I had an issue which held great prominence throughout a long period of time. It was the issue of not getting motivation from the right sources.
Short-term motivation is when one may have short bursts of motivation that do not last for a long period of time, this may cause one to stop pursuing whatever they were after as soon as the burst runs out. This is generally one cause of uncompleted projects.
Long-term motivation is when one has a continuous source of motivation that is generally internal rather than external. It allows one to work consistently throughout a period of a long time without lacking a drop of motivation. Yes, we all have our grey days where we may want to take the day off. With long term motivation, you would be back to whatever you were doing as soon as you get off your grey days.
So, you might be thinking…
How does one achieve long-term motivation?
I have found the solution to this question during a bike ride after listening to an audiobook by the name of \”Start With Why\” by Simon Sinek. I honestly have not yet finished the book as of today but I did grasp a couple of concepts.
The way I see it is in two simple concise steps:
- Define your purpose, or your \”Why?\”
You have to sit down and truly process why you\’re doing what you\’re doing, or what you want to do. You have to try and find a purpose, a reason that will be the pushing factor towards motivating you every single day. It sounds very cliché but that is just how it is. One may say that this is very obvious, you and I both know that life is moving really fast without pausing for anyone. People are too busy going on through their days as if they are automated machines. One has to actually take the time and construct a purpose for a specific thing they want to achieve or else they are going to be missing the rungs to their ladder.
The purpose has to be great and would lead the person to greater levels and keep them moving. Let us use the example of university, I might go to university without knowing why… This will lead to me hating the guts out of university because I would be forced to do something that I have no defined reason for. People may claim that their purpose would be money, but Simon Sinek mentioned that money is a result. So what is an example of a purpose for university?
Getting good grades, so you can pass your classes and graduate from university is definitely a single reason but there\’s more.
It could perhaps be that you want to become the best in your field, become good enough where people come ask you for advice. It could also be that you may want to enhance something within that specific field and is using university to build your foundation which then you can advance on.
2. Have interest
This point is very straightforward, it won\’t require plenty of explaining. You must be interested in whatever you are doing or whatever you want to do for you to actually achieve long-term motivation. Short-term motivation would be present if it is something you do not have actual interest in. We should also recognize that the path you take might not be filled with sunshine and rainbows, some parts of the journey may lack in interest but as long as you have a solid purpose and discipline, you will be able to push through.
Conclusion
I will be honest, writing this blog post has been shedding out the imposter syndrome within me but I am sure imposter syndrome would be a great topic for a blog post. I have mentioned what I have been offered as guidance, what I read and what I have experienced. What I have said might not work for everybody, but it has surely worked for me. The complexity of human behavior is extreme, but it sure does get interesting once you dive in and analyze what the most optimal methods are for carrying out tasks with diversity. To summarize this blog post into two a sentence, define your purpose whilst having interest.