'Ready! Tomorrow I start...' Sounds familiar? How many times did you say that in your life? Let me guess: a few times when you decided to lose weight, another few when you decided to run daily, probably several times when you decided to stop smoking, to keep your desk in order, to write an article per day, to exercise daily, to learn to play piano or to paint... Shell I continue?

No, there is no need to continue. It happened to me also many times, don't worry!

But what can we do to get permanent motivation to follow a certain plan, doesn't matter for which goal, big or small. Sometimes we succeed to start, do our work for a few days and then forgot completely about our firm decision as if it had never existed.

If you search the net for this subject, you will find a lot of tips and programs and advice more or less complicated to help getting self motivation: vision boards and self-made short movies, motivation plans, training programs, hypnosis, subliminal recordings and many, many other tools.

After I had tried without success a lot of tips and tricks to become motivated to work for myself, I got the secret of self motivation. Surprisingly, I had known it before, but I hadn't paid attention to it. And, for sure, you know it too.

The big secret of getting self motivated for anything is the emotion involved in the decision. If you take only a rational decision, it won't work. But, if you take the decision under an emotional situation, you have big chance to achieve your goal.

You will give up smoking after having a heart attack, start to exercise daily or to lose weight when you fall in love or when the wedding party is approaching, learn a foreign language when your company is sending you to manage its operations in a foreign country or practice some new skills when you lose your job and need to do something else.

There are also situations when a small event has a so big impact on you that you make a big decision for all your life. I remember Jim Rohn telling a story about a housewife asking her husband to give her10 dollars. He asked her 'what for' she needs the money and she felt so badly that she decided that this will never ever happen again. It was the decision which changed radically her life. The lady became in a few years president of a big company and started earning much more money than her husband. Only a rational decision wouldn't get her there.

Sometimes we need to encounter dramatically situation to wake up and take big decisions for our lives. A bankruptcy, a divorce or even the death of someone close to you can strongly motivate and lead you to a big change.

Many years I was unhappy with my job. I had felt myself like a prisoner for life in one office working for other people. I disliked it deeply without seeing any possibility to change this situation. I tried to start a part time business but I didn't have a strong motivation for it. Days passed without any progress. One day I lost my job. It was in 2005. I had to do something to survive and I discovered that always there is a way for everything you wish.

But I think it is not necessary to go through an unpleasant or dramatically event to become motivated for self development. What you have to do is to find out what you really like in life, what gives you an emotion when you think of it - could be a passion for something or a certain goal which you feel close to your heart - and to make a plan to achieve it. You will have to stretch your imagination and to leave all negative thinking behind. Just think what if... What should I do (theoretically!) to achieve it? This process could take several days or weeks. Be patient! In this way, you will get used with the idea of change and start to ask yourself: 'Why not?'

After going through this, make a realistic plan. You don't have to do too much. Each day - one step. Give one hour per day to your target goal. Make out of this a habit. Building new habits helps a lot in the motivation process. The progress will come in time. Your task is only to stick on your daily routine. Then, suddenly, the magic will happen.