* Write things down.

There is something almost magical about writing things down. It becomes a contract with yourself that your tricky brain is quite hesitant to break. That is why 'to-do' lists are so effective. They concentrate your thinking on what is important.

So if you have been thinking vaguely about setting up your own Internet business, for example, but haven't quite managed to summon up enough motivation to actually get started, write a business plan. Make it really detailed, with a timeplan. Break each stage of business startup into steps. Write down exact date each step has to be done by. Sign and date it.

If you go to that effort, you are 80% of way there. And you will have done more than 90% of everyone else who is vaguely dreaming about their own business.

* Appoint a conscience.

Ideas are easy to break, commitments are harder. When you have written down your plans, share them with someone whose approval you value.

If you have a close friend, family member or colleague that will act as your conscience, you are far more likely to succeed than if you try to struggle on alone.

Your conscience doesn't have to do anything except check out how you are doing once in a while. Let them share your dream and taste your excitement and when you have a bad day (and you will) call them up so they can remind you.

* Reward yourself.

Often, when I am writing, a gremlin in my mind starts to nag at me do something, usually inconsequential, else. Sometimes, if I'm unwary, that little voice wins. Then I find hours go by and I get nothing done. But if I catch it in time, I make a deal with demon. 'Okay,' I'll say to myself, 'I'll go and make that coffee/ check out that website/ read that magazine, but only AFTER I've finished this.'

It sounds silly, but it works. The demon only wants to know you've been listening.

* Reinforce through affirmation

People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing -- that's why we recommend it daily.

>>> Zig Ziglar, business coach and writer.

If I told you to sit on side of your bed each morning after you wake up and say, 'Today I am going to get a serious illness', ten times over, you would think I have gone crazy.

Why wouldn't you do it? Because you are afraid it might come true.

So, if you believe in power of words enough to not tell yourself negative things, how come you don't do opposite? Are you afraid that good things might come true as well?

Reaffirming positives is immensely powerful. The old 'every day in every way I am getting better and better' may seem dated now, but idea was sound. Instead, try this: before going to bed, pick something that you really want to achieve tomorrow. Write it down, in detail. Put it beside your bed. Before going to sleep, picture yourself having already done it. Feel how good you feel. Experience warm emotions. Then, when you wake in morning, read your notes over three times. Remember how good you felt dreaming that you have already completed task.

Your motivation for job will be sky high. And pretty soon, you'll be flying to stars instead of staring into space.

There are two general types of these mechanisms. One functions when target, goal or answer is know and your objective is to reach or accomplish it, and other function when target, goal or answer is not known and objective is to discover or locate it. Your brain and your nervous system operate in both ways.

When you know your target, you also know when you are on course, and when you are off track. You accomplish your goals by going forward, making errors, and continually correcting them and moving forward once again. Your built-in goal-striving mechanism works for you. Once pattern is established, it will work for you automatically. The key, however, is in knowing that this mechanism is always working for you. Oh, you don't think so? Well, it is.

You know story of "Little Engine that Could", don't you? You'll remember it's affirmation, "I think I can, I think I can." It had a servo-mechanism rooted in positive affirmation. It focused on goal and engaged fully in accomplishing it without doubt or question. It could have chosen to say to itself, "I don't think I can, I don't think I can." and it would have come to a complete stop. In both cases, mechanism was trained and it performed. If you are not reaching your goals, look carefully at training you are giving your servo-mechanism!

Keep It in MIND!