Motivation
How I Stay Motivated And Crush It – 7 Steps
As I approach one of the biggest weeks of my life I wanted to share with you a question, I get asked all the time. The question is, how do I stay motivated and manage to crush it? Now this is not an easy question to answer in one blog post but I will do my best.
What you are about to read is a bit of a rant, but a positive one that we’ll inspire you as always. It will take you through the basics in the simplest form I know how. I’m no expert but I have learnt a thing or two along the way so maybe it can help you with your own journey.
Below are the seven steps to how I stay motivated.
1. Belief
Go to work each day and always believe that what you’re doing matters – your changing the world even if you think you’re not. Don’t worry about the naysayers and the people that think you’re weird. If your beliefs suck then get started now, and go and read some sort of personal development book.
Start to think more closely about what is stopping you from staying motivated and realise it might be your limiting beliefs. Are you finding yourself constantly saying that something can’t be done? If you are, then that’s okay, everything can be reprogrammed – no one is lost forever.
As you work on this, each day you find that things start to change. The change is slow but you realise that greatness doesn’t happen overnight. Late one night write down all the things you wanted to do but haven’t done.
Then, next to each one, write down the story about why you haven’t done it. The wisdom you get from this will be immense. This is because you can do whatever you want once you drop the story behind why you can’t do it.
2. Use quality inputs for energy
Decide today that you will no longer stand for low energy. Think about all the successful people each day that you see who are highly motivated. Are they low on energy sipping cans of Coke? You know deep down they are not.
Yes, you eat healthy food every day now and consume lots of water but that’s what gives you the energy to do more. You’re super motivated because you’re not smarter than the average person but you can outwork them.
When the end of the day comes you’re only just getting started and you feel like you can just keep going. If your stomach starts to rumble, you know that you just need some water and not a doughnut. As the zombies drink their cup of fear (coffee), you realise that you no longer have the urge.
At functions with your friends you are perfectly fine drinking water and focusing on good conversation rather than who can drink the most. People look at you weird with your glass of water but you realise that you are in the .01% of successful people and don’t care.
A common trait you share with the drunks is the need to urinate but you know that this is because you’re beautifully hydrated and your skin looks radiant, not because you are unhealthy like them. Be careful what goes in, otherwise what comes out will not be good and you will struggle to be motivated.
3. Social media can help if you let it
When you get home each night, you go on the internet and try and find inspiration. You realise that to inspire others you have to inspire yourself first. While you are waiting for the lift to make its way up, on the way to a meeting, you can’t resist looking at a few inspirational quotes.
Your motivation from reading great content starts to compound and pretty soon you reprogram your mind to believe anything is possible. You continually stand guard at the door of your mind and unfollow anyone who is not adding value or inspiring you.
After a few months, you are only left with a Facebook newsfeed that lifts you up and reminds you why you do what you do. Each day you consistently see people crushing it and you begin to believe that if they can, so can you.
As you post inspiring statuses and only get a few likes, at first, you think you are not having an impact. Then slowly, each day, people start saying how they love what you are trying to do.
You scratch your head and wonder why they say this because they never like any of the things you post until you realise that everyone reads everything, they just may not acknowledge it because they are afraid of what others might think. They are afraid to be criticised.
Before you became a highly motivated individual, you used to over think everything you did on social media until you understood that the more open you are, the braver you are, the more you inspire others. You now post without thinking and hope that what you’re doing is valuable, and if not, that’s fine too.
4. Think of your partner
You remember what it was like to be single and how lonely you felt and you vow never to let your partner down. You always try to be the best person you can for them. You realise that you can’t stay motivated and be by yourself, you have to share what you do with others.
When you see them each night, you remember back to what it was like the first time you saw them. When you are having a tough day with your next business venture you think of them and how they make you feel. They inspire you to be the best version of you and encourage you no matter what.
No matter how hard your life is, at least you have someone to share it with and that’s motivation right there. If you don’t have someone to share it with than remember that you will find him or her one-day – have faith.
5. Remember money doesn’t motivate you
Each day you see other people drive around in their luxury cars and remember what it was like when you were that person and didn’t understand what being rich actually meant. You remember the feeling of touching the soft leather on the drivers seat each morning and wondering why you needed a car to tell others who you are.
You remember the fast speeds you used to drive at in this car and why you used to do this. It wasn’t because you were in a hurry; it was because you were constantly going to places to try and find yourself and then in a hurry to find the next destination.
When you found your purpose, you no longer needed to drive fast and you stopped beeping your horn. You became content with who you’ve become. As offers of money are given to you to get involved in different businesses, you stop looking at how many zero’s there are and start thinking about whether the vision links with who you’ve become.
You think a lot about the problem these business ventures might be solving and whether you are going to be able to stay motivated. You look at your list of interests and realise that many of these offers don’t meet your new criteria. After listening to Tim Ferriss, you realise you need to start saying no a hell of a lot more if you are going to stay on track and stay motivated.
If someone wants to give you a lot of money to complete a task, you start asking who else is involved. You realise that you are happy to take less money for something if it means that you get to network with amazing people.
6. Always help someone
Motivation is accelerated when others continually encourage you to keep going. The only way others will support you is if you do something to help them or create value for them in some way. You can help anyone you want; it’s not hard and you can start today.
Listen to the greats who talk about how helping people is why they are successful. Go do what most people think is crazy and give up Thanksgiving, and go and feed the homeless. Your family will think you’re nuts, but you will find a different form of motivation that you haven’t had before.
After the holiday break, notice how you start to think about your business ventures in a different way. Suddenly you wonder if your product or service could help people who are much less fortunate than you.
7. Take a break
Pick a destination and take a break. You’ve worked damn hard so far on your dream and you need to reset. As motivated as you have now become you will burn out at some point – everyone does (trust me).
Learn about another culture while you’re away. See a different way of doing things. Get out of your comfort zone. Enjoy the sunshine and try not to think about your business activities. Grab your smartphone, hold the off button, and put it in your suitcase. What happens on Facebook can wait, this is your life we are talking about – don’t let it pass you by.
Make a commitment that when you get home, you are going to do one thing differently. Upon arrival back from your break, notice how you feel and reassess if you’re motivated. If done properly, you should be able to focus again on your goal without losing motivation.
At the end of the holiday, ask yourself was this fun? If the answer is yes, then you know what you have to do – find a way to add more value so you can pay for more holidays.
As the years roll on, your new strategy for staying motivated can be summed up in the following sentence. Stop doing stuff you don’t like, be happy with yourself, add value, and who cares what others have.