Stairway to Success: The Complete Blueprint for Personal and Professional Achievement

15

GET SET

I have found enthusiasm for work to be the most priceless ingredient in any recipe for success.

—SAMUEL GOLDWYN

At the call “Get set!” the racer’s muscles tense like a taut spring ready to be released. As tension gives a spring motivation, so the tense muscles give the runner a source of starting energy. As you prepare to follow your action plan, you too need to build up a store of energy to propel you toward your goals. You can give your self that starting boost by following these steps:

1. Cultivate morale sources.
2. Create positive stress.
3. Manage negative stress.

CULTIVATE MORALE SOURCES

You can’t act enthusiastically when your morale is low. Neither can you act creatively. Research by Dr. Marian Diamond, an eminent authority on the brain, shows that when your morale is low day in and day out, the creative part of your brain becomes thinner. When your morale is high day in and day out, the creative part of your brain thickens. This means that your ability to think creatively is tied directly to your morale.

Morale is influenced by the presence of endorphins, which are substances that work on the same segments of the brain as morphine. They kill pain and elevate the mood. Our bodies secrete endorphins, and some of us are better than others at this. People who grow up in stable households with warm, supportive parents usually have a well-developed capacity for secreting endorphins. A child who gets lots of physical affection develops a strong capacity for producing ...