This is a personal blog. If you consider this piece useful for your personal development, I am glad.

I have decided to have to a motivation planner this year.

What is a motivation planner?

It is used to recall and take notes of special and positive events that had occurred and will occur during the year. We all need some form of ‘pick me up’ every now and then. I do not want to have to arrive at the time of need to get a confidence boost. It is a form of self-motivation which does not depend on changes to the environment to effect it.

How will I do it?

To do that, I will divide the year into 4 quarters. I learnt this from following quarterly reports from the Housing Development Board (HDB) and the school’s term planner. Each quarter shall consist of 3 months (January to February, March to June, July to September, October to December).

In each quarter, happy dates are noted:

– Anniversaries

– Birthdays

– Pay checks

– Personal achievements: studies, enrichment

– Life changing events: marriage, new baby etc

If I have bad days during the month it would be noted in Green to signify the birth a new phase in life to look forward to at future date.

Why do I need to have a motivation planner?

1. So you won’t feel alone. I remember 3 year old kids feeling frightened and experiencing separation anxieties when they joined kindergarten classes. Some of them become so frightened they pee in their pants. The feeling of being left alone to face a new experience can be so overwhelming that teachers and parents have to build his emotional confidence for a few weeks. I had stage fright in the final competition of Mandarin story telling contests and I had no idea where it was coming from. Especially after having been on stage of 5 years before that, I never knew it could happen to me. I still get stage fright now whenever I had to come on stage to perform.

I think it is the feeling of being all alone. It is a feeling of loneliness yet not alone. By remembering happy moments or events, I allow positive energy to fuel positive activity.

2. To understand growth as the process is taking place. We can be so caught up with the daily activities that we forget to see how we’ve grown overtime. Some of us eat more and gain weight. By the time we realise it, we have put inches on our waist. Ironically, we are able to pinpoint the problem by that time damage has been done. “Ya! I have been eating lots of chocolates and muffins past few months.” You can’t help but sense a lousy feeling creeping up inside as you say this. A motivation planner serves as a remedy for such potential misguided feelings. You’ll feel motivated not to indulge in activities that can be damaging to your personal welfare in the months to come.

3. Vitamin supplements for the soul. A motivation planner is just like vitamin supplement to your daily food consumption. When someone praises you for a job well done, it motivates you, doesn’t it? A feeling of being recognised for your effort. Take it well and you will grow deeper in wisdom and confidence with the experience you’ve gained.

4. As a control for positive and negative emotions. When we come under pressure to perform or fail to perform to our expections, it is easy to fall prey to negative emotions. What better than to have your personal motivation chart right in front of you to remind ourselves of our personal achievements? Keeping negative emotions at bay and allowing positive ones to flow through.

What will it look like?

I write it down with pen and paper on my year calendar. I am using one that is sent to me from a friend in England. Each month is divided into 3 parts: postcard, recipe and days of the month. I write down the achievement of the month on the postcard, and mail it to a friend. Then I try out the recipe of the month. Probably the nicest gift I have received so far.

What do you think of motivation planner? Have you done something similar to encourage and motivate you?

There is someone I follow on twitter, Brad Issac , who inspires me to create this motivation planner for myself. “Expect to be motivated”, as it says on his profile. I did.