Do You Burn?

Some of you may find this shocking, but I have written a book. Besides randomly blogging about chocolate and touring Walmart, I do have a day job. I do motivational speaking and this book is about how to keep yourself motivated. Look at this sweet cover:

It's a gorgeous book - my designer, Larry Lynn, is a rock star - and it has all sorts of questions and stories to help readers live their lives on fire. Woowee, I say!

I'm pretty excited and I think the timing is great - a new year fast approacheth. (I didn't use any old English in the book, so don't be scared. I didn't use much new English either. I work a little fast and loose with the rules of grammar as you know). The book is cool because it gives you six steps for setting yourself on fire. Not literally. I mean, who needs a book for that? Gasoline, matches, that's it.

What are the steps?

First you have to really want to be motivated and fired up. What? You think this stuff is easy? If it were easy, we'd all be happy and living our lives to the fullest. Getting fat is easy, staying motivated is hard. When you want it badly enough, move to step two.

Step two is waking up. I believe most of us get so caught up in our busy routines we miss our lives. Years fly by us. Think of your next major birthday (mine will be 45 - good God), maybe you will be 30 or 65. Think about what it will be like to be that age if you continue on your current path. Are you good with that? Years ago when I played that out I was living in Fayetteville, NC renting an apartment. My next major birthday was 40. I thought, "Holy smokes, I don't want to be 40 and still renting an apartment in Fayetteville! AAIIEE!" I woke up, moved to Raleighwood and bought a house. Yay!

What do you want for yourself? Better health? Children? More friends? Better work? Wake up now and start working on it - or go back to sleep and miss your own life. It's up to you.

Step three will help you stay awake - you have to conquer your fear. Fear is the biggest barrier we face to staying motivated. We are afraid to live. We are afraid to tell someone we love them, afraid to ask for a raise, afraid to look for a new job, afraid to travel alone, afraid to do something we have never done, afraid of rejection, of criticism, of embarrassment. You have to get through your fear (which exists only in your mind) so you can take the next step in having a great life.

Step four is set some red hot, exciting goals for yourself. A new year is coming, the timing is perfect! In 2008 I paid my house off, in 2009 I became bionic, in 2010 it's time for a big trip. I don't want to pass through this life without having seen Greece or Italy or Spain or so many other places. I'll decide where I'm going soon. But if I don't, guess what? I won't go anywhere and another year of my life will slip by. What about you? What would you regret never doing? Get on it - you don't have forever. Stop living like you do.

Step five is belief - you have to believe you can save enough to go on the trip, get the time off, start the business, have the baby, run the marathon, lose the weight - whatever it is that you want. Because if you don't believe it can happen, you won't even try to make it happen. And it never will.

Step six is action - you have to do something. We have become masters of activity with no purpose - how many hours have we all wasted surfing the net or watching TV or playing Facebook games. That's great, but unless one of your life goals is having a virtual farm, what the hell are you doing? Did you know that if you save $27.40 a day that's $10,000 a year? Little actions toward your goals add up. But you have to have a goal and they have to be the right actions. Most people think a lot about exercise, but won't walk around the block. Action toward your goal is the only thing that's going to make a difference in your life. That's it - that's the real deal. Stop thinking, dreaming, journaling, tweeting, and start doing.

2010 is a brand new year. What are you going to do with it?