You probably read the title of this post and said,
“Wait a second, a lot of good things have come out of motivation.” Well I’m telling you you’re wrong. By this time of year, January 19, a large percent of people have given up on their New Year’s resolution. Why is that? It’s well documented that NY resolutions don’t last, so why do people still make them? Not that you shouldn’t try, you should. However, you can’t do the same thing over and over and expect different results. So, every year when you say
“Next year is going to be my year.” you are essentially dooming yourself to repeat the same routine. December 31st you are going to feel motivated, I even get that. I’m human, I think about the endless opportunities that await all of us, but I don’t make a resolution then. A resolution made on December 31st is an emotional resolution. If your resolution isn’t made on personal values, and correct principles, then you’re just spinning your wheels. Hear this:
Everyone wants to be successful. (motivation)
Not everyone decides to be successful. (drive)
The differences in these two sentences become apparent when motivation runs out. A good analogy would be when your car battery starts to run out. You can jump your car, and leave it running a few minutes to let the alternator charge your battery. That’s motivation, you get a jump start on New Year’s Eve, and you hit the gym; that lets your metaphorical alternator give you some juice. A week later, the car needs a jump again. Drive is like putting in a new battery. Now, it doesn’t matter if it’s 3:00 AM and its raining, that car is going to start. Could you imagine jump starting a car at 3:00 AM in the rain? You’d have to pop the hood and get a tarp out so the battery terminals don’t get wet. When you change the battery everything is good on the inside of the car, it’s not as effected by the outside forces.
Waiting for the new year to start a resolution is like waiting for a jump start. You waiting for that burst of motivation. If only this was this way, or if that was that way, then everything would be good. You’re waiting for external forces to change in internal structures.
Change yourself, then change the World.
A lot of people accomplish a lot of things out of motivation. They feel a burst of energy, and they sign up for 10k, or read a book, or enroll in college classes. Those are all great things, but when they go up against the test of time they don’t hold. What good does a college degree do you when you’ve been out of college for a year and haven’t found a job? The euphoria of graduation day seems like a distant memory. When your on mile 20 of a 26.2 mile marathon, you won’t feel motivated. You’ll be cursing yourself. I guarantee you Thomas Edison did not feel motivated after his 100th attempt redesigning lightbulb– nor his 200th, etc. Speaking from my own experience, when I was in marine bootcamp, I did not feel one slight bit of motivation doing push ups in the dirt having a man yell as loud as he could at me.
So what kept me going? I had decided, from a nonemotional point of view, that I was going to do it. I knew it was going to suck. So when I felt motivated, and strong, I used that and pushed forward. When I felt down, and weak I pushed against that. I made a decision, not a resolution, to keep going.
You have decisions to make everyday, and today you can decide to make January 19th your day. You might lose a loved one, you might get fired from your job, but it’s up to you to decide where you go from there. You can’t decide what happens to you, but you can decide how you react to it.
Now ask yourself:
Is 2020 going to be your year?
Insights That Ignite 