We all want to be a success in life. It doesn’t matter whether success for you means a high-powered career, great relationships, finding yourself, achieving a particular dream, or getting a PhD. The truth though is that the path to success is filled with obstacles, so much so that many find themselves frustrated and unable to continue their journey in achieving success.
One of the things that is often pointed to for failure is lack of motivation. People tend to think that if they get motivated enough they will be able to face the biggest obstacles and find a way beat them down or go around them. There is truth to this matter. Without motivation people will just not even start something, especially if they know that it will be difficult. However, the problem with motivation is that it is a feeling. Of course there is a solid reason for that feeling but still, like any other emotion, it comes and goes. What this means is that when the emotion goes away or subsides a bit there is a huge tendency to lie back and just give in to inertia. We end up giving up when we don’t feel so motivated anymore and then start again but only when the motivation comes back.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that motivation is a bad thing. In fact we NEED motivation. We need to get fired up in order to start the path to success. However, my point is that motivation is unreliable and it is not enough. By all means pump yourself up and find reasons to motivate you but do not make the mistake of solely relying on motivation.
On my next post I will be discussing the thing that we can rely on even when the emotion subsides.
Originally posted on March 29, 2010 @ 5:56 pm