Motivation and Why We Need It
The common moniker for someone who does what I do is “Motivational Speaker”. I’m not completely sure if I like the term Motivational Speaker but I guess it comes with the territory?
I do understand that most people like being motivated and that is actually the reason for this post.
I periodically find myself in need of a little extra motivation, kind of a push to remind me about the important things in life, a spark that causes you to get off your butt. People are motivated by many different things and everybody will respond to motivation in very different ways. The range is pretty broad, some reject it as worthless and some live by it.
I was talking to a friend of mine the other day and he was telling me that he was frustrated with a project. He had been working on this project on the side for a few weeks, it promised to be quite profitable but, he wasn’t making much headway. I asked him why he felt he was stuck and he said:
“I don’t know, I’m just not motivated”
I hope he wasn’t looking for a Pep Talk because if he was, I forgot to give him one. Actually I didn’t forget at all, it never even occurred to me as, that’s not what I do!
We talked for a while and he mentioned a few things to me that caused me to ask him a very important question. What motivates you?
Know Your Motivation
Sometimes the answer to this question, as simple as it may sound, is difficult to find. I was quite happy to hear that he had the answer practically at the tip of his tongue. When he was done explaining his particular life interest to me I asked him when the last time he actually spent a few moments thinking about this interest? When was the last time he had actually looked at a picture of it? When was the last time he engaged in a conversation about it?
Interestingly, he said the last time any of these things had happened, just so happened to be….. the day before he started on this side project.
So, let’s look at this real quick. What had happened here is quite common and something that I have found myself doing from time to time. We get the motivation, we then experience an emotion called excitement at the prospect of having that something, we then use our creative abilities to develop a “how” so we can get what motivates us. Then the trap….
We get so mixed up and overwhelmed with the “how” that we forget “why” we are even working on the “what” and all is lost. Some people get so mixed up in this that they completely forget about the very basis of the entire project (sometimes for years), the “why” aka The Purpose.
A couple things happened here A) his motivation or purpose sparked action B) a how presented itself within 24 hours. When you know your purpose the how will just happen and fast. More on this at a later date…
A couple days ago he called me to thank me for the…you guessed it, motivation.
Hhhhmmm…
The point is that the motivation was there long before my conversation with him, I had absolutely nothing to do with it, it wasn’t my idea and there is no legitimate way that I can take credit for it.
This happens to people in their everyday life all the time. We get so caught up in work and life that we forget why we actually are living life in the first place. Some would say that when this happens we are actually not living life at all. Just existing.
Your motivation exists, you just need to summon it every now and then, in order to live the best possible life.
So, I have to ask.
What motivates you?
To your success,
Phil Cicio
p.s. Please, don’t call me a “Motivational Speaker”, I think I’d prefer, Friend, if that’s ok with you 🙂