What We Get Wrong About Motivation
You watched an inspiring YouTube video, you saw an inspirational quote, you watched a life-changing movie, and now you want to go out and change the world. You feel so motivated to go and do good that you have so many ideas going in your head you don’t know where to start. Then two or three days pass and you’ve done nothing. You’re back to living the same life with the same habits with the same routine and nothing ever changes?
Why is that? You were so ready to take action that it was bound to happen, nothing was going to stop you but it did. What stopped you from taking action?
It’s not really that something stopped you, rather it was something that wasn’t within you to get you to take that first step the change.
Why is it that some people need to go to motivational seminars year after year to get their yearly injection of motivation and hype while some people go to one and that’s all they need to change their lives? Why is that?
It’s because… depending on the person, they’re getting externally (from outside forces) motivated which only lasts a limited time. It’s like when you get a sugar craving and you eat a chocolate bar to settle the cravings for the time being, but that craving is going to keep coming back time and time again until you do something about it.
The people who don’t need that constant external motivation have found their internal (from within) motivation, which never dies, it lasts forever. These are the people who don’t need much of a push, a slight one, to kick themselves into gear to change their situation whatever it may be.
This is what we get wrong, it’s the approach, it’s the fuel that lights our fire. It’s not that we don’t have a fire within us (we all do) but most of us are throwing the wrong fuel on our fire which is causing it to light up like a wildfire only to go back to a small weasel fire not so long after. And then we have to keep finding that fuel to create that wildfire motivation again and again and now you’re spending most, if not all of your time just finding fuel to keep the fire going and you’re actually doing nothing with it. Finding fuel becomes and feels like a productive thing when it really isn’t. You’re stuck in a loop.
When we find the right approach, when we find the right fuel, our fires stay high, they stay strong, they stay clear, they stay hot. VERY hot. And… they never burn out. And as you keep finding the right fuel when needed, the fire will only grow and grow and never back down until it reaches its potential and accomplishes what it’s set out to do. Does that sound familiar?
Why can some people change instantly and get up at 5 AM, 7 days a week, 365 days a year for 5 years straight and go train without ever skipping a day? Ask Michael Phelps, that’s what he did to become a champion in his own right. Imagine what his internal motivation was…
Or Usain Bolt, training for 20+ years just to run 100 meters in under 10 seconds, did you think he had strong internal motivations? You’re damn right.
Remember to drive a car you must be inside it for it to keep going, you can’t drive a car on the outside unless you have a remote control… but those batteries will soon run out.
What is your drive? What’s your internal motivation? There is no fixed answer, this is a highly personalised process. Everyone’s should be different and unique to them and their life.
Find what’s driving you inside and you can go on forever until you need a quick fuel refill, but that won’t be much… it’s just a quick reminder for what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.
Find your “Why?”
Until next time,
Brody
