1) Challenge your negative thoughts, and replace them with positive ones.
2) Ask your boss for specific objectives to help you measure your success.
3) Think about the achievements in your life.
4) Become aware of your thoughts.
5) Look for team opportunities.
6) Examine your strengths to understand what you can build on.
7) Create a vivid picture of what it will be like to achieve your goals.
8) Set achievable goals for yourself, work to achieve them, and enjoy that achievement.
9) Ask for interesting assignments.
10) Try not to work by yourself too much.
11) Develop statements that you can repeat to yourself throughout the day. These statements should remind you of what you want to achieve, and why you will achieve it.
12) Practise positive thinking until you automatically think about yourself and the world in a positive way, every day.
13) Buddy up with people who you trust to be supportive.
Ex. 5. Complete these sentences with words and phrases from the text.
a) Self-motivation is connected to your …
b) If you develop a general level of self-confidence, …
c) Having good levels of self-assurance, …
d) Positive thinking is closely …
e) You will be less likely to leave outcomes...
f) If a person sets a goal, …
g) When you have several goals to achieve, …
h) Surround yourself with …
Ex. 6. Below you will find a table where five main characteristics of a goal and their definitions are given. Match the characteristics and their definitions.
| Characteristics of a goal | Definitions |
| Clarity | Goals should be attainable, and should be relevant, i.e. they should contribute in a significant way to the major objectives you're trying to achieve. |
| Commitment | If the goal involves complex work, make sure that you don't over-commit yourself. Complex work can take an unpredictably long time to complete. |
| Challenge | Monitor your progress towards your goals regularly to maintain your sense of momentum and enthusiasm, and enjoy your progress towards those goals. |
| Regularity of feedback | Goals should be difficult enough to be interesting, but not so difficult that you can't reach them. |
| Sufficient respect for complexity | Effective goals are clear, measurable, specific, and based on behavior, not outcomes. |
If you have your own ideas on how to interpret each characteristic, express your opinion.
Focus on reading
Word building
Ex. 1. Try to learn the other family members of each word. What nouns and/or adjectives can be formed from the verbs below?
to motivate to believe to direct
to succeed to think to choose
to challenge to predict to achieve
Ex. 2. Complete the sentences using appropriate words from exercise 1.
a) A key part of building … is to start setting goals.
b) Goals should be ….
c) Self-efficacy is a … in your own ability to ….
d) Positive … is of importance in self-motivation.
e) Your life tomorrow will be the result of your attitudes and the … you make today.
f) One should set … goals for himself.
g) Your …will come true if you think that you won’t succeed.
h) When you start setting goals, you will have a clear sense of ….
Word meaning
Ex. 3. Identifying the part of speech is helpful in working out the meaning of a word. Study the way the words in bold type are used in the examples below. Decide what part of speech each word in bold type is.
a) Prioritize and establish a schedule that will help you to succeed.
b) Challenge your negative thoughts .
c) Effective goals setting helps to build self-motivation.
d) When you expect positive results,your choices will be more positive.
e) Your thoughts can have a major influence on whether you succeed or fail.
f) Try to look at things positively, especially when you are ready to give up.
g) If you put in enough hard work, you will succeed.
h) Self-confidence is closely connected to positive thinking.
