Pain can be the reason why people change – we certainly learn through painful mistakes and adjust our behaviour accordingly. For example receiving bad grades in School make us realize that we need to study more. Debts remind us of our inability to earn a sufficient income. It may be a bitter experience, a friend’s tragic story, a great movie, or an inspiring book that will help us get up and get on with life again. All it takes is just the right amount of motivation for us to want to improve ourselves.

It is hard to stay motivated and want to improve ourselves with the countless negative experiences that we have but it is possible. Start your self-improvement today and try these tips from A to Z…

A - Achieve your dreams, for only you can do so. Avoid negative people, things and places. Write your dreams down and visualise them.

B - Believe in your self, and in what you can do. We are all capable of greatness.

C – Consider things from every angle and on every aspect. Motivation comes from determination. To be able to understand life, you should see both sides of any situation.

D – Don’t give up and don’t give in.

E – Enjoy. Enjoy your life in every aspect, from work to social situations. Motivation takes place when people are happy.

F – Family and Friends – are life’s greatest treasures. Don’t ever lose sight of them.

G – Give more than what is required of you. Where does motivation and self-improvement take place at work? At home? At school? When you put extra effort into doing things.

H – Hang on to your dreams. You may lose sight of them occasionally, particularly when you are surrounded by negative people, but hang onto them and you realise them.

I – Ignore those who try to destroy you through negative comments or action. Don’t let other people get the best of you. Stay away from false people – the kind of friends who hate to hear about your success or even steal your success.

J – Just be you. The key to success is to be you. And the key to failure is to try to please everyone.

K – keep trying no matter how hard life may seem. When a person is motivated, he will see that the trying times are leading to self-improvement.

L – Learn to love your self. Those closest to you do.

M – Make things happen. Motivation is when your dreams are put into work clothes.

N – Never lie, cheat or steal your way in life. Always play a fair game.

O – Open your eyes. People should learn things in 2 ways – how they want things to be, and how they should be.

P – Practice makes perfect. Practice is about motivation and lets us learn ways on how can we recover from our mistakes.

Q – Quitters never win. And winners never quit – an old but very true saying. So, choose your fate – are you going to be a quitter? Or a winner?

R – Ready yourself. Motivation is also about preparation. We need to hear the little voice within us telling us to get started before others will get on their feet and follow. Remember, Noah’s Ark wasn’t built in a day and it wasn’t raining at the time.

S – Stop procrastinating. Do you want to improve your life or not?

T – Take control of your life. Discipline and self-control are both key factors in self-improvement.

U – Understand others. You know how to talk, but you should also learn how to listen. And check you have heard correctly, not what you want to hear or think you have heard.

V – Visualize it. Motivation without vision is about as much use as a boat on dry land.

W – Want it more than anything. Dreaming means believing. And to believe is something that is essential to motivation and self-improvement.

X – X Factor is what will make you different from the others. When you are motivated, you tend to put that bit extra into your life and everything you do such as family, work, friends, and so on.

Y – You are unique. No one in this world looks, acts, or talks like you. Value your life and existence, because you do not get a rehearsal.

Z – Zero in on your dreams and go for it!!!

Kerenza Faram is the author of several informative articles on self improvement. Gain immediate access to 50 of the world's most reknowned speakers and excellent self improvement courses. http://www.humdrumlife.com/successuniversity/index.html