Without appropriate action you won't get any results. You know the results you'd like to achieve. You know the actions you should take to help you achieve them. Yet you don't take action.

Hence you get no results.

Then you complain that nothing good happens to you and so on.

If this sounds like you, fear not, you are not alone, and help is at hand.

There is a simple reason for everything you do or don't do. Everything you do is either to avoid displeasure ('pain') or to gain pleasure ('benefit').

If you analyze your past and current actions, you'll discover this same principle running through each one. There's no exception - it's the way things are.

Thus if you want to motivate yourself to do something, it makes sense for you to take advantage of this principle and make it work for you.

How?

By focusing on what you stand to gain by doing a certain thing.

I know some people tell you to think of what you stand to lose by not doing a certain thing, but be careful of that because you get what you focus on.

It is more powerful and more beneficial for you rather, to think of, and focus on what's in it for you if you take a certain action. Doing this also activates the law of attraction, which, in its simplest form, states that 'like attracts like' or 'you attract what you think about'.

Incidentally, this is the way to motivate others as well. If you work with others, or are in a position of authority (eg parent, manager, etc), this principle works great too. Simply tell the person in question what they stand to gain, how they stand to benefit, by doing a certain thing. Do this in a supportive and encouraging way, and watch what happens.

It works - if you do.