If you don't clean your teeth daily

Motivation is like bathing or personal hygiene, if you don't clean your teeth daily or have a bath then you are going to quickly lose that nice, clean smell aren't you.

- If you allow negativity to impinge on your thoughts (if you read the papers, listen to the news or watch the television - is it any wonder!!)
- If you allow other people to pour rubbish onto your ideas
- If you don't have a clear goal

It can be almost impossible to stay positive - all of the time. I know I can't, and I am perhaps better than most.

So what do you do?

- Limit your association with the things and the people who drag you down
- Try to do something good for yourself once a day - spend time with yourself doing what you like to do. I have a half an hour with a book, or i will go and get a massage every couple of weeks or go to a new area I've never been to before and try out a different coffee shop. Little things that allow you to put back the positive.
- The other thing I try and do, and believe me when I say it has taken me years to get through to this point - but I used to constantly churn over what other people said, or even didn't say, but what I thought they might say. I would suffer as a result - poor sleeping patterns, weight gain/loss, stress - and for what? Nothing ever happened, nothing ever came of my worry - other than ulcers. Now I don't worry quite so much. Occassionally I have to slap myself and put things back into perspective, but it has to happen a lot less frequently these days. It is almost impossible to be positive if you are worrying over nothing. But like I said, this happens a lot less frequently than it did.

So today I would like you to make me a promise. Today I want you to remember that just as you need a daily dose of personal hygiene, you also need to remember the daily dose of motivational medicine - and I'm not just talking about this e-zine, but whatever you choose to put a positive spin back into your life. And just as you plan your working week, make time to plan your daily half - hour personal time sessions. Everything is important.