My topic today is motivation.
What motivates you to push yourself to accomplish your goals and dreams? If you can't answer that question, you've got some soul-searching to do.
Do you ever start off doing something with a full head of steam and charge right out of the gates? You probably even make good progress to start with.
Then maybe things slow down to a more stagnant pace and you start to lose some of that enthusiasm and energy you had when you started.
It happens to all of us.
It even happened to me this week when I thought of writing a couple of days and then decided against it.
Instead of going only a week with one blog entry though, I decided it would be better to push myself to write one night even if I didn't want to.
Thankfully, tonight I did.
How did I overcome the lull in my enthusiasm and motivation? Well, first of all I reminded myself of my goals and what I want to achieve.
I reminded myself what I have to do to get there.
But I believe that most importantly, I fed myself some motivational material.
I think this is key to reviving a drop-off or plateau in your energy level.
In addition to thinking about your goals and what you want to achieve, expose yourself to someone or something that motivates and inspires you.
Maybe even something that makes you angry or fired up enough to take action.
For example, I saw The Dark Knight Rises today.
It was an EXCELLENT film.
I walked out of that theater just like the little kid who wants to jump off rooftops, fight the bad guys, and BE Batman.
Watching a 3 hour film gave me quite the energy boost, as funny as that sounds.
Another example of a movie I saw recently was Wanted.
Even though there was a lot of crudeness to that movie (and trust me, it was vanilla compared to the comic book), I loved the underlying message.
A guy, who becomes so fed up with his boring and ordinary life that he decides to take matters into his own hands and become the master of his life that he was destined to be.
My favorite line is the last one in the whole movie, minus the expletive of course: "What have you done with your life lately?" I walked away from that experience ready to work and write until I couldn't stand it any more.
Movies are just one way you can give yourself a good kick in the butt to jump start your desire again.
I love to read inspirational books, stories, and web sites.
Think and Grow Rich, The Power of Positive Thinking, anything related to the law of attraction, and a good Larry Winget book (this guy tells it like it is) are always helpful.
Another way to do it is to create an air or illusion of competition.
"How do I do that?" you may say? Create an enemy.
Michael Jordan was the king of this.
He kept that mental edge on the basketball court because he maintained a chip on his shoulder since the time he got cut from the varsity team in high school.
I've read many stories of him blowing something an opponent said out of proportion, or fabricating an insult just to get himself fired up and motivated for the next game.
He had something to prove and if it will pump you up to throw yourself headlong into your goals then create your own enemy to push your limits, grow and succeed.
Coke has Pepsi.
Pizza Hut has Papa John's.
Who pushes you to do more? Once you can answer that, use that "enemy" as an inspiration and model them as well.
If that person has achieved as much or more than you, appreciate their efforts and successes and remind yourself that the same is possible for you.
Look around your life for who can be an inspiration for you as you envision what is possible if you apply yourself and continue to learn and grow and offer value to others.
Who is the person in your world that you can use as inspiration to push through a dry spell and keep your freight train of success on the tracks? So to recap, use these steps to pick yourself up if your desire starts to lull a bit: 1.
Ask yourself what your goals and desires are.
Remind yourself of those things you want and why you want them.
Imagine having them and act as if you are going to get them no matter what.
Start fanning those flames of your hunger for success when they get low.
2.
Feed yourself motivational material.
Watch a movie that gets you fired up to succeed.
Read that book about the law of attraction or a success story.
Consume media that makes you want to take action NOW.
3.
Create an air of competition.
Do you have a competitor or an "enemy"? If not then make one up.
Tell yourself that this person is doing everything in their power to achieve more and better success than you and dares you to do something about it.
Get pumped up and let the energy carry you through your routine with more gusto than ever.
4.
Get inspired by another person.
It may even be your "enemy", but admire this person's success and model the ways they got there.
Feed off of their enthusiasm in order to renew your own.
Let the new ideas from your newfound inspiration come forward and do your best to implement them ASAP.
5.
If all else fails, take a little time off and then come back with a renewed passion.
Then wash, rinse, and repeat the steps above.
We all feel a little under the weather sometimes.
The key is not to stay there for too long and when you realize you're there to do something about it quickly.
Desire + Motivation + Focus + Action = Success.
Out of those four components that equal success, the first three will wane considerably from time to time.
It is up to you to take CONSISTENT action steadfastly in spite of this to keep yourself moving in the right direction.
Sometimes the action is best spent re-fueling the other three.
Keep yourself moving.
Do what is necessary to succeed.