The hard truth about motivation

If your goal is truly important to you, you’ll stay motivated long enough to see it through. That’s the hard truth about inspiration. Conversely, if your goals don’t really matter all that much to you, you’ll struggle to stay motivated long enough to see them through.

You stutter step

This is a sure sign you’re not properly motivated. You stop and start and stop again. You say you want to be successful, but your behavior doesn’t line up with your words, which is probably a clear indication that your goal isn’t all that important to you. It’s a “nice to have” instead of a “need to have.” And while you might object to this truth at first blush, it’s difficult to deny how quickly your life changes when you really want to change.

When you need to change

You might talk about wanting to get healthy, but once you find yourself dying of diabetes, you change your eating habits a whole lot more quickly. You might talk about wanting to run that marathon, but once your doctor diagnoses high cholesterol and heart disease, it’s amazing how quickly you find the time to train. Whether it’s a wakeup call with your kids, job, money, personal relationships or health, you start changing for the better when a goal really means something to you. That’s the hard truth. You will find that you don’t lack motivation when you really need to change. Needing it is all the motivation necessary.

That’s the secret to staying inspired in spite of your daily grind. Attach what you’re doing to a need you have in your life right now. Internalize what you’re doing and peg your activities to what matters most to you. Stop doing those things that don’t line up with your life-changing goals. Take time each day to meditate and think about the change you so desperately need in your life right now.