing something. Do something small, and at least you’ve started moving forward. Hesitation only gets you run over by the next guy who’s moving in the right direction.

2. -Imitate Lt. Columbo. Always be curious about your job, your life, your world. Never be satisfied with the answers someone gives you. Discover your own solutions. Find the motives behind the things that don’t make any sense, but that we keep on doing because we don’t think about them. Ask more questions until you have the answers you need.

-Run Toward Fear. Almost all fears are not real. They live in your head in the same room as your Ego, who mistakenly tries to protect you. Find a small fear you have and begin to approach it in different ways. First, think about this fear. Visualize yourself facing up to the fear and laughing at it. Then find a way to watch that fear at a safe distance, like behind a window. I had a fear of snakes once. I made myself go to as many zoos as possible, where I watched pythons and anacondas from behind a thick glass wall. They couldn’t get at me, no matter how close I got to them. Now, they don’t bother me because I learned that they don’t care about me in any way. Fear solved.

-Drive A Library. Your automobile, or your commute vehicle, is one of the greatest places to learn anything that has ever been created. When you’re driving, you’re a captive audience. You can’t do anything but drive, but you can strengthen your mind by listening to audio books. You can get the equivalent of a college degree each year if you listen to one or two books a week. The radio should be turned off. You don’t need to hear the latest Washington or Hollywood babble. Nor do you need to hear that song for the 42nd time.

By the way, here is the link for the book. 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself