Motivation. Do you have what it takes?
What is motivation?
Motivation is an internal process that makes a person move toward a goal. Motivation, like intelligence, can't be directly observed. Instead, motivation can only be inferred by noting a person's behavior.
Do you find yourself thinking about what you have to do the next day? What needs to be taken care of? Something perhaps you even set out to achieve, a goal for yourself of some type. You think to yourself before you climb into bed, “I’m going to wake up at 6am, I’m going to hit the gym, I'm gonna shower, get ready for work, then finish this huge project at work tomorrow!”.
The next morning comes, you hit snooze so many times it leaves you with five minutes to rush and get ready then head to work, while you mentally beat yourself up for not following through? Waking up early and going to the gym seemed so easy when you said it the night before.
But when your alarm shocked you awake, you had no motivation to follow through.
It can be incredibly hard to find motivation to do things. We set goals, New Year’s resolutions, we choose what we want to do (start a business, get a promotion, write a new song, etc.) but we can’t seem to figure out why we can’t actually achieve these goals.
So, let’s talk about motivation, some ideas to try to help with you, and some things you should know about motivation. You shouldn’t need motivation ideas/tips/techniques every day for the rest of your life. You should only need to identify where you’re having issues and how to fix them. Your life, work life, anywhere you’ve set goals should flow as natural as water down a stream.
If we love what we do, we tend to work better. So if you’re doing something you dislike, consider the motivators and perhaps that can change how you feel. If we’re doing something but have no motivation to do it, we’re just basically being a robot, and the lack of motivation can actually provide physical symptoms. Such as physical tiredness, lack of concentration, procrastination, and laziness.
So you decided on a goal, something you want to achieve, for this article I’ll use the example of starting this blog. So there are two (Kind of three, actually, but two official) types of motivation. Those are intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic goals are goals that are motivated by things like having fun, being interested in what you’re doing, or personal challenge. Extrinsic is motivated by a reward such as money, power, good marks or grades. Then lastly we have obligation, motivated by personal ethics, a sense of duty, and what we feel is right and wrong.
If you find you often start out fully motivated but slowly that fades away, consider some of the following: Are you learning new things? The more we learn, the more skills we possess that we can build on. Look at the people you surround yourself with. You want to be surrounded by happy people with goals and motivation, not negative people moaning and groaning constantly about what they have to do. Look at your strengths and weaknesses, try to use your strength’s more to achieve your goals and find ways to improve you weaknesses, sometimes you just have to do it. Stop procrastinating, stop bitching, and just get it done. Allow yourself to seek help from others and help others if they come to you.
Keep a positive attitude. You can’t choose or control your circumstances (mostly) but you can choose your reaction to it.
Alright so you want to make a goal and you want to achieve it. So let’s break this down step by step, again using me starting Lobeless Lady as an example.
Something sparks inside and makes want to do something. Example: After removing my earlobes, receiving numerous messages of how I was an inspiration, some had followed my journey for six years. I’ve been working on self-improvement beforehand in school but really dove into the deep end after the removal.
Brainstorm, soul search, whatever. Example: what did I want to do? I was tired of sharing the same information over and over. So I thought of a blog. I’ve had multiple ones before but they were more personal, my everyday life, nothing exciting.
Is this a long term or short term goal? Example: Is this something I’ll be jazzed about for a week then move on or do I want to do all the hard work to make this real?
Create a plan. Example: I sat down, I wrote out what I wanted to name it, I figured out the “motto”, and I decided what should be included. Short simple stuff, the basics essentially.
Create a more detailed content plan. Example: Why would people want to come to the site, why do I want to share these things with people? What will the content be about, what do I want to share? How can I get people to visit? How can I keep them interested?
Create your action plan. Example: I wrote down the steps I needed to take to create the site. First I secured the name on the website. Then using a calendar, I made plans for each day what I would do. I knew I had to write each different page out. I wanted to have at least five or more entries before I started promoting the website. Figure out color scheme, figure out pictures, and acquire email for website. Decide which social media I wanted to use to reach out. Every single thing on page was written out and things have been added since. I started my blog in December but didn’t promote until February. It was hard work, so I made small goals to tackle and when I accomplished one small goal, I celebrated.
Be realistic. Set goals that are realistic, specific, and something you can achieve within a certain time frame. If your goal is huge, you most likely won’t follow through and give up on it. So take one huge idea and break it down into steps that you can achieve. Example: trying to create an entire page, that includes multiple pages, like the one that exists now in three days. Not going to happen. I would have gotten frustrated and stressed and tossed the idea.
Keep going. Example: maybe you stumble with you goal or something happens you didn’t plan. That’s okay. Life never goes the way we plan, it’s just the way it works. If you followed the site since I “launched” it you’ve seen the changes I’ve made. I’m always trying to improve now that I have a general blueprint.
Don’t think you need a college degree to achieve your goals, unless you want to be a doctor or surgeon or something, please go to college.
Smart, highly motivated people can accomplish nearly anything they put their mind too. Remember to be intentional about our behaviors, by being intentional, we can stay on the right path. According to the ‘American Psychological Association’, people who set goals that are specific AND challenging are 90% more likely to achieve what they set their mind too.
If you want to do something, start a business, get a promotion, write a book, go to college, whatever you want, stay motivated. Set smaller goals that can be achieved but don’t limit yourself because you never know what you can actually do until you try. You’re not too old, you’re not dumb, and you’re not too young; the only thing stopping you is YOU.
Vibe Higher,
Lobeless
" You can look me in my eyes, see I'm ready for whatever. Anythang don't kill me, make me better. I ain't dead nigga, you can take the fame and the chedda And the game, and the deal, I'm still a go-getter. Take my freedom for the moment but it ain't fo-ever. I got the spirit of a god, heart of a dope dealer. I'm a king, seen hangin' with some cold killas. I ain't never back down or ran from no nigga. I ain't sat down yet, pimp, standin' gorilla. Even if I'ma all alone or standin' with four niggaz, Tell' em jump, pimpin' it don't get no realer. 5'9" with the soul of a 6'4" nigga" T.I.- Motivation