“I don’t want to.”
How many times have you said this?
Guess what?
A lot of people don’t want to get up, or work out, or make the call, or write the proposal, or ask for the thing.
But the people who act differently than how they feel are the ones who achieve great things.
People think motivation is what gets you going. So, they wait for motivation to show up to get started.
Other people think you are motivated or you’re not.
But, that is a fixed mindset. And if you saw my first video on an elite mindset, then you know that your mindset is not actually set. It can move and grow.
Motivation is on a scale and you can move yourself up the scale to ensure that your motivation grows stronger everyday. Motivation is a decision you make everyday.
Donene Taylor, author of The Heart of a Champion, said that everyday you have to recommit to your commitments.
Motivation speaker and author, Zig Ziegler said motivation is like bathing – if you don’t do it for a certain number of days you start to stink.
You have to do a little a lot. You have to play the mental game with yourself to keep yourself motivated everyday.
So, how do you play the mental game to maximize your motivation? Here are 3 things to help you move the motivation needle:
- You have to make it so easy to get started.
So many times we set these huge goals but then we don’t reverse engineer those goals into a process filled with tiny steps.
You have to make it easy to take the first step. It’s the start that stops most people. So, make it easy to get started.
Motivation comes after movement. When you make it easy to start and then you keep taking those tiny steps, you see that motivation shows up.
Eliminate the excuse that you don’t feel like it. No one feels like it.
No one feels like it.
Get started and act like you are motivated. And then motivation shows up. Make it so easy to start that it’s hard not to.
- Make motivation a daily habit and keep score.
What habits do you want to build into your day? Make a list. And then keep track of how you’re doing. My clients and I use a free app called Habit Share where we share our habits. We keep a scoreboard for ourselves and each other.
Why?
Because measurement is motivation.
Imagine playing a sport without a scorecard that shows you and everyone your progress. If you don’t keep track of it, then it’s not important.
People treasure what they measure. If you can’t measure it you can’t improve it.
- Walk the walk and get others to follow you.
Be a leader that is so motivated everyday that you motivate other people.
How do you do this?
Start by asking yourself these 5 questions:
- What do you want? Clarity is key because you need to prioritize what you want. If you don’t know what you want then you will settle for anything. Saying yes to something means saying no to something else. So, make sure what you are saying yes to is really something you want.
- Why do I want this? Knowing why you want something helps you focus. And that focus is what is going to keep the motivation coming.
- How will this improve your life? How does it make your life better?
- Who else benefits? When you pursue this goal and achieve this goal, who will benefit? Who else does this positively impact? This is important because you have to be careful of who you become on your way to achieving this goal. When you have a really big goal you’ll have to make decisions. When you make those decisions, you are saying yes to some things and no to others. Yes to some people and no to others. So, be sure who you are saying yes to and who you are saying no to. Be careful of the person you are becoming on your way to achieving this goal.
- Who suffers if you don’t get what you said you wanted? Who are you going to let down if you don’t achieve your goal? Five words that really impacted me as a player and now as a coach are: Don’t let your teammates down. Stay motivated, stay committed. Follow through on what you said you were going to do to get what you want.
What do you want? Who is on your team? What impact do you want to create? Fill out the form below and tell me a little bit about yourself. I want to send you the content you need to achieve what you want.
