Nature of Motivation

Do you lack the motivation to be successful?

Maybe you’ve seen other people achieve their goals, and assumed that they must have had more willpower, more grit, and more motivation to realize their dreams. But, as it turns out, the idea that motivation is a magical spark that leads to hard work is a myth, and it could be obstructing your path to happiness.

Let’s learn that motivation is the result of process – not a requirement for success. By understanding the true nature of motivation, you can work toward your goals and make positive changes that’ll improve your joy for daily life.
Let’s explore:

• why you should avoid taking shortcuts;
• what it takes to do 100,000 push-ups; and
• how to accomplish a major task in a single day.

Small victories fuel motivation.

A few months after taking up cycling as a hobby, he participated in his first major Gran Fondo cycling event. The 100-mile route covered dirt and gravel roads and included 11,000 feet of climbing. The trail was the most difficult task he had set out to accomplish. But, thanks to his grueling training regime, he successfully reached the finish line.

For weeks after the event, he felt more confident than usual. The effort and determination he’d put into his training had paid off, and the memory of finishing the race gave him a sense of pride. Sure, he had more work to do before reaching his goal of becoming the best cyclist he could be. But he felt motivated to keep improving for the next event. So what does this tell us?

To put it another way, after achieving his first cycling milestone, he learned an important lesson: the key to staying motivated is to regularly enjoy small successes.

Small successes are motivating. Enjoying them can lead to a happy cycle of more success and more motivation. By savoring small victories, you can feel accomplished every day. That’s because you’ll no longer be focused on the gap between where you are and where you want to be. In fact, as long as you achieve what you set out to do each day, you’ll feel like a winner.

But first things first: to reap the benefits of small successes, you have to get started. And for most people, the first step in any process turns out to be the hardest one.

For example, even though he was passionate about cycling, there are some days when it’s the last thing he wants to do. It’s not that he doesn’t enjoy it. It’s just that he has to get through the first few miles of stiff legs and cold air before riding his bike becomes fun. As soon as the endorphins kick in, his mood improves.

He feels proud of his ability to excel at the sport and of his ability to continue improving. So, to get out of the house each morning, he’s taught himself to enjoy these successes and remember how great he’ll feel once the wheels start to turn.

Focus on the process, not the goal.

You might think that talking about your goal with your friends or family will keep you on track. But research shows that people who discuss their aspirations are less likely to follow through on them.

For example, if you tell your friends that you’re going to walk the Appalachian Trail, they’ll admire you for your bravery. But by already experiencing the reward that comes from being admired, you’ll be less determined to actually go on the hike.

In fact, once you set out to achieve a goal, you should avoid thinking about the goal itself. Instead, your day-to-day life should be more about the steps you’ll take to get there.

Successful people break their goals down into small incremental steps that can be practiced as a daily routine, also known as a process. By establishing a successful process, you can achieve small rewards on a regular basis. This fuels your motivation to work harder.

For example, when you began writing for your blog, you were paid a mere 0.0095 cents per view on your posts. Since monthly compensation for the website was capped at INR 10k, you set out to reach an average of 1,050,000 views per month. Once you set this goal, you focused on creating a process to achieve it.

Every day without fail, you wrote one new post. You then made sure to email a thank you note to the three most influential people who tweeted or reposted your post, which helped you make connections and build relationships. You also contacted one CEO, celebrity influencer, or entrepreneur who might be a valuable source for future articles.

To improve your ability to craft viral-worthy headlines, you added three items to an ongoing list of great headlines. Finally, you evaluated your recent posts to analyze his page views, shares, likes, and tweets to understand what readers cared about.

In the first month, you received only 35,000 page views. But within five months of sticking to his process, you were receiving a whopping 2.1 million page views per month. Your daily routine hadn’t changed but your process had enabled you to develop the skills, confidence, and perseverance that helped you achieve his goal.

Your goal dictates your process.

When the you were 12 years old, your grandfather bought a racehorse. Over the next year, he entered it in small local races with little success.

Then one day, he convinced a talented jockey to ride the horse during the Goochland Races. The horse placed second, and for the next few hours, grandfather carried himself with a new sense of pride.

Unfortunately, this aura of confidence soon faded. In his rush to win a race, the old man was too focused on the outcome at his dot age.He didn’t realize that consistent and lasting fulfillment only comes from enjoying the process.

When setting out to achieve a goal, you might be tempted to take a shortcut or hack your way to the top. But if you want real success and lasting happiness, you should focus on your goal only to help shape your process.

Let’s say you’ve decided to run a marathon. The next step in your process is to pick a routine that’s appropriate for your current fitness level. Although there are dozens of online plans for marathon training, try not to dwell on picking the perfect one. At this point, it’ll take some experimenting to figure out which works best for you.

After picking a program, make your process as specific as possible. So, instead of saying that you’ll go jogging three times a week, decide on exactly when, where, and how far you’ll run.

Of course, training for a marathon is a significant time commitment. That means you’ll need to adjust your schedule. Whether it’s setting your alarm clock to go off earlier or giving up an evening TV show, determine what changes you need to make in your current schedule to add room for your new process.

Once you’ve put your plan on a calendar, it’s time to work the process. At first, you might find yourself walking for portions of the run you planned. If that’s the case, don’t worry. As long as you show up when and where you agreed, you’re still making improvements that you should be proud of.

Become a serial achiever.

Whether or not you have a clear goal, succeeding at one thing makes you more likely to succeed in other areas of your life. So why not have multiple things that you’re successful at?

After all, you don't have to be perfect at everything you set out to achieve. Even if you get 90 percent there, you’ll reap the benefits of feeling successful and fulfilled in your pursuit.

While some people believe that you only have the capacity to excel at one thing, successful people know the power of pursuing multiple ambitions. 

Take Venus Williams, the American champion tennis player. When she was a child, her father frequently played a cassette tape that explained how to buy foreclosure properties. Although she didn’t understand what foreclosures were, she did understand the importance of forging her own path as an entrepreneur.

And so, as her tennis career took off, she realized that she had the opportunity to pursue passions outside of the sport. After all, she knew she’d probably only play tennis for a relatively short time. But instead of thinking of this as a limitation, it motivated her to have goals off the court.

For example, she launched a women’s active-wear brand called EleVen, actively involving herself in everything, from designing to marketing. After setting up V-Starr, her interior design firm, she even enrolled in a master's degree in interior architecture.

Being a serial achiever doesn’t mean you need to start a business or earn a graduate school degree. You can take on a hobby you’ve always dreamed about. Or your side hustle could simply be learning a new skill.

Say your office is filled with data analysts who excel at numbers. To set yourself apart, you might decide to develop your skills as a communicator. That way, your ability to convey insights about data will make you stand out in the crowd, and set you up for a possible leadership role.

If your side hustle turns out to be a failure, that’s okay. You’ll still be learning and improving, making progress as you figure out what’s best for you.

Let’s Work your number.

One day, two company cofounders complaining about developing their client base. It turned out that landing one client required them to make contact with ten potential clients first.

This was a great opportunity. Simply put, to land five new clients each month, all the cofounders had to do was set up a system to call 50 potential clients. They could also revise and improve their sales pitch to improve their ability to close more deals.

This strategy is known as working your number. By consistently working toward a defined number, you can create a lasting difference in your life.

Whether you’re an athlete practicing a number of reps each session, or a writer cranking out a defined number of words per day, successful people know that working toward your number cultivates consistent and long-term developments. It also enables you to anticipate and prepare for failure – something that you’ll inevitably experience in your journey to success.

You resolved to add 100,000 push-ups to your annual workout goals. That meant doing 274 per day. Granted, it wouldn’t be possible to do that number every day. There’d inevitably be illnesses or personal issues that may interfere with your workout routine from time to time. So, to create a buffer for these circumstances, you added an extra 30 to 40 per session. By the end of the year, you’d even completed more push-ups than you initially set out to!

Depending on your goal, it might not be possible to identify a precise number. In some cases, your number might just be to complete as many reps as possible per day.

Take race car driver Jimmie Johnson as an example. Early in his motorsports career, he realized that networking would be the most important task for his success. And so, after moving to North Carolina, he had business cards made with his name on them and set out to meet as many industry people as possible every single day.

He did this by sending a letter to every person he met in order to keep himself on their radar. And given that he became a seven-time NASCAR champion, it’s safe to say that working his number paid off!

Ask a professional for help.

Many people who want to achieve a goal hire a motivational coach. But while they’ll show you a process that’s fun and uplifting, they also tend to go easy on you as their client and suggest only minor changes to improve your life. Motivation is a fleeting emotion. If you are working or intend to just because of this emotions, then I am afraid you are going to be highly disappointed.

Unfortunately, that’s not how life works. Remember: there are no shortcuts on the path to success.

Instead of a coach, why not consider finding a professional who’s already established in your desired field to help you? Unlike coaches, professionals have no reason to coddle you. Instead, they can show you how to do the hard work required to achieve remarkable results. They also won’t hold back from telling you what you need to hear.

When considering which professional to approach, don’t overthink it. You might even challenge yourself by picking someone who has traits you lack. For example, if you tend to be shy, pick a mentor who’s a habitual self-promoter. What’s most important is that the person’s approach to success will help you accomplish your goals.

When the Haden began cycling, he sought help from Jeremiah Bishop, one of the world's leading mountain bike racers. He told him that he wanted to improve his cycling skills and achieve a goal that felt impossible. Bishop suggested that Haden rides his 107-mile Alpine Loop Gran Fondo in Virginia. The route included four grueling mountain ascents, including a gravel road that reached 4,400 feet at its highest point.

Working with Bishop did wonders for Haden. But the two didn’t train together the entire time. For instance, during the first week of training, Bishop was in Italy for a bike marathon. So, although Bishop was the his mentor, it was up to him to follow the routine Bishop had devised.

When approaching a pro of your choice, instead of asking her to be your full-on mentor, consider just asking him a question about how he achieved his success. That way, you can gain insight that’ll help you copy his process. And if you’re lucky, he might even take an interest in you, and put in the time and effort to take you on as a mentee.

An extreme productivity day can reset how you work.

Still have no idea how you’ll achieve your goal? Why don’t you start this week by taking an extreme productivity day, or EPD.

An EPD is an eleven- or twelve-hour workday that you reserve for completing one major task. It’s a chance to break away from your routine, get significant work done, and start reaping the motivating benefits that come from success.

The first step to taking an EPD is to let your coworkers, family members, or clients know that you won’t be available. That way, you won’t be interrupted or irritate anyone for going offline. 

This is different from sharing your long-term goal with the people around you. By telling them the short-term task you plan on achieving that day, you’ll actually be held accountable for finishing it.

Next, you should decide how long to work. Aim for a twelve-hour workday. But don’t start your EPD at 8:00 a.m. like any other workday. Instead, start your day at an unusual time like 4:00 a.m. or 6:00 p.m. to jolt yourself out of your daily routine. Then commit to working for that timeframe completely. If you need to, you can even raise the stakes by making a bet with someone that you’ll accomplish your goal.

Remember, the key to a successful EPD is momentum. Avoid checking Facebook or watching TV. Instead, opt for a few productive tasks that you can use as breaks from your main task.

When you do take breaks, choose the point where you break to be in the middle of a task. That way, when you get back to work, you’ll start at a point where you’re excited about the work rather than summoning up the energy to begin your new session.

And finally, don’t stop working until you’ve completed the task at hand, even if that means working longer than you initially intended. Completing the task will give you a boost of confidence. And as you complete more EPDs over time, you’ll improve your ability to stay focused and improve your performance on your regular days, too.

Motivation isn’t a spark but a result of small victories that fuel success incrementally. So, instead of looking for shortcuts, cultivate a process that enables you to achieve regular success and live a fulfilling daily life on your way to the top. If you’re not sure where to start, ask a professional for help or take an extreme productivity day to take the first step.

Actionable advice:

Use your goal as a measuring stick to make decisions.

There’ll be times on your journey when you’re presented with an opportunity that entices you. But since your time is limited, it’s important that you focus your attention on things that are a part of your process. Say your company’s looking for someone to lead the employee picnic team. Ask yourself, will this help me achieve my goal? If not, signing up for the position might not be the right decision for you.