Motivation is an extreme super power that we all can possess but it can be fleeting at times and for some people it can be elusive. Here I would like to breakdown how the power of motivation can help us to create and build a more meaningful life, along with some tips on how to generate motivation when we need it the most.

How important is motivation?

Motivation, in my opinion, is the single most important thing that we need in order to accomplish the myriad of things that we set out to accomplish. On a simple level, if you are hungry for your favorite comfort food, you will go to great lengths sometimes to get it. Your motivation is extremely high to travel further just for the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich that you like so much (that’s me).

On a bigger level, when you are getting up in the morning and do not really want to go to work, but you know that the electric bill isn’t going to pay itself, you are highly motivated to get to work. We have a great motivation to have the things that we want and need in life so it can mean that we work a job that we may not be satisfied at in order to get that paycheck that can keep the lights on and pay that car note.

When thinking about other areas, such as studying something that you enjoy or are pursuing in order to live the life you want to live, you will go to great lengths to keep going until you reach your goal. That is a show of your super power of motivation. You can cultivate it. You can kill it. You can find it in books or journal entries. Motivation can be your friend but for some it can be their enemy.

Finding Motivation

For many people, finding motivation is difficult when it come to pursuing something new or challenging. Often at the beginning, the motivation is right there where you want it to be. But once the honeymoon period is over, motivation can seem like that lost puppy just wondering about not knowing where to go. The thing that you’re pursuing starts to slide down the priority list and soon you’ll be saying the words, ‘I can’t be bothered’ or ‘I’ve lost my drive’.

We often need to find techniques to bring that motivation back to the forefront of our minds and get back on or stay on track of what it is that we need the motivation for. People say that we’re not handed things in life, but I feel that we are handed quite a lot in terms of opportunity. There are tons of opportunities to seize in order to keep our motivation high. The problem is that we sometimes underestimate the amount of work or number of failures that we will have or need to have in order to reach the place that we want to reach.

Why is it hard to stay motivated for long term success?

This is often asked and often the most obvious thing that stands out besides the above mentioned underestimating the extent of work for the task at hand is that the fundamental breakdown of the goal is flawed. People often set a goal of something to accomplish that may take a year or years to complete and it’s difficult, even for the very motivated, to reach without setting smaller goal posts along the road to give your smaller successes to keep you motivated. In other words, we need ‘bite sized successes‘ to help keep the motivation monster well fed and nourished to keep fighting the good fight.

One simple tool to keep this going though is to reflect often on paper. Keeping a journal that you use just for your goals is an amazing thing to keep in your life. You are able to write down ideas, make mind maps, reflect on your progress or lack there of, and cover a wide range of topics that are specific to your goals, dreams and wants in life. You will be amazingly surprised to see how your motivation continues to grow when you have a book with all of your words and ideas written in it. You can pull it out, open it up and find ideas that were idle, goals that you’re working on and reflection on all of your brain’s work in one place.

Final Thoughts

We all go through the ebbs and flows of motivation for a variety of things, such as, exercising, saving more money, learning a language, staying on the right side of life, finding ourselves, and so on. We all go through it and sometimes things fall through the cracks and we lose our place. Sometimes we have to go back to starting line and begin all over, but the most important thing is that we are on the road.

Make no mistake that it’s not about where you are today, it’s about where you will be tomorrow and what you are doing today to get there. It’s a constant fight, not a struggle, to stay on the road with high motivation. We need to have a cheat day in there from time to time to just sit, chill and do nothing, but we have to apply at minimum the 80/20 Rule to life.

Let’s stay on the road together to continue to stay motivated and help others to stay motivated as well in reaching to greater heights and reaching our goals.

KOMK