Sometimes life doesn’t work out as planned no matter what you do. You start each day with the best of intentions and expect to achieve success. However, this isn’t a Hallmark movie. There are lots of situations in your life that happen outside of your control. These unexpected moments derail your positive intentions. As leaders, we want to grow a business, advance in a career, have better relationships, and create freedom and margin to spend our time doing whatever we want.

You have emotion, hope, and aspirations of accomplishing more than any previous year at the start of any new year. You may have even started your year with resolutions, goals, and a plan to dominate. Even with the best strategies, something will knock you off course. You will undoubtedly experience a test of your resolve. 

Choosing Success

When you experience overwhelming frustration, you have a choice to make. You can decide that whatever you’re dealing with is too hard to face and throw in the towel. Or, you can take a different path and decide to get through the difficult experiences and learn the life lessons you’re being offered. Every experience in life creates learning moments if you’re willing to listen. 

After you cater to your wounds and regroup, you’ll have to stand up and get back to work. If you have gone through hard times, you know that getting refocused and committed to your goals is easier said than done. During any recovery period after experiencing what feels like a defeat, you’ll need to tap into your sources of motivation. You will need to be inspired and remember why you started this journey to create success. 

Without having motivation, your feelings, emotions, and irrational fears will feed into self-limiting beliefs that will derail your progress. A little voice will convince you that there’s no way to recover. Life will often bring situations that feel too hard to handle. These situations can potentially hurt your motivation and determination to accomplish your goals. It’s important to understand that motivation is always there if you know how to tap into it. 

“Change equals self-improvement. Push yourself to places you haven’t been before.” – Pat Summitt

Consistent Motivation

If you’re going to create success and accomplish your goals, you’ll need to know how to get motivated. What I’m talking about isn’t the raw-raw kind of motivation that makes you feel good, and then you crash. I’m talking tapping into the coal that pushes your success train. This kind of motivation is more than feelings — it’s inspiration and a determination to make it through circumstances that are trying to hold you back. 

You need motivation sources so that you can find motivation whenever you need it. We live in an age where sources of motivation are all around us in various platforms and mediums. Leaders can get motivated through inspirational and informative podcasts, blogs, videos, books, and other people. The internet and social media create a bubble that helps success-seekers instantly receive motivation through content that’s free, available, and practical. 

You can find your favorite biography, inspirational quote, series of books, speaker videos, and more so that you leverage these sources of motivation to get focused and re-inspired. Self-awareness is essential in this circumstance because it helps you know what motivates you. Your sources of motivation are going to be different than the next person. It may be music or watching a Joel Brown video. It may be books or listening to a podcast.

To create continuous motivation, you’ll need to know what motivation sources are practical for you and how to access them. When you experience a setback or moments of frustration, instantly access motivation. 

Motivation can also manifest through people. Friends, family members, or other inspiring success-seekers can help you move forward. You can join mastermind groups or other social clubs. 

Your best source of motivation is your main WHY and where you’re going. It can be growing a business, starting a dream career, or building extraordinary relationships. You should know that success isn’t a finish line. The journey to becoming the best version of yourself never ends. 

Reaching success and creating a wonderful life should be your best source of motivation. Let it fuel you to keep moving forward despite setbacks. 

“Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think.” – Benjamin Disraeli

Stay Motivated

Once you’ve created your primary sources of motivation and know where to find them, commit to keeping consistent motivation as a part of your success routine. Create space and room in your schedule every day to get re-inspired. You can think of this as personal development time with an emphasis on personal — you taking care of yourself. This is a time to get your mind, body, and spirit right. 

Building the habit of staying motivated creates high performance that helps you get more done in a focused way. It’s how you become elite at what you do because you use a strategy others won’t.  It takes a lot to become the best version of yourself. It takes tremendous strength to grow and put in the work. You will need support. You can’t do this without the proper motivation. 

External circumstances and your feelings will overwhelm you without motivation. This can be a year full of accomplished goals and dreams fulfilled. Use your sources of motivation to get there.