How To Get Motivated By Doing LESS!
I got this interesting question from one of my email subscribers on how to get motivated:
“Mario, can you create a list for me that helps me as a sensitive person to get motivated about life and live at ease? Can you help me with that?”
First of, I get that.
Most of us, we feel directionless and overwhelmed … we’re constantly bombarded by stimuli and a bunch of information … let alone society telling us something is wrong with us …
And we’d like to get some kind of a check-list, or better yet a roadmap, where we just need to check off things and everything’s fine.
However, that’s NOT how it works.
That’s NOT how you get more motivation.
If I would help you living an easy life? Nah…
Look, there lies the issue.
We think we need more ease to feel better, to live a more meaningful life.
This couldn’t be further away from the truth.
Let me examine:
Happiness comes when we’re feeling good about ourselves.
And we feel good about ourselves when we follow our natural tendency for progress and growth.
(Like everything in the universe is either growing or dying. Hope I don’t get too philosophical here … But no worries, we come to practical action steps very soon! Read on …)
So, in order to attain happiness and live a more fulfilling and meaningful life, we got to challenge ourselves to become better humans, to contribute way beyond our mere existence … to leave our unique contribution.
Yes, I said “unique” contribution. Why?
Well, because everyone of us is here for a reason. If we don’t see this, life loses its magic.
We’re here to live our life purpose.
That’s what I strongly believe.
There’s no other being in this world who’s exactly like YOU.
So I say: Honor yourself, and embrace your special nature for that fact.
In fact, living an easy life would BORE US LIKE CRAZY!
…
Anyway, what has all this to do with getting motivation by doing LESS? … Less of what?
Less Of Everything
I mean this seriously.
If you look at your life, or if you’ve had the experience to travel abroad (far away from your nest-egg) for a sustained period of time … you know that most things aren’t that much important AT ALL.
What you need is to take a deeper look within and ask yourself questions like these:
- What do I REALLY want to achieve or create in my life?
- What gives me a sense of purpose and presence?
- What would I do if I had all the money in the world?
- What kind of legacy do I want to leave?
Things like THESE.
(Real motivation is fired from within. That’s the main reason I can’t “create a list” for you.)
Unfortunately, these are questions most people do NOT consider … and therefore they’re broke, miserable and frustrated (and a bunch more of negative feelings).
So, if you don’t want to belong to this group and join the people who live extraordinary lives, know this:
Yes, it’s possible for you to get motivated by doing less. And yes you MUST get serious about this.
You must decide NOW what you’re going after, what’s truly meaningful TO YOU … and then go after it with everything you’ve got.
Your Creator has handed you amazing tools (there’s something special about you, a talent or skill no one else on this planet has in this special way. Find out what it is and use it for good.) …
Once you’re at this point there’s only ONE thing stopping you from SUSTAINING MOTIVATION in your life:
Success Habits
Being motivated is a habit.
And it’s best build up by marching towards a worthy goal or ideal as Earl Nightingale used to say.
It’s said that it takes 21-28 days to create a new habit, to install a new routine.
I don’t care how long it actually takes to automate this process.
When I’m starting to internalizing a brand-new habit, I just add it to my weekly schedule and decide how many times per week I need to accomplish it.
(You see we’re getting strategic here.)
And, then, once I set the weekly goal I fully commit myself to following through.
Here’s how it looks like:
- Everytime I DON’T do the new habit (e.g. Writing down my Top 10 goals), I put an “X” (for failure) into my weekly habit tracker. (IMPORANT NOTE: I don’t take this “failure” personally, it’s just my actions NOT who I am. It doens’t lower my self-esteem and self-worth BUT my progress. BIG difference!)
- Everytime I do the new habit, however, I mark it off as completed. (Yay!)
By doing so, I TRACK my accomplishment and either try harder next time OR reward myself for my progress. This also helps me to really stay consistent, following through because now I’m ACCOUNTABLE!
And over time it becomes a habit. Consistency is the key factor.
Further Strategies:
I don’t want to make it TOO LONG here, but here’s another thing I do – EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.
So what is it?
I set three important tasks every single day writing down my short-term goal (*) and work towards achieving them FIRST THING IN THE MORNING.
*It’s essential to break down your long-term vision into smaller, doable steps (short-term goals). Otherwise, you’ll never accomplish anything.
No email, twitter, facebook or anything else (despite my morning routine, but that’s a whole ‘nother topic).
My only FOCUS is on accomplishing these three priorities. If I don’t get them done, I won’t progress today.
I highly recommend you set up a similar process for yourself to internalize new habits because they ultimately rule your day and destiny.
Conclusion:
After implementing ALL this stuff, you’ll soon see that what you really crave isn’t a life at ease, but a life that IS meaningful and fulfilling.
You want to build, dream and create stuff. That’s what life’s all about for the highly sensitive person. This builds up motivation.
That’s how you get motivated – from the inside out.
And your motivation gets higher the more CLARITY you get on what it is you want AND the more ACTION you take towards your ambitions by constantly learning & applying new knowledge.
Hope that helps,
–Mario
