Friday, March 22, 2013

Get Motivated Today: Discover Your True Motivation

By Lachlan Haynes


Hands up if you think that "getting motivated" is as simple as clicking your fingers or tapping your shoes together? It's not that hard at all is it? You just listen to a motivational speech or read a motivation quote (or read an article like this one!) and you realize that life is short and you need to get out there and have an amazing life! You start taking massive action. You're getting things done. You're working towards your life ambition. You're motivated! But then a week goes by and you realize that life is long and painful and everyone and everything seems to be on a mission to suck the motivation out of you. Sound about right?

Real motivation (as in, you wake up every single day and you feel energized to take massive action towards what you want to achieve) occurs when you have a great desire to achieve something, you fully understand your ultimate destination and you're willing to do whatever it takes to get there. How many of you feel that way every day?

But let's focus on the mundane tasks we complete each day. It makes sense that if something is going to benefit us (and we understand what that benefit is and agree that it will benefit us), we will be far more likely to complete the task. If I want to learn to speak Chinese, then watching a "learn how to speak Chinese" video is something that will strongly interest me and I am very likely to watch it.

On the other hand, if you feel the task does not benefit you, it is very difficult to see how or why you would want to complete it. You will have no motivation to complete the task. You are also likely to rebel against any tasks that you perceive have no benefit to you. For example, if I want to learn to speak Chinese but I'm put in Spanish class, my motivation to complete the tasks required to pass the class will be very low. Why? Because there is no perceived benefit. I don't want to learn Spanish, I want to learn Chinese!

The real challenge in motivation is just identifying the relevance of the task - because without relevance there is absolutely no motivation to take action. However, just because you can't see the relevance doesn't always mean there is none. Sometimes tasks do have relevance to what we are ultimately trying to achieve but we just can't understand it clearly enough.

The tasks you complete should always help you get closer to your ultimate ambition - and the good news is that most tasks do. What you really need to understand is how they do that. If you want to get a great job that you love and are paid well to do then what do you need to do? Why, get good grades of course! Because good grades equals good college equals good job. Isn't that the line of thinking behind getting good grades? Perhaps you want freedom. You want to lie on a deserted beach somewhere sipping on cocktails. So how do you get that? Well, education equals learn about business equals start a business equals early retirement. But the fact is, you had to get an education in order to find your way to retirement didn't you? You had to complete the tasks required first.

What do you really want from life? What are you determined to accomplish? Everyone wants different things. So what do you want - for you? If you aren't sure what you are trying to achieve then it's really no wonder at all that you don't feel motivated! Conversely, if you are sure of what you want then take think again because if you really want it bad enough you should be willing to do anything to get it. If you understand what you want, the tasks simply become a means to an end. Complete the task and get closer to what you really want.

You can find true motivation by understanding what you want. Spend some time considering where you want your life to go, what will be required to get it there and why that truly inspires you. Once you know what you want, you will be amazed at how each boring task you need to complete becomes easy. If the tasks still frustrate you, the goal you are striving for is still not powerful enough - it is not compelling you to action. Find your true inspiration and the motivation will always be there. Good luck!




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