Can you remember a time you were fired up about taking on a huge project, and then ran out of gas long before you hit the target? Maybe you had a desire to double your income, or perhaps to expand your company to multiple locations. These goals all began with a great deal of motivation, but somehow, you lost momentum, fizzled out and stalled.
At some point in our lives, we all experience a genuine sense of inspiration, and subsequently, motivation. The challenge for most of us is not feeling motivated, but rather sustaining that feeling– continuing to take action and seeing your goals all the way through to fruition.
So how would your outcomes be different if you were able to maintain the drive behind your inspired ideas?
There are a multitude of ways to generate the will to keep moving forward, even when the initial spark of inspiration is nowhere in sight. You can create a positive loop for yourself and fake it ’til you make it. You can heed the wisdom of Yoda and remember: “Do or Do Not. There is no try.” Or you can genuflect at the feet of the Nike gods and repeat the mantra “Just DO it” until you get the flywheel turning again.
Of course, in order to achieve any particular goal, the basic components of success must come into play: Visioning, goal-setting, action planning, and developing systems; however, these ingredients are not at the top of the list. As Stephen Covey clearly lays out in his book First Things First, the #1 ingredient in goal-setting, motivation, and ultimate follow-through, is knowing and understanding what compelled you to take on these goals in the first place–and with that, what motivates you to accomplish these goals.
To state this even more simply: You can’t just slave-drive yourself when it comes to the more challenging undertakings in your life. You’ve got to know why you’re doing what you’re doing. Keeping your eye on the prize makes TOTAL sense, but way more significant is identifying, for yourself, the meaning and value the prize holds for you, personally. Taking the time to uncover and pinpoint the meaning and value of your deeper motivation will not only help you get started on a huge project, it will also keep you moving forward– especially when you hit a wall.
Exploring this topic might not be as simple as it sounds. It takes courage to look at oneself this closely. You might feel challenged by your values. You might be embarrassed to name what is genuinely meaningful to you. Unfortunately (or fortunately) there’s no way around this process; you can’t fake it ’til you make it with this one. You might be able go on auto-pilot when you don’t really “feel” like doing anything on a particular day, but you can’t fake it when it comes to honestly naming that which is meaningful and valuable to you. Eventually, you WILL hit a wall, and that wall will beckon you to face the truth about your core values.
Here’s a re-cap of a coaching session I recently had with a client. I’ve changed a few details to maintain my client’s privacy.
John started a massage therapy business a year ago, and within a few months, his client load was completely filled, with a 3-week waiting list. This would be a dream come true for most folks, but that wasn’t the case here. John had a vision of opening multiple locations within a year’s time– a much larger endeavor than simply operating a successful massage therapy practice. On top of maintaining his own business, he was now potentially facing a massive to-do list including hiring and training staff, standardizing operating procedures, and finding the best possible locations for these new sites. Needless to say, the timeline alone would be enough to rattle a seasoned entrepreneur, and all the more discombobulating for a person who’d never run his own business.
John was beginning to doubt himself, and his motivation to maintain day-to day operations was waning. Luckily, he could see what was happening, and he called me for help. Here is a series of questions I asked him, and these can give you a good starting place if ever you find yourself in a similar situation.
Chris: What motivated you to start this endeavor in the first place?
John: I was frustrated with working for various health clubs. I had some innovative ideas for better serving my clients, and I KNEW I could generate more income if only I had the freedom to implement these ideas. So I started my own practice.
Chris: Sometimes people start their own businesses to increase income, and sometimes they start them out of frustration with their current situation. Sometimes it’s a combination of both. Can you think of anything else that motivated you to go into business for yourself?
John: I wanted to put my son in a private school, so I started taking on more and more hours to earn more money. The thing is, all those extra hours only increased my income by a few hundred dollars a month. Being a single dad, I had to hire a baby sitter after school (which cost even more money) and I was spending less and less time my son.
Chris: Now that you’ve said this out loud, can you name anything more meaningful, driving the desire to start your own business, (i.e. more meaningful than implementing innovating ideas and making more money).
John sheepishly gazed up at the ceiling and said, “I want to have more time with my son. The extra income has been nice, but what I really care about is organizing my work schedule in a way that allows me to spend more time with my son.”
He went on to describe the vision for his business in a way that wouldn’t demand a 70-hour work week, which, again, relates back to that which is valuable and meaningful to John: spending more time with his son. By reconnecting to exactly what motivated him to start his business in the first place, he discovered a clear, solid, viable FOCUS for maintaining his drive to move into the next chapter of his professional life.
Falling off the wagon with pursuing our goals happens to all us at one point or another. In extreme situations, professional help from a coach or counselor might be needed; however, in most case, simply taking time to reconnect with your original reason for taking on this goal will be enough to get you going again. It’s also important to consider the fact that life events can change the value you place on your motivations. As such, it’s important to check in from time to time to make sure your goals and your endeavors are still in line with where you currently want to go.
So next time someone asks how you stay motivated, what’s your answer going to be?
