Tuesday, 2 July 2013

Motivate Yourself To Study: Discover Your True Motivation

By Lachlan Haynes


Hands up if you think that "getting motivated" is as simple as clicking your fingers or tapping your shoes together? It's not that hard at all is it? You just listen to a motivational speech or read a motivation quote (or read an article like this one!) and you realize that life is short and you need to get out there and have an amazing life! You start taking massive action. You're getting things done. You're working towards your life ambition. You're motivated! But then a week goes by and you realize that life is long and painful and everyone and everything seems to be on a mission to suck the motivation out of you. Sound about right?

Real motivation (as in, you wake up every single day and you feel energized to take massive action towards what you want to achieve) occurs when you have a great desire to achieve something, you fully understand your ultimate destination and you're willing to do whatever it takes to get there. How many of you feel that way every day?

Let's break this down into smaller parts so it's easier to understand. If you believe that completing a certain task will be useful and beneficial to you, you will naturally place a higher value on completing that task wouldn't you? For example, if you want to learn how to speak Italian then taking an Italian class is very relevant and you would have a great interest in participating.

However, if you feel a task has no benefits to you, it will be extremely difficult to find any level of motivation required to complete it. It makes sense doesn't it? If you are forced to complete activities that don't seem relevant, you will rebel against them. After all, it's just a waste of time isn't it? For example, if you want to learn to speak Spanish but you are put in an Italian class you will feel you are wasting your time and won't feel motivated. Clearly this is not rocket science.

Do you want to feel motivated? Then whatever you are doing needs to have relevance to you. Without relevance, there will be no motivation and no action. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't complete tasks that appear to have no relevance; you just need to understand what the relevance is and how that applies to you.

If you want to feel motivated then whatever you are being asked to complete should take you one step closer to your ultimate ambition. It's never about the task itself - it's about the overall outcome. Isn't it? Sure you can say things to yourself such as, "I want to get good grades" but the real driving force is what the good grades will result in. Getting into a great college or a great university, getting a job you really enjoy, or learning how to one day build your own business are all reasons to power your way through mundane subjects or tasks because if you are being truly honest what you are really trying to do is give yourself the best chance to live the life you want to live - aren't you?

So what is your ultimate ambition? What are you striving to achieve? Do you aspire to work for minimum wage? Is getting a good job and a nice home your grand ambition? Or would you prefer to work for 10 years and then retire and do as you please? Yes? No? Don't know? If you don't know your ultimate ambition, then you won't be able to motivate yourself to complete each individual (and often painful) task. But, once you know why you are doing something, the how becomes only a matter of course, not an immovable obstacle.

Do what you have to do to get good grades. Do what you have to do to get into a great College or University. Do what you have to do to find a great job you love, or start a business to solve a problem in the world. But whatever you do, don't focus on the task. Focus on the end result. Define your magnificent life goal (something that truly inspires you) and then do what you have to do to make it a reality. If you want something bad enough, you will do whatever it takes. If you're not willing to do whatever it takes, the reality is that you don't truly care if you achieve it and you need to keep looking.




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