For those who don't wake up and feel motivated by the prospect of a new day, we often wonder how to "get motivated". But motivation is not something you can just click your fingers and create. Sure, often we read something or watch something and then feel super motivated and ready to take on the world! But then a few hours or days pass by and we've pretty much forgotten how or why we ever got so motivated in the first place. The problem is that the reality of life has got hold of us again and so we just slump back into our old routines.
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.
But if the task you have to complete has no benefit to you? How do you feel motivated when what you have to do is completely unrelated to what you are trying to achieve? Well, the reality is that you are likely to revolt against the task or the person asking you to do it. For example, if you want to learn Indonesian you are forced to learn Spanish, you are probably going to be pretty upset! Again, this makes perfect sense. You want to Indonesian, not Spanish. Therefore, there is no motivation to complete the activity.
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.
To wake up and feel motivated each day then the tasks you complete each day should be taking you towards your ultimate goals. The outcome is what's important - the task itself is really irrelevant. Isn't it? Getting good grades at school is really about getting into a good college or university or getting a great job that you love and are paid well to do. It's not really about getting good grades. Going to work each day is really about paying your bills or paying off your house or funding trips around the world (or anything else you desire). So stop focusing on the task and instead focus on the outcome.
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.
If you have to complete your Maths homework in order to get a good grade, in order to pass the subject, in order to pass the year, in order to get into College, then just do your Maths homework! Remember, it's not about the task; it's all about your grand ambition. Start by creating an ambition that is meaningful to you and then do what you have to do to achieve it. Now is the time to ask yourself, what is your grand ambition and what are you willing to do to get it?
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.
But if the task you have to complete has no benefit to you? How do you feel motivated when what you have to do is completely unrelated to what you are trying to achieve? Well, the reality is that you are likely to revolt against the task or the person asking you to do it. For example, if you want to learn Indonesian you are forced to learn Spanish, you are probably going to be pretty upset! Again, this makes perfect sense. You want to Indonesian, not Spanish. Therefore, there is no motivation to complete the activity.
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.
To wake up and feel motivated each day then the tasks you complete each day should be taking you towards your ultimate goals. The outcome is what's important - the task itself is really irrelevant. Isn't it? Getting good grades at school is really about getting into a good college or university or getting a great job that you love and are paid well to do. It's not really about getting good grades. Going to work each day is really about paying your bills or paying off your house or funding trips around the world (or anything else you desire). So stop focusing on the task and instead focus on the outcome.
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.
If you have to complete your Maths homework in order to get a good grade, in order to pass the subject, in order to pass the year, in order to get into College, then just do your Maths homework! Remember, it's not about the task; it's all about your grand ambition. Start by creating an ambition that is meaningful to you and then do what you have to do to achieve it. Now is the time to ask yourself, what is your grand ambition and what are you willing to do to get it?
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