I love reading or listening to 'kick butt' or 'get off your butt' motivation. The effect of the motivation usually lasts for at least a day! Nothing wrong with that. One day with motivation is worth two days without it.

Recently, I listened to a brief audio by one of my favourite kick butt authors - Larry Winget. He asked the question: "Can you do anything you want?"

His answer, more or less, was: "No, you can't and anyone who tells you that you can is stupid!" He went on to explain why he considered some motivational gurus to be stupid. They give false hope. They tell people they can do anything they want when it is patently obvious that they cannot.

Not everyone is physically suited to becoming a ballet dancer or mentally suited to becoming a quantum physicist. We are just not physically capable of doing some things and we are not mentally capable of doing other things.

However, Larry does accept that we are all capable of doing more than we think we can and more than we are doing right now. 'More' is one of the great motivational keywords. If you are writing one article a day, why not write two?

I tell my martial arts students that, if they want to be outstanding, they should do more than everyone else. Do more kicks; do more elbow strikes; do more stretching, attend more classes etc.

At the end of his talk, Larry commented that most people want to have more and the way to have more is to do more. He ended with a typical call to action:

"So get off your butts and do something."

Even getting off your butt and doing nothing is better than sitting on your butt and doing nothing. The physical exercise of getting upright and moving around can only be a good thing!

For some people who do not exercise, just standing up rapidly could be enough to give them a heart attack. They need to practise getting up slowly at first so that their bodies gradually become used to the extra strain.

Larry is probably too harsh on the self-help gurus who say that you can achieve anything you want. Such gurus assume that their audiences will have enough commonsense to realize that they can't literally do anything they want but that they might well tend to underestimate what they can do. These gurus are only exaggerating to make their point forcefully.

However, Larry shows them no mercy. He states that they are making stupid comments which mislead people into thinking they can do more than they can.

Many critics, on the other hand, have made just as many stupid comments by telling people that they can't do what they can.

The Beatles were told that the day of guitar groups was past. Bob Dylan and even Elvis Presley were told to give up singing. Fortunately, they ignored those critics who told them they could not do what they wanted to do.

I have always wanted to be a folk singer but one incident in my school days set me back a long way. I was thrown out of the school choir at the age of eight.

Someone in the choir was growling and not singing. The teacher walked around and listened carefully as the choir sang. After a short while, the secret was out. The growler was me!

Larry might well have told me to embrace reality and give up the dream of being a folk singer and I did, eventually give up this dream.

But now, much later in life, I am not sure I was right to do so. With hard work and some expert tuition, I might have improved to at least the same standard as some average singers. I could also have created my own songs and been able to take liberties with my own tunes!

I could have made up for my mediocre singing by outstanding guitar playing. In later years, my 'growling' might have become more acceptable. In the end, I played the bagpipes in a pipe band and the drums in a pop band!

The truth, as usual, is probably half way between the two points of view. We probably can do some things that we appear to have no talent or aptitude for. Hard work and a lot of confidence can make a non-talented person appear talented. Hard work can create, or at least discover, its own talent.

On the other hand, we do not want to waste a lot of time on things that we are incapable of achieving. In that case, we should pay attention to Larry and embrace reality rather than fantasy.

Whatever happens, let's literally get off our butts and do something! It may at the very least help prevent us having a heart attack at some point in the future.

Getting up from the floor or from a chair is in itself a great anaerobic exercise. You are lifting your body weight up against the force of gravity. Try sitting, lying down or squatting and then getting to your feet ten or more times.

Do this every day and you will become a much fitter, stronger and faster person. Start by getting up only once or twice and then gradually increase the number of times you get up.

When you have to put papers away in files, look on this chore as an opportunity to exercise. Get off your butt or bound to your feet for each piece of paper you have to file and you will not only get fitter, you will get more organised.

The ability to get up from the floor fast and then run or fight back could save you from being badly hurt or even killed.

On May 14th 2008, a 47 year old policeman called Mick Regan was tripped up by a disgruntled football hooligan in Manchester after the UEFA cup final. He and other policemen were retreating from a violent gang of 'football supporters' who were throwing bottles and other missiles at them.

He was soon surrounded by what was described on the news as 'a pack of wolves' who kicked, punched and stamped on him until his body was covered in bruises. Later, with his hands still shaking, he described how he felt the kicks going in on his body and legs. He commented that he soon realized that he would suffer serious injury if he did not get up:

"Something in my mind was saying: 'You've got to get up! You've got to get up! I've got to get off the floor and get out of here." He had to 'get off his butt and do something'.

Fortunately, the mob was distracted momentarily and he was fit enough and desperate enough to get up and run for safety. One hooligan saw him make his break for freedom and ran at him to launch a kick.

The kick missed and another man (also thought to be one of the football supporters) rushed up saying that he was a British Army Medic. This man helped him to the street where the other police were congregated. He was safe. If he had not got off his butt, he could have been badly injured or even killed.

To sum up: Practise metaphorically 'getting off your butt' and taking action as often as possible and you will almost certainly achieve greater success than before. You might not be able to do anything you want to do but you will become able to achieve more than you are currently achieving.

Practise literally and physically 'getting off your butt' and you will become fitter and stronger. You will also prepare yourself for any attack in which you are knocked to the ground. By getting up speedily and taking action by running or fighting back, you could save yourself from severe injuries and possibly death.

If you make the effort to get off your butt, you may find other people rushing, like the army medic, to assist your efforts to achieve your goals.

'Getting off your butt and doing something' will allow you to kill two birds with one stone. You will achieve more and have more than before and you may well live a longer and healthier life. You will, in this way, have more opportunities to make the most of the talents you have and to create the ones you haven't.

What can help you 'get off your butt'? Repeating key words in your mind like "You've got to get up! You've got to get up!" or "Do more! Do more!" If you say these phrases fast enough, you will exclude the negative phrases that say: "Just stay down and keep a low profile. Don't struggle to do the impossible."

Dylan Thomas has already told us what to think as age and death approach: "Do not go gentle into that good night; Rage, rage against the dying of the light"

The light can die at any point in our lives whenever we give up the attempt to do more, be more and achieve more than we already are. So 'let's get off our butts and do something' to make sure that we will, at least, go down fighting to achieve our goals and dreams.

Try saying to yourself: "Get off your butt and go for a walk or run."
"Get off your butt and do some weight lifting."
"Get off your butt and hoover your room."
"Get off your butt and attend that class."

You could even "Get on your butt and do something!"
"Get on your butt and read a great book."
"Get on your butt and write a great book."

You could also:
"Get on your wheelchair and have a brilliant career like the inspirational Stephen Hawking."
"Get on your wheelchair and go climbing in the Andes like a group of brave
young people in the 'Beyond Boundaries' program on BBC2."

Don't forget to 'get on your exercise bike' and travel several miles in your front room. Better still, watch an educational video as you cycle.

Get off or on your butt and take action as often as possible and your life will become what it was meant to be - an extraordinary one.

John Watson has written several ebooks on the importance of your mindset in any activity you are currently engaged in. Your mindset is the key to your achievement. Check out 'The Midas Method Millionaire Toolkit' at http://www.midasmethodmillionaire.com