We all want to prosper, to succeed, in the various areas of our lives. Often, when the word ‘success’ is used, people’s thoughts go to the idea of success in the area of finance or business. But, life has many other areas in which we can succeed:

• Health
• Spiritual Growth
• Happiness
• Personal relationships
• Education
• Sports

Welcome to Personal Fires

These are just a few of the many arenas in which we all have opportunity to grow and excel. Not all of them are important to everyone; many people have no interest in sports, for example. But, no matter what areas of life you want to work on, there is one thing that is a constant:

If you want to make a change in your life, you will have to take action. And taking action requires one thing above all else: Motivation – that personal fire that burns within, driving you to do something.

Motivation is the ultimate key to action. With the proper motivation, you can accomplish feats you cannot imagine today. Without motivaton, you will do nothing.

Let’s throw in one crucial concept right here; there is no motivation except self motivation. There is no person, place, thing or event outside of yourself that motivates you to do anything. It is your perception or expectation of the results of an action that causes you to act.

Here’s an example:

You are walking down the street when you spot a mean neighborhood dog running toward you, snarling and barking. This dog has been known to bite people in the past. Quickly, you look around, and climb a tree, out of reach of the dog. Was it the dog that motivated you to climb the tree?

No. It was your expectation of what the dog would do to you if he caught you. Your instinct for self-preservation is what motivated you. Your subconscious believed that the dog would do harm to you – could potentially even kill you. If you did not value your life, you might have simply stood there and allowed the dog to attack you.

The action taken in the example above is one that most people would agree to be in your best interest. However, we sometimes do things that others would question. We sometimes take action in ways that appear not to be in our best interest.

In his book, “Looking Out for #1″, Robert Ringer argues that everything we do is because we subconsciously believe it to be in our best interest.

• Do you dress appropriately for work?
• Do you eat when you are hungry?
• Do you stop your car at red lights?
• Do you brush your teeth in the morning?

The motivations behind these activities are clear enough. You dress appropriately for work because you need the money the job provides. You eat to sustain your energy and keep your body alive, etc.

However, the motivations behind activities like the following are not always as obvious:

• Going shopping with your wife, even though you hate it.
• Giving money to a friend, even though it means you will have a hard time paying bills.
• Working extra hours without pay.
• Donating time, money, food, clothing, etc. to a charity.

The motivations here might be maintaining peace at home, getting positive recognition from friends or authority figures, or just building good karma. None of these actions would seem to result in measurable benefit to you, and might even cause you harm (you could end up in the streets if you can’t pay your rent), but your subconscious believes they are in your best interest.

It’s when actions seem to have no basis in rational thought that motivations come into question:

• Commiting suicide.
• Running red lights on a busy street.
• Robbing a bank without a disguise.
• Confronting that neighborhood dog.

Irrational thought processes trigger irrational actions. Most of us would never consider suicide, but that person’s subconscious still believes it to be in their best interest – perhaps thinking, “They’ll be sorry now,” or “I’ll be a hero for this.”

So, the issue becomes:

How to train the subconscious mind to make better, more rational decisions than those it’s been making to this point?

PersonalFires.com hopes to provide resources and insights aimed at doing just that.

Change your thinking, change your future.