....from 'Poetry Splash!' e-zine Issue 010
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=*= THE MOTIVATIONAL CHART FOR POETS!!=*=
By: Arvind Passey.

"If you believe you can, you can.  Belief is the ignition switch that gets
you off the launching pad!" I had read this quote in a newspaper a few
days back and wondered if these words would help all those who wanted to
write poems but could not, would not for some unknown fear or reason. It
is not just composing a poem but getting anything in life that is a
reality ... and the keyword is: MOTIVATION.

Allow me to give you 7 great secrets that the current Captain of the
Indian cricket team 'Saurav Ganguly' believes in. Three years ago he had
stuck a piece of paper inside the box in which he keeps his kit. Look at
where he has reached today. Cricket and creativity may be played on
different playfields but they demand similar motivational elements.

1. Your mind is the most important factor. If you dream of something and
believe in it, it will happen.

2. If you're prepared to learn from failures, you easily reach where you
want to reach.

3. Courage is the most important mental quality in life.

4. You must educate yourself because only through education can you
channelise your mind properly.

5. Every day try and learn new things. Keep your eyes, ears, and mental
faculties open.

6. If your job is totally free of problems, thats no job.

7. If you learn to discipline your thoughts you will see that things
around you are also happening in a disciplined manner.

(Source for the list: India Today, March 13, 2000)

Let me add a few relevant quotes to add and to give Ganguly's formula a
sanction from the masters themselves.
 
"I want by understanding myself, to understand others. 
I want to be all that I am capable of becoming."--Katherine Mansfield

"You have powers you never dreamed of.  You can do things you never
thought you could do. There are no limitations in what you can do except
the limitations of your own mind."--Darwin P. Kingsley

"If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading."
--Lao-Tzu