When people ask, where do you get your motivation from? What do you tell them?
Motivation, I believe, comes from many places and is dependent on what you are doing. What motivates you in the morning may not be the same things that motivate you in the afternoon. What motivates you to get out of bed in the morning? For me, it is usually the need for a bathroom and a coffee. Maybe it’s the first day of a road trip, maybe it’s a Monday morning work day, or maybe it’s just because the sun came up. Motivation to accomplish even the simplest of tasks comes in many forms. Identifying what they are and how they change can let you take advantage of those moments to propell you forward.
What is Motivation
According to Oxford Languge Dictionary the definition of motivation is
“The reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way.”
“the general desire or willingness of someone to do something.”
When we talk of motivation, we tend to think of the positive motivators, but there are also negative motivators. There are things that motivate you to be angry or sad as well as happy and glad. Maybe you have seen something on TV or had a bad experience while you are out, that has motivated you to be angry or sad. When the definition refers to the motivating force being the reason for a behavior, it is not only an action but also an emotion.
Life in general has its ups and downs of motivators. A friend or family member passes away, and that motivates a string of emotions and actions. A wedding or birthday party will also motivate a different string of emotions. The motivation in life is ever changing.
Motivation creates a desire for you to do a specific action, as in my desire to get out of bed, use the bathroom, and make coffee. My motivation is the coffee. The actions were to get me there. Coffee is usually my motivation for a lot of things. Lol.
Sometimes, the motivation is to create an end result, such as creating a successful, meaningful blog. In that, the motivation becomes the force to get you to that goal. The motivation to create an action can also be done in steps. Each step leads you to another goal.
Motivation Comes in Many Forms and is Ever Changing
When people ask me where my motivation comes from, it is a hard question to answer. It comes in many forms and in many different ways. Finding my motivation is sometimes a little elusive. Those days when the couch, a good movie, and bowl of popcorn are the events of the day, we say, “we have no motivation to do anything.” Is that true, though? We are motivated to have a couch day by maybe having a busy week, or it’s a rainy day. There is always motivation in the action.
A beautiful fall day may motivate you to take a walk in the woods. To feel the crispy leaves crunch under your feet as you enjoy the cool breeze of fall. A hot day may motivate you to go for a swim or find a shade tree to sit under.
Motivation is ever changing and abundant. When we discover what motivates us to do specific actions, we can focus on the motivators that propell us forward.
Choosing Your Motivator
Choosing what motivates us will move us into a desired direction. Many things happen in a day. Just think about all the forces that motivate your actions from your first cup of coffee to the time you should go to bed. There are a million of them. It is your choice which motivators you will use and for how long.
Something makes you angry at the beginning of the day. How long will you let that motivator make you angry?
A great example of that is my friend Dale. He has since passed away, but I think of him often and miss his antics and his friendship very much. Dale would always go to a local coffee shop for coffee in the morning. Having a not great experience with the server one morning, he was angry. When I spoke to him at 5 pm that evening, he was still angry. How long did that interaction take? Maybe 1 -2 minutes at the very most? It was now over 8 hours later, and that motivation to be angry was still there. Let it go, my friend, let it go!
Hanging on to a negative motivator can be destructive. Frankly, it can wreck a perfectly good day. When I asked what else happened that day, he told me he had talked to his daughter and had a wonderful conversation. Now that’s a motivator you should hang on to.
You see, it is your choice of what motivates you through your day. There are many positive motivators that happen throughout the day. Pick one, then another, and see where that takes you.
The People Around You
People are motivated by people and their actions with their own motivators. It is a continuous circle. Think about all the people in your life. Family, friends, coworkers, and even the person who serves you coffee at the coffee shop all motivate us in some way or another. The people you choose to influence your motivation can be monumental in your desired path.
What do I mean by that? Look around at the people around you. There are people who can find a cloud on a sunny day and people who can find the sun on a cloudy day. Which people do you want as an influence to motivate your day?
We are not always in control of who we interact with in a day. Maybe you have to work with that coworker or deal with a family member who is having a negative influence on your motivation. Maybe it is one of those days where you need to reach out and phone a friend to get some positive motivation. Sometimes, it seems the negative influence is everywhere, but when we really look, there is an equal amount of positive influence. You just have to choose which motivator you will hang on to.
Motivating you towards your Goal
We have now discovered that we have a choice of motivators. How do we use those choices to get us to a certain goal? Is the goal an actual motivator? My goal is for my blog through my writing is to help and positively motivate people to achieve their own desires. Finding the motivation to get it there comes from many places. Each time I write a blog and someone likes or comments on my blog, it is a motivator for me to continue. Each time, someone tips me a coffee or buys my book because, in some way, my words have touched them positively, let’s me know I am going in the right direction.
There are times when life will give you a motivator, and there are times when you need to reach out for one. Always keeping your goal in mind, you can choose which ones will get you closer to your goal. An opportunity comes along where a person or event gives you a motivating spirit that moves you closer to your goal. An example would be me meeting Daphne and her Free At 50 blog. She, along with her 3, 2, 1 Action course, has given me both motivation and guidance in reaching my goal.
There are times when reaching out for positive motivators is a must. Sometimes, you become stuck. I know I have experienced that. Where you either have too many directions you are going or not enough. There are many ways to find that positive motivation. A friend or family member who makes you laugh or can guide you to the motivation you need to get to where you want to be. You can consider taking a course or hiring a life coach (I am a certified Life Coach). There are so many ways to find that positive motivation you need to get where you want to be. Just reach out and grab them!
What is your favorite motivator? Mine is coffee! Lol. Let me know in the comments.
Feel free to reach out to me on any of my social platforms or here in the comments and let me know how I motivate you! I would love to hear it.
If you need a little motivation, feel free to reach out on any of my social media accounts or right here at my blog. I would love to help.
Thanks for coming along on my Chipmunk Adventure. See you next time.
Love this blog! Coffee would be wonderful, thanks!
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