Beyond Motivation Is Decision

You’ve heard it all before: “You have to feel motivated — you have to be determined in order to achieve what you want.” I don’t know about you, but those words are feeling pretty empty and shallow to me these days. That’s because when you go beyond your reliance on those meaningless words, you uncover a power to concentrate that is so significant you know deep down that you will succeed, and others sense it too. There is no BS, no trying to manipulate yourself into feeling positive. Your attitude and actions are quiet, humble, and focused.

I had a wonderful conversation with a friend about why some people achieve their goals while others do not. He had been sharing his experience of feeling excited about working out and losing weight. His excitement and determination were high for about a month, then waned significantly after he injured himself. His commitment to his goal fizzled out. He felt frustrated with himself that he couldn’t get back to his regime.

We have all been there — we start something with vigour and passion only to find our excitement and energy naturally dissipates for a while. The problem is that we interpret this waning as a loss of interest, making it difficult to overcome the natural ups and downs we are inevitably going to face.

I can sense your heads nodding in agreement as I write this. The issue is not the loss of enthusiasm, the issue is where you have placed your attention and energy. Typically, we place a great deal of emphasis on the initial excitement and passion we feel for our cause and rely on that unbridled energy to move us forward. This energy, which is difficult to sustain because of its naive nature, can disappear very quickly at the first set back. The same pattern can be seen in people and in companies wanting to improve: great beginning, but short-lived follow through. If we feel excited and enthusiastic, we move forward. If we feel we’ve lost that energy, we panic and question our decision — or worse, beat ourselves up for losing it. An enormous amount of energy is spent wondering why we are not excited any more. Our mistake is relying on a passion or excitement that isn’t deep enough to handle varying external conditions or fragile internal emotions. Shift your focus away from whether you are excited, and you will see that this lost energy can be directed to a re-commitment to the original purpose.

Contrary to what you hear from most motivational speakers, you don’t need to get up every morning feeling passionate about your life. Nor is it necessary to be excited about your goal every moment. You don’t need to artificially build yourself up. The energy it takes to do so is energy better spent on just achieving what you want. The goal is to use your energy efficiently and economically right now. When you do this, you sustain higher levels of energy and focus over a longer period of time and ultimately achieve your goal faster.
It is never about the level of sustained enthusiasm, it’s about the efficient use of energy and focus over time at a high level to create quality outcomes. And believe it or not, this is easily attainable. You just decide to do it.

Meditations on life, leadership, and how the world works by Jonathan Creaghan