5 Mistakes 90% of the people make when searching for motivation

Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.” – Lou Holtz

What is motivation?

Whenever we’re not feeling motivated we get up in the morning and things just aren’t clicking, we aren’t feeling the day ahead. We turn to motivational videos, speeches, articles and music to inject ourselves with that daily shot of motivation.

Much like coffee tends to act as a daily shot of energy for most people.

Every time we do this, there’s an underlying issue that’s not being reviewed. Every time we just wake up and try to inject ourselves with motivation, we’re forgetting some of the core principles of what it means to “be motivated.”

Below are some of the mistakes that the majority of people make when searching for that illusive dosage of motivation :

1. Forgetting that love & passion drives motivation

Let’s not forget the core reason for anybody ever being motivated to do anything in life. Love and passion. The passion you have for what you do in life will be the biggest source of motivation you ever come across.

This is what gives people the ability to wake up without alarm clocks.

It’s what gives them the ability to start work early, and finish work late.

They love it.

There will always be days where we just aren’t feeling it, but if you’re not waking up 6 out of 7 days a week with an unbelievable excitement to start your day, lack of passion is the problem.

So it doesn’t matter how many videos you watch, or articles you read, passion is always the biggest natural form of motivation.

Are you doing what you love every day?

2. Leaving out future visualisations & goals

After raw passion, comes future goals…

If you don’t have goals and visualisations for your future, then you’re probably not going to be all that thrilled about moving toward it.

You HAVE to have some sort of future goals that moves you. That really drives you to keep moving forward and progressing in that direction.

There’s two parts to this step :

• Discovering and writing down your future goals for separate milestones; 6 months’ time, 12 months’ time, 3 years’ time & 5 years’ time.
• Visualising what it’s going to be like when you achieve them. Where are you going to be? What are you going to be doing? Who’s going to be in your life?

Painting a vivid picture for exactly what you want is not only a powerful step in motivating you, but the precise definition will help you get there.

“Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days.” – Zig Ziglar

3. Not tasting your dream life

Visualization is a powerful motivator. It allows you to search into your mind and see a rough picture of what your life would be like if you were to achieve your goals.

However, there’s one thing that tops it…

Which is actually experiencing what it would be like.

Once I’d decided I was interested in becoming a nomad (travelling from country to country without really being permanently based in just one), I decided to spend some time solo travelling.

I was already operating my business whilst I was moving from country to country, it just wasn’t making me a lot of money at the time, and I was living off savings.

What did this allow me to do?

It allowed me to live precisely how I’d be living if I were to achieve some of my goals in the near future. I was still working. The only difference was the money was coming from my savings, and it was only able to last 7 months.

Being able to experience your visualizations in real life before you actually achieve your goals isn’t always possible.

But if there’s a way, you can’t afford not to take advantage of it.

I had the time of my life experiencing the life I could be living, and that’s a seriously powerful thing.

4. Letting the past paralyze you

Your past shouldn’t paralyze you.

Many of us have unfortunate pasts, and experiences always differ for people, but it’s important to not let the experiences of your past continue you keep you down.

They should make you realize how far you’ve come from being the person you once were.

You should also be motivated to keep on pushing yourself so that you make sure you never relive that past.

Motivation from past experiences will always be different from person to person, but if you’re someone who’s struggled in one way or another in the past, don’t let it paralyze you.

Let it motivate you!

5. Disregarding the obvious lifestyle/health rituals

Those who have a powerful mind, start with feeding their body.

You know that the food we eat and the level of exercise we get plays a huge part in healthy brain function, not just body function?

I think a lot of people disregard that fact.

We forget just how powerful these things can benefit the way we feel, as well as the obvious physical bodily health benefits.

So if you wanted to feel motivated, treat your mind with the respect it deserves.

In the words of Brendan Meyers;

“If you eat right, you feel right, and if you feel right… you look right! And if you look right, you do right, you dig?”