1. The Time to Wait is Over
'I'll get started when the kids are out of school.' 'I'll do it when the kids go back to school.' 'I'll wait until the time is right.' The time and situation will never be perfect, and, though you may sit still, time will not. Putting off your goals until everything is in place may leave you waiting for the rest of your life. If you have the ability to begin work on your goals today, don't wait until tomorrow.

2. People Have Done More, With Less
Remember this every time you feel like the cards are stacked against you or you don't have what it takes. You not only have the goods, but you most likely have more than what thousands of other successful people had before you. With much less than what we enjoy today, people have created lives of health, wealth, success, and happiness.

3. Study the Best of the Best
Learning about the lives of ordinary individuals accomplishing extraordinary things can quickly inspire and motivate. With a little effort and research you can find stories that relate to the challenges you're facing and use them as a blueprint for your own plans of improvement.

4. Motivation Station
We all have movies that motivate us or make us want to reach for more. Make a collection of these movies and create your own motivation station. Whenever you are in need of a quick boost, and have two hours to spare, you'll have the perfect solution within reach.

5. Motivate Others
When you help others, they will in turn be helping you. If a friend or family member is in need of a little motivation, make it your personal goal to help them achieve success. Motivating your friend will help you to learn about motivation from an entirely different viewpoint.

6. To-Do Lists
Create a task list on Sunday night that covers the upcoming week's goals or tasks. Even if you don't think you'll have the motivation to do a certain project, list it. Your list will keep you up to date on responsibilities and aware of your goals.

As time goes on, move incomplete tasks to the top of tomorrow's list. This will guarantee that each item will be finished even if time runs out on its scheduled date. If you find that items are consistently being moved to the top of the next day's list, you may have to reduce your workload.

7. Find a Role Model
Don't reinvent the wheel. Find others who are willing to share and listen to what they have to say.

8. Clean Your Thinking Space
Take a few minutes to clean your thinking spot. If you do your best thinking in the den, for example, make sure the room is organized and uncluttered. A disorganized environment will create a disorganized mind; a clean environment will make for crisp and focused thinking.

9. Write Out Your Excuses
Make a written list of the reasons you normally use for not doing something that you should-or want-to do. Consider each area of your life: your job, your family, your money, your health, etc.

If you're not working as diligently as you should be, what's your reason?

Next to each item on your list, brainstorm for solutions. For example, if you wrote down that you put off your goal because you have a full-time job, you could write that you still have five to six hours per night to work on your tasks after work. If you're smart enough to come up with these excuses, you're smart enough to tear them apart.

10. Make it a Game
We are hardwired to meet a challenge. So when you have to complete some simple chore or project, make it a game. This will reframe the situation from a dreaded job to a personal competition. Have to clean the house? See if you can do it in under two hours. Need to write that paper? Finish a paragraph before the next commercial break.

11. Make a Round Tuit
When are you going back to school? When are you going to start working out? When are you going to write your book?

Such questions often spark a common response: When I get around to it.

Well, the time has come to create your very own Round Tuit. Cut out a circle from construction paper and place the word Tuit (pronounced to-it) on the front in big, bold letters. Keep your round tuit handy as a constant source of motivation.