The One Question That Continues to Motivate Me
One question that I get asked about often is – where do you find your motivation? To be completely honest, I’ve always been a very motivated person ever since I was a little girl. When I think back to when I was young, I do remember feeling motivated because of results that I was seeing. For example, I started playing the piano at the age of 7 years old and wanted so badly to be able to play as well as the kids that performed every year at our recital. They made it look so easy and fluid and I wanted to be doing that, too! So, I had an end goal in mind and I could actually envision myself being that person that performed like that. I knew that in order to get to that place, I had to put the time and energy in. Slowly, I would make progress and things started to change! I was getting better and better and by seeing those results, I was in turn more motivated.
Throughout the years, I’ve pushed myself in various ways to accomplish all sorts of different goals. Many of these were definitely not easy but the one question that motivated me to my core is and still remains…
How bad do you want it?
I seriously desired to be a great pianist and literally wouldn’t stop until I was there. How bad did I want it? I took formal piano lessons from the age of 7 until I was around 22 and never stopped lessons during that time. How bad did I want it? I ended up majoring in music in college and was practicing piano for around 6 hours a day sometimes. How bad did I want it? So bad that I eventually became burnt out and decided to keep music as a hobby and move on to something else. Lol!
In my late twenties I decided to start my first company and had no experience whatsoever. I could picture what my business would look like in the next five years and even mapped it out beforehand. I thought about it all day and knew that it was going to take a lot of hard work over time and that this was not going to happen overnight. How bad did I want it? I hired a high-end coach for 6 months to teach me what I needed to know to start a business. How bad did I want it? I worked full-time and then spent almost all of my nights researching and mapping out what my business would look like. How bad did I want it? So bad that I eventually quit my full-time job to run my business full-time. I was terrified but knew that I had to make it work and I was going to make it work. There was no alternative in my mind.
If I didn’t truly want these things, then I probably would have made up a million excuses as why they wouldn’t work and just have taken the easy road.
This is the one question that you have to keep asking yourself every time you’re faced with a major life decision. If you have an idea or a dream and you think about it often, then you need to start planning it out and acting on it! I can tell you honestly that it’s going to take a lot of hard work and dedication but it is possible.
How can you become more motivated?
1. Find accountability
Who can you count on to help you accountable? Family members, friends, co-workers? Find supportive people around you that believe in you and want to help you succeed.
2. Create a plan of action
If you have a goal or dream in mind, start writing down some steps that will help you get there. Once you break down a goal into smaller chunks, it’s usually more attainable.
3. Do some research
Many times, people are fearful of their goal because they don’t know where to start and it all seems very overwhelming. Start researching what other people have done to be successful. Write down all of your questions and start finding the answers!
4. Start with something
Most likely, you’re not going to be able to achieve your goal instantaneously. Start…doing…something….anything! If you want to write, write one paragraph. If you want to start working out, go for a walk. If you want to change jobs or careers, fill out one application. Everybody starts somewhere.
Remember, if you can dream it, you can do it!
Cheers to your dreams,
