Why you don’t need more motivation.

People say to me all the time “I need more motivation.” But most people don’t need more motivation at all, they actually need more honesty, self-awareness and clarity.

No one has a problem with motivation ever. Yes, you read that right. You don’t need more motivation. I’m not writing my way out of a job either, I can help you with your motivation, by increasing your self-awareness and clarity about what is really important to you. I can help you get super, crystal clear about your pains and pleasures, which drive your motivation.

The thing is, you are always be innately and inherently motivated to do things that are important to you. And you will consistently struggle with those things that are less important to you.

Here’s why you’re struggling with motivation:

1. You’re trying to live by someone else’s values.

When you are attempting to live by someone else’s values you will always struggle with motivation. If you have a job you don’t like you may drag your feet getting up, hit snooze and be late, tired and disinterested, you might struggle with energy and motivation all day long. You’re  trying to live your bosses values… BUT if someone told you they were going to take you away for an amazing day with your favourite person in the world, in your favourite place in the world, doing your favourite thing. You would be filled with energy and vitality ready and raring to go. You would probably even be up before your alarm, not able to sleep from excitement and anticipation.

You ALWAYS have time, energy, money for those things that are important to you. If you have kids, no matter how exhausted you are, you don’t need anyone to remind you to get up to look after your children, do you? Or to come home and make them dinner? If you love shopping and fashion, you don’t need to be reminded to read the emails about the latest designer sales, or to check Pinterest or Instagram for fashion ideas. You just do it because you love it.

If you’re struggling with exercise and eating well, or with quitting smoking for example, it’s because your health just isn’t that important to you right now. It’s not right or wrong, it’s just that you don’t really care about it. However if you suddenly got diagnosed with cancer or some other big killer disease, most likely health would jump to the top of your values and you would be researching and reading and spending money on trying to save your health. If you don’t care about your health now, then that means you are healthy enough to do whatever else is important to you. As soon as your health dips low enough to affect those other things you will become concerned with that instead.

TIP: any time you say I SHOULD… you’re injecting someone else’s values onto your own.  

2. You don’t have clarity about what you truly care about.

Anytime you don’t have clarity in your life and in your mind, an obstacle will pop up to show you that very fact. An obstacle is just someone else’s stuff being projected into your life because you don’t have a direction yourself. If you are not clear about what really makes you TRULY, deeply happy then you will get pulled from here to there, following in the wake and vortex of someone else’s clarity and direction.  “To thine own self be true”, is the most succinct path to happiness there ever was. Shakespeare was right.  You might even say “I’m just a go with the flow type of person” That’s fine, and realise that going with someone else’s flow will likely lead you where you don’t really want to go, then when you get there you might get upset, depressed and demoralised wondering how your life got so far from what is in your heart.

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3. You aren’t brave enough to declare a direction for your life.

There are many reasons why people struggle with direction and motivation, most of it boils down to fear: fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of success. Everyone struggles with these fears, a little or a lot. However these fears can disappear when you are truly and completely committed to a goal that is bigger than yourself; then the miracle feeling of faith and dedication emerges and the fear gets sent packing. All of those fears are just imagined future obstacles, they don’t event exist yet! And may never. When you are working for something bigger than yourself then the service of your goal helps to to stop focusing on your problems and instead focus on how you can help others.

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal. – Henry Ford

4. You aren’t valuing and counting the things that you ARE motivated about. 

So how does it feel to know that you are already motivated? Good right! Now you just need to value and count those things you’re already motivated to.

Here’s a few questions to help you work out some things you value already…

1. What do you do every day without ever being asked or reminded?

2. What do you do in your spare time?

3. What do you always find the money for, even when you are a bit tight?

4. What makes you excited and energised when you think about doing it? 

Your top values will show up every time, For example if you value beauty: you might do your hair and makeup every morning without fail, you might read magazines and follow beauty or fashion bloggers in your spare time, you would always find the money for that pair of shoes or your manicure, and the thought of a new amazing designer outfit could send you into a spin of pleasure. Awesome! That means Beauty is one of your top values. Though it might seem to some to be frivolous, beauty is a wonderful value, and those who care about beauty make the world more glorious and harmonious place to live. What do you value?

5. You want the quick fix.

Unfortunately nothing worth having ever comes easily, the reason this is true is because it’s not actually the end result that is the thing worth having, but the person you needed to become in order to achieve it. If you do know what you want but are trying to circumvent the natural order and get the results instantly then you will struggle with your motivation. This problem is rife in our quick fix, instant fame, get rich, celebrity focused society. Anyone who achieves success with longevity has worked for it, daily, for many many years to get to that point. Trying to win the lotto, or get your dream job as your first job, is not impossible, but will rarely lead you to your true happiness. You don’t value anything that comes to you too easily. When you achieve something you have worked for and saved for and strived for, it feels incredible. So forget the quick fix and instead accept the long haul, you’ll find that the long road once is much quicker than the quick road 10 times over…

Once you count what you are already doing  and have clarity about what you really value, you can begin to formulate a plan to a life that truly fulfills you.

I’ll follow up some steps to do that in the next article…

Why don’t you share some of your top values below too..