Investing In Your Motivational Dollar

Motivation is a living thing. It eats, it breathes, and it begs you to take it out for a spin each and every day. The biggest mistake people make is thinking motivation is waiting for them. But it is not; you must work for it. Let me give you an example.

Darren is 35 years old. His story is average, his pains are average, and his dreams are average. He is stuck in the daily grind; he tries to be realistic and get by. Every day he goes to work and every night he comes home. Perhaps once every two months something happens to him worth remembering, even if that one event is something bad. He thinks, “If only I was motivated by something. If only there was something worth being excited about and working toward out there.”

Darren doesn’t work for motivation; he just expects it to be there. Like the business saying, “You need to spend money to make money,” the same is true for motivation. Sometimes you have to expend a little motivation to make more of it.

Motivational Currency

Some years ago, the world watched as the tale of the woman who stole our hearts while singing on a British talent show unfolded. You will never find a negative story being passed around like that; in fact, you will never find a mediocre story being passed around in the same manner. The value of the dollar, euro, and yen is dead. Stock in motivation is higher than it has ever been. We are craving inspiration and motivation like heroin. 

Why?

Too often, people put their motivational hope in others. We all want to capture a bit of Susan Boyle’s magic. We hope somehow it will be released into the atmosphere, we will absorb it through osmosis, and it will provide enough motivational currency to settle our debt.

25,000 Mornings

They say the average person has 25,000 mornings in their lifetime. Some have more and some less, but that is the average. How does reading that make you feel? I don’t know about you, but it scares the hell out of me. I see that number and think, “Have I done enough? Have I made my mornings worth something?”

If your answer is no, then your immediate follow-up questions should be, “Why didn’t I have a stupendous morning? Why was it not memorable?”

How many mornings do you wake up in debt?

Everyone has different reasons for allowing the opportunity to change their life pass them by. The top reasons are:

• Fear
• Lack of Education
• Laziness
• Apathy

There is one common thread in every one of those four reasons. Can you guess what it is?

Laziness

You can gain an education.
Apathy usually disappears with effort.
And fear dies in the face of knowledge.

Laziness is the killer of motivation. Most people think this is reversed, that we are lazy because we lack motivation. But this is not true; you must work for motivation just as you have to work to achieve happiness.

3 Steps to Motivating Motivation

#1 Balance Negativity

This might sound negative, but I see positive people screw up positivity all the time. They seem to think if you ever have a bad thought, or maintain exacting standards, you are welcoming negativity. But it doesn’t work that way, and doing this disturbs the balance you need to have between positivity and negativity.

There are also people who believe thinking positively is for naïve New Age types who don’t understand the real world. They think being positive means being unrealistic. This is cynicism at its worst because it hurts the bearer most of all. Being happy is not a given.

To balance negativity, take every negative thing that occurs in your life and balance it by having a positive reaction. The catch is to make the positive stronger than the negative. Think of it as having a 2:1 ratio. Here are a few examples:

• For every bad news item you come across, find two pieces of good news.
• For every time you go off your diet, make sure you eat twice as good.
• For every workout you miss, schedule two training sessions.
• For every negative thing you say about someone, say two nice things about someone else.

#2 It Isn’t Just a Goal, It’s Your Life

Motivation shouldn’t waiver unless your zest for life does also. To some degree, the less motivated and inspired we are, the closer to death we live. Since I believe in that message, every day is a day worth nurturing your motivation.

When you pin all of your hope on one goal, that hope will die when you achieve it. Instead, make constant motivation your objective. Always aspire to reach new heights. When you reach one goal, make another. When you do that, you end up living a life of motivation.

#3 Like Attracts Like

Here is a sad but true statement. Most people don’t have the friendships and partners they desire. People settle for what is instead of striving for what could be. We settle in friendship, romance, jobs, etc. We do this to calm our fear of not being alone or not wanting to rock the boat. You must change this pattern as soon as possible. I assure you that good people are always looking for more good people and that misery loves company.

Which crowd would you rather hang with?

This article isn’t about putting pictures on your fridge or hanging up clothes you want to fit in. This is about going deeper and becoming the kind of person who will truly achieve their dreams. Not once or twice as a fluke, but for life—because you will be rich in motivational currency.

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Song of the Post: Nina Simone – Feeling Good