Motivation? Hard pass!
Motivation is nothing compared to drive, hustle and hard work.
I am that kind of person that wants to work on herself, get better every day, learn new things etc. It does seem that we are the flavor of the month, right? The thing is we didn’t get here, where we are today. Let me share my story on how I changed my mindset.
Four years ago, I had the mindset that I will do what’s necessary, but I will not go the extra mile. I mean why should I? I am not getting paid for it, many times people don’t even appreciate the minimum that you do, not to mention the extra. It just seemed unnecessary for me. Until I saw my big brother getting more and more successful. I asked him how he is doing that, that he can keep working till late nights and yet wake up with a smile on his face.
He told me a few things.
- You don’t need motivation. You need drive.
- Start playing long-run
- It’s about YOU, not the money, appreciation… You.
I didn’t get it at the moment. I understood what he was telling me, I just didn’t know how to change to get there. I was 18 then, freshly out of secondary grammar school and ready for college. And I knew that I needed to work on myself if I want some kind of a future.
Why do I need drive?
We all want to be more motivated, more productive etc. But we are forgetting that motivation is crap and I’ve learned that the hard way. As a college student, twice a year you get exam period, where you need to learn materials worth 3 months. And I think that most of college students will agree with me when I’ll say that procrastination is a dear friend and even trying those motivation tricks is doing nothing to us. Let me explain the thing about motivation.
Let’s say that I want to study or go for a run. When I want to study, I prepare water and coffee, or tea and I start studying. But since I am only human, my focus will last maybe an hour and then I need to switch to something else. Then once again I need to find motivation, which is hard for me. I asked myself the question when I am able to study and when I am not. I found out that coffee and water is a must for me, but I would be freaking crazy if I were to drink so much coffee and water that I wouldn’t move out of the toilet, right? And as soon as those things run out, I am out. I need to go and fill my water bottle etc. But that cannot go on. So, that when I understood my brother. How about I would drive myself into studying by changing my mindset? Maybe I don’t need coffee and water at all. Maybe I can do it without them, and it will be better because then I will have no distractions.
After couple sessions when I didn’t have coffee or water, I started to see it. My focus was indeed lasting longer. But it is not just about the things that make studying or whatever pleasant. It is about you.
To explain the jogging example. Let’s say that the weather is nice, and you feel motivated to go for a run. You change into jogging clothes, prepare all the stuff that you usually take, open the door and it seems it will rain. What does a motivated person do? Shut the door and go back to doing everything else, just not running. What does a person with a drive do? Grabs waterproof jacket and goes running. You stay motivated only if certain variables stay the same, but your drive doesn’t rely on such things as variables. It relies on your want and need to achieve things, to get better, to lose the weight, to learn the language etc.
Long-run game.
Most of us are playing the short-run game. We are focused on big goals in a short time, for example lose 20 kg in two months, or something similar. But the thing is that we often lose our drive to achieve this because we miss one workout, or we have two cheat days instead of one etc. But if we would to change our goal into a huge one in long period, let’s say years and then break it down into smaller goals, for example one for each one, two month or half year, we wouldn’t lose our drives so quickly, because we would have time to adapt and to fix our mistakes. Let’s say that in one week you would cheat twice, but the next one you wouldn’t at all, or just once and you would manage to get back at the right track.
This principle can be used for basically everything in our lives, we just have to think about it in a correct way. We have to learn to set up correct goals for us to achieve in an appropriate way, otherwise even the most motivated and driven people will fall right down. Trust me. I did.
It’s about you.
Let’s get back at me saying that we often don’t go the extra mile because we don’t feel appreciated enough to actually do it. But that’s where we are thinking wrong. We shouldn’t need others to make us go the extra mile in things that we are interested in, or in work. Yeah sure, it does feel damn nice to get the money for working overtime. But as I said, we should play the long-run game. Imagine that during that overtime something happens, and you learn more, you get better and maybe, just maybe, if a better position should be open, you might be chosen for it. And maybe not, but that really shouldn’t stop you from going the extra mile and having a good attitude.
You should do things because it is fun for you, because you are interested in them, because you want to do them. And yeah sure, if there are money involved, that’s a nice bonus, but don’t chase the money. Chase the need, the want, the better future you. The better, future you will thank you one day. Trust me on this one!
