Day 16: Motivation

One of the hardest things to consistently maintain in life is motivation. Everyone has a reason to be motivated in whatever they do. Whether it be for their family, for their livelihood, or for themselves, there should never be a lack of motivation. The problem is transforming motivation into action.

I have not written in roughly 11 days. For a person that wants to be a writer, this is inexcusable. I have my reasons for why, but at the end of the day they are just excuses. Now I am really behind in my writing, and have a lot to make up for. The one thing that I gained from the time away though is an understanding for motivation.

What separates the past and present writer in me is the thought process. I have been posting on blogs for years now, but before there was never any real consistency to it. I would just write whenever I felt like writing. Now that I have decided to make a conscious effort to write more, even when I am not writing, I am always thinking of ideas to write about. From things I observe on television, social media, my daily life, or even through listening to music, I always keep my mind open for ideas. I was never like this before.

A couple friends and myself decided to start a book club a couple months ago. What makes our book club different is that we decided to only read books that would benefit where we currently are in our lives. The first book we read was The ONE Thing. In the book there is a part that talks about discipline. The book says that we only need to be disciplined until a habit is formed because then it becomes a natural part of our lives. A study proved that on average habits form in 66 days.

We all decided to commit to doing something that would benefit our future selves for 66 days. I personally wanted to write and post on Medium during that time. What I realized is writing everyday is almost a chore if you cannot stay motivated, if you get lazy, or have no ideas. My first week of writing, I was able to get through it, and felt confident I could do it for the additional 8+ weeks. We are currently halfway through, and I have missed more days than I can remember. My vow was to create 66 posts on medium, but I have made it so much harder on myself by not writing everyday.

This is the thing about motivation. It can be fleeting. Once you lose your motivation from one source, if you do not quickly find it from another: your goals, responsibilities, and commitments suffer. Also, motivation only matters if you create action from it. Everyone has a reason to stay motivated in whatever they do. A lot of people choose not to turn that motivation into action though. Motivation needs accountability. If you are not willing to hold yourself accountable for the mistakes you make and learn from them, all the motivation in the world cannot help you.

Like anything in life, motivation takes balance. You need to continue to find ways to motivate yourself, while staying ready to use that motivation to create action. Saying we are motivated and being motivated are two completely different things. It only means something if you are doing something with it.