Truth Bomb Tuesday: It’s amazing how many people make this simple mistake about motivation
I’m going to tell you why you’re probably doing motivation wrong.
You probably don’t even know you’re doing it wrong. You’re probably doing it the way we’ve all been taught.
But you need to stop it.
Now imagine you are out taking a young child on a bike ride. It’s all very nice. The sun is shining. The road is easy.
But now you come to a part where there’s a big hill. It’s quite a steep hill.
It’s going to be a bit of a slog. That kid is going to have to work pretty hard to get to the top.
But you know that it’s worth it. Because on the other side is a lovely long downhill run… that goes all the way to the beach where there’s ice cream.
But the kid doesn’t know that.
So how do you motivate them to do the hard yards?
The answer seems pretty obvious, right? You sell them on the benefits.
You tell them how good it’s going to feel going down that long hill, the woosh of air on their face, going superfast. You tell them about the beach and the seashells and the starfish in the little rock pools. You tell them about the ice cream and the 57 different flavours to choose from and their choice of sprinkles.
That’s what you would do right? That’s what any sane person would do.
And I tell you what you wouldn’t do. You wouldn’t yell at that kid. You wouldn’t tell them that they’re stupid and worthless and lazy. You wouldn’t tell them a great disaster is going to befall them if they don’t make it to the top of the hill. You won’t tell them that this hill is a test of their very value as a human being.
Would you?
Of course you wouldn’t.
But this is what we do to ourselves all the time. There are always going to be stretches where the road is a bit of a slog.
And most of us will get the whip out. Will start telling ourselves that we are worthless and lazy. Will focus on what a disaster it’s going to be if we don’t make it.
And we train ourselves to be scared and abused little children.
It makes no sense but we all do it all the time.
It’s just how we’ve been taught.
But there is another way. Focus on the benefits. Get that vision in your mind – about how magical and wonderful and awesome it is going to be on the other side.
And the first step in that is obviously getting crystal clear on your goals – on what it is you want to achieve. What is it that is your own personal version of a beach with ice cream for sale?
This is how to do motivation right.
Focus on the ice cream, and put the whips away.
DB.