We all know that person who despite all reasoning or what makes sense will do whatever they want to do. I’m sure a lot of us have been that person before where you decided to do something and nothing in the world could change your mind. I think that this stubbornness can be used for great benefit when you channel it properly. Today I want to discuss a little bit about how to use this determination in a productive way.
This is similar in a way to my last post in that you will determine what is important to you and what you want to dedicate your time doing. If you try hard enough you always seem to find a way to justify spending extra money on a tv that you don’t need or spending extra time goofing off. This is because you are always going to find a way to make something that you want work for you.
The key to motivating yourself is to figure out how what you’re doing is going to help you accomplish your goals. It doesn’t matter what the goals are if you are the one setting them for yourself. My last post I talked about my role in sales so now I want to change it up and pick a different job as an example. Towards the end of my time in college I was paying my bills as a bartender which is a job I enjoyed. The schedule was easy to switch around and I could make a good amount of money if I put the time in. At that point in my life I did not have a lot of living expenses so I didn’t need to worry about saving money too much, but there was a trip sponsored by my school that if I saved up the money for it I could earn my last college credits while traveling over Europe.
Well I was lucky enough to be working in a bar that gave their bartenders a decent hourly rate so I could budget my bills based off that pay and send my tips straight to my bank account to save for this trip. In this situation, I set my goal for myself, to make enough in my hourly pay to cover my bills and whatever I had left over in tips would be for my savings. Now if you have ever worked in the service industry you know that the money-making shifts for tips are the weekend nights or when there is a drink special. I worked in a bar that was in a movie theater so the equivalent would be when a new movie premiered. You would also know that other people who work in the service industry call off a lot and are looking to give shifts away. I saw the potential not only with the extra tips, but if I could make more in hourly pay as well then that would be even more money to save.
I would take every weekday shift I could because I would be getting a better hourly check which meant I could cover my bills a lot easier. I didn’t mind working these shifts because I saw the opportunity to make more money and it allowed me to accomplish my goals. This is where the self in self-motivation comes in because there was nothing within my managers power that he could offer me that would motivate me as well as a trip to Europe. I was the only one who wanted these shifts because I needed the money for Europe. I was focused in on my goal and I knew the steps needed to meet this goal. Whether you are working at a job you don’t like or you have a career you love, what you do professionally is a tool you use for what you want to do personally. Like I said your goal could be as simple as buying a new tv, but the most successful people are the ones who plan for that goal.
If you want to be more motivated in what you do, it comes down to three simple steps. One, find a goal of something that you want. This can be a thing you want to buy, a trip you want to take, or a lifestyle change. Pick a goal and make that your focus. Two, figure out what you need to do to accomplish your goal. Most goals involve saving up some money, but besides that maybe you have a goal of something you want to do for fun or for a career. Find a starting point, and always think about how this is helping you accomplish your goal. Three, keep working and don’t complicate things. Everything good in life was achieved through a tough grind. I would recommend setting milestones for yourself to make the goal easier for you. It is easier to get up a staircase if the steps aren’t so far apart. Also, to keep it simple remember to take each step one at a time. There is no point on having extra steps or milestones to make it easier if you are going to try to do them all in a single leap.
This is my outlook on how I motivate myself for anything I hope to accomplish. It is not always easy and there are often a few road blocks along the way. Whenever you get to a point where you seem to be getting off track go back to the beginning of these three steps, and retrace your journey to where you fell of and pick things up again. It is okay to have a little detour if you learn from the experience, hold yourself accountable, and get yourself back on track.