The Steps To Self Motivation

Motivation is that force which drives you on, which makes you perpetually strive to achieve your goal. It galvanizes all your might into one avalanche of effort that breaks free of all restraints and overcomes all obstacles. It is often referred to as ‘will power’ and it is a crucial element in determining your success of achieving any given goal.

Have you ever seen a demotivated successful person? Well, there may be the odd ‘freak’ example, although I can’t think of any off the top of my head.

Now we’ve established that we need to be motivated in order to achieve our goals. How exactly can we do this? Well motivation comes from within and it emanates from a burning desire to be, do or achieve something.

Now I can only talk from my own personal experience here but I would like to use the example of this web-site that is facing you now. I myself have a background in education and teaching. I used to teach children with special educational needs and I have also enjoyed teaching English to students in the ‘far east’ and Asia for extensive periods of time. In short I enjoy teaching. Now, one of my other passions is the subject of this site – ‘positive thinking’ and ‘self-help’. I love the thought that you really can create your own reality by the thoughts that you produce in your mind.

This realization didn’t come to me straight away but it slowly dawned on me over a period of time. And although I have traveled a lot and seen many great sights and done many great things. I firmly believe that:

‘The journey within is greater than the journey without!’

By this I mean the journey of self-discovery of learning exactly how your ‘thoughts of today create your world of tomorrow ‘ is just a great a journey as backpacking through the Vietnamese rainforests eating wild parrots (yes, that’s a true story, but for another time I think) and visiting all the hot tourists destinations of the moment.

It is my great ambition that I may be able to share this knowledge with the world. Now as this is my passion, I feel highly motivated to follow this cause. I don’t care what other people think of my attempts. I’m not interested if I make a great deal of money out of it or not, it is simply what I want to do. It has come from within, nobody else could tell me what I really wanted to do with my life. No book had the answer. I had to find out for myself through exploring my feelings. In short I am combining my two main interests in life: education and positive thinking.

My question to you therefore is that, if you are struggling to find motivation to pursue whatever goals you have set. The first question you should ask yourself is: ‘Is this what I really want to achieve?’ and ‘Am I prepared to do whatever it takes to achieve this goal?’

If the answer is not an emphatic yes then perhaps it is not a lesson in motivation you need but more like time to reflect deep down what it really is that you do want to achieve and get out of life. I don’t believe you will ever be truly happy until you have identified that cause or perfect goal in your life.

If you have followed me thus far and are thinking, oh well its all very well to say ‘find out what exactly it is that you want to do with your life’. Then here is a quick start guide to identifying exactly what it is you do want and will be motivated to achieve.

First off, write down what it is you are currently trying to achieve, if you don’t currently have a goal then write down what it is your job is trying to achieve, if you don’t have a job write down the goal of your last job or even simply a vague idea of what direction you would like your life to go in. It doesn’t have to be too specific at this point.

For arguments sake, let’s say you are working as a checkout staff at a super-market. You feel frustrated with life as you do not feel very motivated in your current job. You have a vague idea that you would like to work with children. So you write this general thought down: ‘I would like to work with children’. After writing this thought down you re-read it and realize that this thought feels quite good inside.

Next you should write down another connected thought that feels a little bit better. Do not be afraid to write down any related thought that comes in to your head. If it doesn’t feel better than simply cross it out and replace it. So, in this case you might next write down ‘School Teacher’, this thought feels better but not by that much so you cross it out and write ‘Primary School Teacher’ this thought feels a lot better, by this I mean it physically makes you feel happier inside. So now you concentrate on this thought but are still searching for thoughts inside that feel even better.

You go on to write down further ideas of ‘art teacher’ and ‘music teacher’ as you are passionate about both of these topics. However the idea suddenly comes to you of that of being a nursery teacher at a nursery school that teaches primarily through the median of creative music and art.

Now you have identified a specific niche and desire of what you would like to be or do. It is a desire specific to your own unique talents and abilities. We all have them, so dig deep and really search your feeling for the answers to what would motivate you to work most.  

Don’t be afraid to live by the phrase: ‘Do that which only you can do’.

Do not think that you have to fit in with a particular career or common goal. If you drift along with what society thinks you should be trying to achieve then you are surely destined to be unfulfilled and unsatisfied with life. However if you trust your own feelings and search your soul for that which you were made to do than you will have found you true purpose in life. You will never be short of motivation, never suffer from fatigue and never question whether you will achieve your goal for you will have an inner strength and belief because you are passionate about what you are trying to be or do! What’s more you will enjoy the journey a lot more on the way to the attainment of the goal that you really want to achieve in life as compared to one which has been forced upon you.

I advise you to take some time pondering your thoughts on what exactly you are prepared to pursue in life and to what extent. Try and clearly define exactly it is you want. Some people never really get to grips with their chief aim in life and therefore never make any great progress or feel any sense of accomplishment throughout their life. Do you want to be one of these people?