You’re the only one who can give yourself the motivation you want and need.
No matter what it is you want to do, you won’t succeed until you supply yourself with the fuel of motivation you’re currently searching for everywhere but yourself. Yup — I hate to break it to you, but it’s all on you.
Even if you really want to reach an end goal, the only person who can push you there is you. But chances are, right now you’re sniffing around for an easier route where someone else gets to do the hard work for you.
- Maybe you complain loudly about your self-doubts to your friends, fishing for that voice of opposition that will say, “No, you can totally do this!” and prove you wrong …and then not feel convinced even after they take the bait.
- Maybe you attend workshops and conferences and classes where everyone shouts and nods at each other, “Yes! We will all succeed!” and you get a bit high off all the energy of optimism and connection… and then you go home and go right back to living the way you did before.
- Or maybe you read self-help success books and motivational blog posts (like this one, ahem), do yoga, and journal daily about how you will continue to improve! …and then let all that preparation take the place of doing the actual work.
Maybe you don’t do any of those things. Maybe your motivation procrastination manifests itself in more subtle ways. But no matter what, one thing’s for sure:
If you want to reach a goal, it’s up to you to decide whether or not that actually happens.
Look, I know that reading a hundred Pinterest quotes on motivation to get in shape might feel like a super inspiring rush. And that can be a great tool to redirect your own thoughts and intentions. But you won’t get fit until you actually workout.
You have to figure out what drives you. And then you have to give that to yourself.
It’s pretty simple, really. It’s a wonder why it’s still so fucking hard to actually do. I mean if it were easy we’d all obviously be millionaires. I get it, guys. Some days it feels impossible to motivate yourself to even do the laundry, much less achieve your wildest hopes and dreams.
But it feels exhausting only because our motivation muscles are weak.
Motivation is something you create, not something you find.
So how do we get motivated? Well, it all begins with you deciding that you can, in fact, do the thing you want to do.
You have to believe it.
Did you know that you get to decide what’s True in your life?
You’re the only person who lives in the tiny little micro universe of Your Mind. Your Mind operates according to your instructions. It believes whatever you tell it to believe.
So, say, someone once teased you and told you that your ears were too big. Now, objectively, we can see that this statement isn’t necessarily true or not — it’s 100% subjective. There is no law about ear sizes and what is inappropriately large. So who’s to say your ears are “too” big? The long-eared jerboa has ears as large as its body and it’s cute AF.
Once your mind has received this little bit of unsolicited feedback, it has two options for where to file that statement: in the Beliefs folder, or the Trash. If it gets stored with other Beliefs, you’ve decided it’s true. But it’s not. I mean, if we want to get real snotty up in here we can start discussing Plato’s Cave we can… (just a little philosophy nerdom for ya)
So do you live the rest of your life self-conscious about your ears, or do you decide that they’re absolutely perfect? Well, you have equal access to both choices. I’d recommend you embrace your ears.
Because really, who’s to say what’s True?
It’s all relative.
You might LOVE avocados and think they’re God’s perfect gift to mankind, but I know some people who can’t stand them. (They’re just so wrong, right?)
The point I’m trying to make is this: what you believe to be true is entirely up to you.
This is also true when it comes to your abilities and what’s possible. And this is important:
Whether you believe you can or believe you can’t — you’re right.
It’s a cheesy popular Instagram caption for a reason.
Now, once you decide to believe you can do something you have to actually do it.
Believe it, do it. Two steps and you’re done. How’s that for motivation?
It’s really that simple.
If you want to start waking up earlier, then the right thing to do is decide, “Ok, I’m waking up tomorrow at 7:00 am instead of 7:30 am.” Then set the alarm, and wake up the next morning at 7:00 am. Boom. Rinse and repeat. The wrong thing to do is decide, “Ok, I’m waking up tomorrow at 7:00 am instead of 7:30 am.” Then set the alarm, and wake up the next morning and hit snooze on your alarm clock because you feel tired still and it’s all too much anyway.
Notice I didn’t say this was easy.
Yes, it’s hard. But it’s also a practice, so start small. Think about what easier goals you might have in your life (say, to drink more water every day) and work on motivating yourself to do that until it becomes just what you do. Then work up to the bigger challenges (i.e. taking over the world).
There will definitely be days where motivation just feels impossible to come by. Then yes, of course, this is why tools like self-help books and support from others can help put us back on track. But we just have to be careful not to get so comfortable in all the motivation that we forget to actually do the thing.
The key is to learn what tricks help you and your brain stay on the motivation track.
We’re all motivated by different things. Maybe what really lights your fire is when you think about trying to help your family. Or maybe you’re motivated by wanting to be able to live healthfully until your old age. For me, I’m super competitive… so I like to think proving wrong anyone who didn’t believe in me (I’m a little feisty?).
The most important thing is that whenever you start to feel a bit blah, you make sure to reignite that fire.
You’re the only one tending to it, after all.
If you want motivation, it’s simple: You got this.
But you already knew that, right?