Monday, August 19, 2013

Motivation Vs Inspiration: Why We Need Both To Have Success

By Lachlan Haynes


Most people already know how important it is to take action if you want to achieve something - it's a major key to success. But what rarely gets enough attention is the concept of sustained action, or in particular how important your mindset is when it comes to sustaining action long term.

So how do we achieve long term action? Two qualities rank high on the list, consistency and persistence. Not everyone is born with these traits but you do have the ability to learn them. A key tip that can help you learn persistence is to set aside your emotion. We are all very emotional creatures at our core. We experience our ups and downs, sometimes more downs than ups, and it is important to try to set the negative emotions aside to learn persistence. Some other key tips that are worth including are becoming accustomed to succeeding which can be done by setting small goals and meeting them, make small changes which means changing one bad habit at a time, and remember to reward yourself for every accomplishment.

We have all felt what it is like to get that sudden rush of motivation and turn that feeling into energy. This influx of motivation and energy can develop into great progress toward our goal or action, but the problem with that rush is that it's usually fleeting. Motivation is like a sound wave; it flows up and drops down, often in line with our emotions. When we are feeling happy we are more likely to have the energy to follow through, but when we are facing setbacks and feeling down, that energy is suddenly sucked away. This intrusion of varying emotions can impact our motivation and therefore results.

When we are feeling our best by eating right, exercising, staying healthy and not getting stressed out, getting enough sleep, and having a healthy social and family life, our emotional health will be positive. These good feelings spill over into the rest of our life. When you get a good grade due to your hard work and motivation, you will feel accomplished and this will carry you through to keep up the good work.

However, when the opposite happens, you are aren't eating right so you are hungry, you aren't sleeping well so you are tired, you aren't staying active so you feel run down and unhealthy, and you are not staying in touch with your friends or family, you will begin to feel the down part of the upswing. With all of these emotions and physical issues going on it will be likely you won't be able to focus on your studies and you may start to get poor grades or negative feedback from your teachers. This will only further push you down in your already unhappy state and you may begin feeling depressed and like you want to give up.

The good news is that this ability to push through until the negativity subsides is a completely learn-able trait. The most important thing to learn is how to transform those short bursts of activity and motivation into prolonged, repeated action. It's pretty obvious that to accomplish lofty goals, we must compartmentalize our action into smaller steps. So, if you know where you want to be in the big picture, creating a step-by-step directional map will help you devote each day to getting one step closer to that larger goal. If you wanted to climb Mt. Everest, we'd have to begin at the bottom, one sometimes grueling step at a time, wouldn't we? Small, measured movements over an extended period of time would eventually get you to the top. Unless you have super-human powers, no one is going to just speed up to the top in one impressive leap! Prolonged action, repeating the appropriate movements toward smart and strategic goals will find you achieving your goals in no time! Don't let yourself get in your way - because you're the only thing that can stop you.

This is where inspiration comes in. Inspiration is more spiritual than motivation because it comes from a more powerful source. Something more sustained and divine, something that comes from a place greater than the person. It's really a desire for change - big or small. Motivation, while still powerful, is often tied to a certain event, or time frame or set of circumstances. It's more physical, rooted in the present moment.

It's the difference between going to school each day because you want to get your high school diploma, versus an unwavering desire to get into the College course of your dreams because you want to learn how to start and run a business that will change the world. These are both ambitions - but they are on very different levels. It's pretty easy to see which desire would last longer. Being inspired carries you through the ups and downs. It gives you the power to stay the course even when it's ridiculously hard.

Now is the time to really consider everything; to see yourself as a powerful piece in an even more powerful game. It's time to think about things like higher education, never needing a job that you despise, even the possibility of becoming a billionaire via the creation of something new that impacts people - even the entire world in a positive way! All of these outcomes can be possible for you; however, they require an ability to prolong your motivation long enough for it to transform into inspiration. Outcomes like these require that you can keep your eye on the big picture, while stepping evenly toward your goals every single day. Regardless of our circumstances, we can all direct our inspiration into unlimited potential - it is what you truly believe is possible that matters in the end. So, what is it that you are capable of - and how will you begin energizing your capacity to achieve it today?




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