Motivation NOT Required

 

Have you blamed your lack of motivation for your lack of success

In reaching your goals?

 

Have you spent years making BIG plans for self improvement –

just to have those plans die before they ever get started?

 

Do you have good intentions to start that diet, or learn Spanish or hike

the Appalachian trail – stay motivated for about 2 days then go right

back to couch and nacho’s at night?

 

You are not alone – and it is not because you are lazy or not

smart enough!  It is because we have been led to believe that all

successful people we read about or see on TV are successful

because they have the motivation gene that we just didn’t get.

 

Would you be surprised if I told you that those “super successful”

athletes or business people aren’t any more “motivated” than you are?

 

How can that be?  Look at all they have achieved.  You have to be

motivated to get up at 5:00 am to work out every day – DON”T YOU?

 

Here is a little secret about motivation…it is not just something we

“will” ourselves into having.  Motivation is real – no doubt – but it

is not a matter of our desire that creates motivation.

 

First, there must be a compelling reason for the goal.  Like, it is life

or death – you want it that much.  A passion so deep that no matter

how many times you fall – you keep getting back up until the

mission is complete.

 

Falling…that brings me to another critical point that most people who

do not accomplish their goals have in common – and that no successful

person in the world ever does:  You are going to fail, fall, have setbacks,

stumble…just accept that as part of trying.

 

Most of us jump right off the wagon if we hit one little stumbling

block.  Well, I was doing great on my diet for 2 weeks but then I went

to this party and ate cookies, pastry, pizza….I might as well forget the plan

I had for this 12 weeks – it’s over.

 

What successful people do – is say..okay, that was not a wise choice or

yeah, this or that happened but my goal is still there and I am closer than

I was before…I’ll just keep heading in that direction.  Make some corrections

so the next time I am faced with this particular situation I will handle it

better.   An OFF they go…moving closer to their goal.

 

While the “unmotivated” person, jumps off the ship and decides

Well, I’m off the ship already, I guess drowning is better than

Getting back in the boat and continuing on with the trip!   Does that

Make ANY sense at all? 

 

Of course it doesn’t.  So WHY, WHY, WHY do we do it?

 

First, our expectations for perfection are setting us up for trouble.  Let me

just reveal a huge success secret to you right now – this one is for free:

there is no such thing as perfection – GET OVER IT!

 

No matter what your plan, goals or dreams are – you are going to have

setbacks.  Expect them – watch for them – debrief with yourself after

you experience one.  Learn from it and Move ON toward your goal.

 

 

Most people achieved their greatest success one step

beyond what looked like their greatest failure.  

Brian Tracy

 

So, how do you stay on track and moving toward your goal?

 

You must be able to get down to the real reason behind your goal.

Whatever that goal is – there is some underlying reason behind

Your desire that you must figure out in order to stay “motivated”

Through the challenges you WILL face.

 

The goal with a solid, passionate reason behind it will be achieved.

Nothing can derail you if you understand the underlying passion.

 

If you for example want to loose weight – your actual goal is not a

To achieve a particular number on a scale.  Nobody wants to be

“145lbs”  - that doesn’t even mean anything to your subconscious. 

 

Wanting to look good in your bathing suit is a great goal – but,

again, it is not the real reason and it is not powerful enough to

keep you on target to reaching your goal – let alone keeping it

once you do achieve it.

 

What you need though is a deeper reason behind that goal

in addition to a secondary goal.  Once you achieve your goal

weight – then what? 

 

What is your real reason for wanting to be that weight?  Is it to

achieve an abundant level of energy so that you can play with your

kids for more than 15 minutes without getting winded!

 

The point is to drill down – until you feel the real passion to achieve

Your goal. 

 

If it is to loose weight (drill down)….look good this summer

(drill farther)….have energy to play on the beach with the kids (farther)

….live life on purpose and with passion.  Now that is a goal I can get

behind.  Keep going because it isn’t quite enough. 

Why? Why? Why? Keep asking Why.

 

Did your parents die too young or age too fast because of their lifestyle?

Do you want to show your kids that they have control over their own health

and destiny.

 

Whatever the goal – you must have a passion behind it that will not

let you quit. 

 

“Most people are other people.  Their thoughts are someone

else’s opinions, Their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.”

Oscar Wilde

 

Your dreams and passions must be your own.  Find your own passions – what

Great goals do you have and what are the reasons for those goals.  Make big,

Outrageous goals –  and don’t listen to anyone who tells you – you can not

Achieve them. 

 

Make your Life a series of outrageous goals attempted.  Imagine your life if

You actually achieve a few of them!