Inspiration, Motivation and Determination are the Keys to Goal-Setting Success

Know yourself, said the ancient Greek oracle. Others have said that to know yourself, your "inner spirit," is to know God (in whatever form you imagine that higher intelligence to be - including your "higher self"). The word "enthusiasm" derives from the Latin, meaning basically to "have God within" you (en-theos).

You need to know what makes you tick. What does that platitude really mean? It partly means to know what it is that inspires you. Again, let's specify that. Remember the last time, or an important time, in which you felt inspired, charged, revved up, or maybe just really "on top of things." I'm not saying these are all the same emotional or psychological state. I'm just saying, think back to a time when you were having what psychologists call a "peak experience." Whenever you felt way better than you normally do, for whatever reason.

Now find that reason. Trace it down. Pinpoint what exactly it was. Was it a comment a co-worker made? If so, what did this do for you? Get at the inner structure of your psyche.

Once you start tallying up all of these "ticks" or things that "set you off" in a really good way, try to recreate them, or set up the stage for them to happen again. Also, the next time you are in or having a peak experience, try to prolong it. Figure out what it is that "ruins" it for you, or when you start to "come down." Why? Can you get rid of that thing, or mitigate it somehow?

The more peak experiences we have, the easier it is to stay in touch with our higher self and the easier it will be to achieve our goals. I think we make many goals when we are in these higher states, and whenever we fall back down to lower states, we have a hard time accessing the psychological mechanisms that allow us to act toward our goals.