How to stay motivated all the time? (reality or myth)

You might have learned about the motivation myth from the various sources around. However, in this read, I am going to provide you an enquiry based discovery to motivation reality. Stay tuned and focused till the end of the post.

Being motivated all the time was one thought which has haunted me a couple of years back. I tried to find different ways to keep myself motivated so I can stick to what I had initiated. Be it writing a book or publishing blog posts or shooting videos or it can be as simple as daily walking to keep myself healthy or reading a book every day.

During my learning journey, I could figure out different ways to motivate myself. Watching motivational videos on YouTube, reading biographies of successful people, watching lifetime interviews, attending webinars and meetups, reading self-help books, listen to motivational songs, and so on.

There was nothing new in what I was trying. I am sure many of you can relate to it. These are very common scenarios.

Let me give you an example with details - If you meet someone who is reading 1 book per week and you can't think of reading 1 book in many months since you saw him doing and achieving good results from it. You start feeling you can also achieve it and jump on picking up a dusted half-read book from the shelf. You are now excited and in the high motivation zone to achieve it. There are 99% of chances you may not even finish a couple of chapters of the book. The reason is you just copied someone else's motive (desire) and adopted it. You got influenced and extrinsically motivated.

Whenever I used to get extrinsically motivated, I always took quicker actions to achieve the results. I was charged up, to take actions for a few days and back to routine work very soon. I took action but it didn't long last enough to see the substantial results. Some times I was motivated up to a few hours. Maximum motivation stayed for a week.

Since I had tried various ways to extrinsically motivate myself. I could observe the different ways that I tried were not long-lasting. 

Now it was the time to look something deep from within - my deep desire. Question here is the idea came from outside, how can I feel about it and make it my desire? I didn't get any good solution.

I kept on asking a question to myself - what is the permanent solution for it?

I started digging deeper and deeper during my journaling sessions and eventually discovered (summarized) the following -

What is Motivation?

Motivation is the higher energy state of mind to achieve the motive.

Now the question came - can I maintain a higher state of mind all the time? What I experienced was, any feeling or state of mind was not permanent unless your brain is dead. If there is a sadness, then happiness is bound to come and vice verse.

Feelings are running like a sign wave. Ups and downs are part and parcel of life - Kapil Goel

So you can't maintain a state and you shouldn't try too.

Then what I can do during a higher state of mind? I can certainly take action and achieve the motive.

Next question aroused - can I take actions all the time? No, you can't. Your body needs to take rest, your mind needs to take rest. There will be periods of inactivity where you are not taking any actions. During that time it is required for you to recharge yourself. I am not talking about going into the deep sleep to recharge. I am talking about - 

Be mindful and have intentional thinking about the desire to achieve.

Mindfulness practice can motivate and inspire for long term success - James Cordara

Be mindful and intentional thinking is a must-do brain exercise to gain clarity, re-focus, and enter into a high-performance zone. It is like sharpening your axe to cut the harder tree faster and effortlessly.

What can I do to be mindful?

The first step is slowing yourself down - physically and mentally. If possible do painting or journaling. Anything which can help you to connect with the self. Disconnect from external distractions. Be aware of your thoughts. Listen to your internal chat mind. Be aware of any experience you are gaining during mindfulness practice.

Mindfulness gives you time. Time gives you choices. Choices, skillfully made, lead to freedom - Bhante Henepola Gunaratna (A Buddhist monk)

How can I think intentionally?

You can think about your desire and its origin. You can also ask some questions to yourself like what is my purpose behind the motive?

Once the purpose is clear, it will become your desire from within. Then look for what I can do to achieve it?

Get into the depth of the motive and key challenges to achieving it. This will give you enough clarity leading to actions. Not only this, but it will also make you come up with the right power for an action. It will improve your performance while taking action. 

Conclusion

You need not take action all the time. When you are not in the action, you need to prepare yourself to come back harder with full potential.

Give me 6 hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first 4 hours sharpening the axe - Abraham Lincoln

# Sharpen your mind (like an axe) before taking every action towards your motive is the key.

# Look for the period of inaction as an opportunity to recharge and take high-performance actions.

# Be mindful and practice for intentional thinking to develop brain muscles. Do self enquiry.

# Staying motivated all the time is like having any feeling sustained forever. Don't look for it.

# Improve bit by bit and uncover the true potential to succeed.

Practice mindfulness and intentional thinking will motivate you from within - Kapil Goel

Do you also have any experience to share about your motivation?

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