You may be wondering why you can't "get motivated" or why you don't "feel motivated" but if that sounds like you, you needn't worry. You see, "getting motivated" is really just a myth. Motivation isn't something you can turn on and off like a tap. Sure, you can watch a self-motivation video or read a self-help article like this one and feel full of passion and hope and have great dreams - and then all of a sudden you fall flat on your face. Life has got in the way again!
If you can visualize what you want to achieve and what your final destination looks like you will be far more likely to create desire. Why is this important? Well, your desire will dictate your actions. In order to jump out of bed each day, be thrilled by the prospect of the day ahead, and do whatever it takes to ensure you are working diligently towards your goal, you actually need to have a clearly understood end goal in mind! The challenge occurs when you have no objective in mind. You are just going through the motions.
Let's break this down into smaller parts so it's easier to understand. If you believe that completing a certain task will be useful and beneficial to you, you will naturally place a higher value on completing that task wouldn't you? For example, if you want to learn how to speak Italian then taking an Italian class is very relevant and you would have a great interest in participating.
However, if you feel a task has no benefits to you, it will be extremely difficult to find any level of motivation required to complete it. It makes sense doesn't it? If you are forced to complete activities that don't seem relevant, you will rebel against them. After all, it's just a waste of time isn't it? For example, if you want to learn to speak Spanish but you are put in an Italian class you will feel you are wasting your time and won't feel motivated. Clearly this is not rocket science.
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.
So what is your ultimate ambition? What are you striving to achieve? Do you aspire to work for minimum wage? Is getting a good job and a nice home your grand ambition? Or would you prefer to work for 10 years and then retire and do as you please? Yes? No? Don't know? If you don't know your ultimate ambition, then you won't be able to motivate yourself to complete each individual (and often painful) task. But, once you know why you are doing something, the how becomes only a matter of course, not an immovable obstacle.
Do what you have to do to get good grades. Do what you have to do to get into a great College or University. Do what you have to do to find a great job you love, or start a business to solve a problem in the world. But whatever you do, don't focus on the task. Focus on the end result. Define your magnificent life goal (something that truly inspires you) and then do what you have to do to make it a reality. If you want something bad enough, you will do whatever it takes. If you're not willing to do whatever it takes, the reality is that you don't truly care if you achieve it and you need to keep looking.
If you can visualize what you want to achieve and what your final destination looks like you will be far more likely to create desire. Why is this important? Well, your desire will dictate your actions. In order to jump out of bed each day, be thrilled by the prospect of the day ahead, and do whatever it takes to ensure you are working diligently towards your goal, you actually need to have a clearly understood end goal in mind! The challenge occurs when you have no objective in mind. You are just going through the motions.
Let's break this down into smaller parts so it's easier to understand. If you believe that completing a certain task will be useful and beneficial to you, you will naturally place a higher value on completing that task wouldn't you? For example, if you want to learn how to speak Italian then taking an Italian class is very relevant and you would have a great interest in participating.
However, if you feel a task has no benefits to you, it will be extremely difficult to find any level of motivation required to complete it. It makes sense doesn't it? If you are forced to complete activities that don't seem relevant, you will rebel against them. After all, it's just a waste of time isn't it? For example, if you want to learn to speak Spanish but you are put in an Italian class you will feel you are wasting your time and won't feel motivated. Clearly this is not rocket science.
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.
So what is your ultimate ambition? What are you striving to achieve? Do you aspire to work for minimum wage? Is getting a good job and a nice home your grand ambition? Or would you prefer to work for 10 years and then retire and do as you please? Yes? No? Don't know? If you don't know your ultimate ambition, then you won't be able to motivate yourself to complete each individual (and often painful) task. But, once you know why you are doing something, the how becomes only a matter of course, not an immovable obstacle.
Do what you have to do to get good grades. Do what you have to do to get into a great College or University. Do what you have to do to find a great job you love, or start a business to solve a problem in the world. But whatever you do, don't focus on the task. Focus on the end result. Define your magnificent life goal (something that truly inspires you) and then do what you have to do to make it a reality. If you want something bad enough, you will do whatever it takes. If you're not willing to do whatever it takes, the reality is that you don't truly care if you achieve it and you need to keep looking.
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