Motivation, inspiration, passion, and drive…these are words we like to use rather carelessly. We throw them around as a way of trying to get ourselves to do something productive. We use them as a way to “break out” of laziness. Yet, how many times have you gone to sleep feeling motivated about the next day? You are excited to wake up and go about achieving your goals. But when morning comes all that “passion” is dead. All the motivation of the previous night is gone. Instead you feel like doing things that make you temporarily happy. You are content to stay where you are.
This is how I broke out of that circle of staying put.
I had spent the week at my grandparents. I had brought my laptop but I only used it once on the first day of being there. I did have my phone and I spent a small amount of time on it but next to nothing compared to what I was spending on my gaming desktop at home. The rest of the time I was either talking with my grandparents or out learning how to do house repairs with my grandfather. It was an awesome week, and one of the best parts of the whole thing was the 5 hour conversation I had with my grandmother. We talked about EVERYTHING. I quizzed her on her childhood, her thoughts and views on life, her political views and so many other topics. And as we talked I remember thinking, this is what I should be doing. I should be asking questions, learning, gathering knowledge from people. Getting life advice from the older generations, getting financial and business advice from people who have earned every dollar of their success.
But what with that thought came the nagging feeling of what I already had learned. I already knew the steps it takes to build wealth. I knew the steps I needed to take to start my life in a successful way. I knew the rough idea of the path I wanted to take. And yet, I wasn’t acting on it. I was being lazy. And here is where I decided, I needed to switch my priorities around. Less talking about it and more doing.
I came home the following Sunday and went and dug out my school (I’m home schooled) workbooks. I sat down and calculated how many I would have to do in order to graduate by the end of the year. And I figured it out that it would take about 8-10 hours of work everyday to graduate in 2018. And so the next day, on a bright sunny Monday morning, I went to work. I worked the whole day from morning until dark. And I continued to do that for the entire week. I didn’t have time to turn my computer on, and I knew if I did that I would be pulled back into the cycle of laziness. So it stayed off. 7 days went by, I used my laptop to stay up to date with the world but only after I had finished my work for the day. Another 7 days went by and I still hadn’t turned it on. To be honest I had no desire to.
I was set on a path to achieving my goal of graduating early. And I watched as the results began to show, and I used it as real motivation to keep going. I had written proof of hours of studying and learning that I had accomplished the previous week. I used it as fuel to keep the passion burning. I set a goal and I’ll work as hard as I have to until I can achieve it. And I would encourage you to do the same.
Set a goal that you want to achieve. Maybe you want to finish that dress you are working on, maybe finish putting the roof on the shed, maybe finish a project that you have left setting for a while. Whatever it may be, pick that goal and write it down. Then decide what it is that is stealing your time. Maybe it’s social media, maybe its novels, maybe its video games. Whatever it may be, try cutting it out of your life completely for 7 days. Wake up thinking about that goal, go to sleep thinking about that goal and every day push towards that goal.
As you see the effort you put in start showing results, it will give you a feeling of pride in your work and will encourage you to work towards it every day. I did it, I’m doing it…and it works!