Summary

The author shares their personal transformation from being unmotivated to running a successful business by harnessing intrinsic motivation and a strategic framework for staying motivated.

Abstract

The article details the author's journey from a state of apparent laziness to achieving significant professional success. The transformation hinged on understanding and leveraging the true nature of motivation. The author emphasizes that motivation is always present, driving actions towards desired outcomes, even if they are not ideal. By shifting the context of motivation from extrinsic to intrinsic, the author found a compelling reason to engage in daily work, which was further fueled by personal strengths and a vivid vision of future consequences. Key strategies include the Compelling Reasons Framework, reaching a traction point in self-improvement endeavors, and following through on long-term goals to transcend limiting beliefs. The narrative underscores the importance of persistence and the power of intrinsic motivation in achieving life-changing accomplishments.

Opinions

The author posits that everyone has motivation, even if it leads to negative outcomes, and that recognizing this is the first step to harnessing it effectively.
They suggest that a change in context can transform an activity from a chore into a passion, highlighting the role of intrinsic motivation in sustained effort.
The author believes that creating strong, personal reasons for action is more effective than relying on external pressures or rewards.
They argue that reaching a traction point, where the likelihood of quitting diminishes significantly, is crucial for long-term success.
The author is of the opinion that once someone has successfully navigated the self-improvement arc, they gain confidence in their ability to persevere and achieve future goals.
They maintain that the most compelling reason to change can be the simple desire for a better life, and that this desire can be a powerful motivator.
The author asserts that the biggest achievements often lie outside our current belief in our capabilities, and thus we should focus on initial progress rather than the end goal.

Steal This Strategy I Used to Stay Motivated Almost Every Single Day for the Past Eight Years

Understand how motivation really works

I used to be so lazy that I once paid my friend to wash my dishes for me.

Now I run a multi-six-figure business.

I’ve been working on a skill I love every single day for nearly a decade.

Here’s how I went from eternally lazy to permanently motivated.

How to Understand How Motivation Works

You think you don’t have motivation, but you have an abundance of it. You make decisions based on your motivations constantly. Let’s take a look at the definition from the dictionary:

The reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way.

You can be motivated to do things that cause problems in your life. You can be motivated to get certain outcomes even if they’re not your ideal outcomes.

If you had no motivation, you wouldn’t do anything, at all, ever. And you already have high levels of discipline in you. Don’t believe me?

Why do people go to work every day even if they hate their jobs? Money, mainly not being out on the street homeless, is quite strong and persuasive motivation — so much so that you never ponder whether or not you’re going to go to work.

Most parents do the best they can to raise their children, including a bunch of tasks they’d rather not do, because to them taking care of their kids isn’t a choice, it’s a duty.

Back to the definition — a reason for doing something.

You need motivation to watch Netflix. You’re compelled by the entertainment of the shows, look forward to an escape from reality, or you genuinely want to wind down after a long day.

Motivation is context-dependent. I think back to the days in school when I felt like I was forced to learn.

When I re-discovered learning on my own, it worked because I changed the context. I had intrinsic motivation, which I’ll show you how to get in a minute.

Dispel the myth you’re not driven by motivation. You are. You just need to change the framework for your motivation.

The Compelling Reasons Framework

You develop a sense of intrinsic motivation when you feel compelled to do the work. When I say compelling, you feel pulled to do the work instead of having to push yourself to do the work.

For me, discovering something I was good at helped me feel compelled to keep going. When I first started writing, I enjoyed the process so much because I felt drawn to it.

Even when it comes to difficult and challenging tasks that seem like you need to push yourself to do, you’ll never do them until you create reasons strong enough to draw you to the activity.

Aside from, ‘I might be good at this’ some other compelling reasons to change your life are:

Future extrapolation — If you can vividly picture how much your life is going to stagnate if you don’t change, you can compel yourself to change.
The people close to you — My motivation to make something out of my writing career went up when I had a child. Grant Cardone has a saying, “A lot of parents will go broke for their kids, but few will get rich for them.”
Staying alive — Failing to eat right and exercise can shorten your life span. So can working a job you hate and the stress that comes with it. Look at some of the people in society. They’re not just spiritually sick. Literally, they’re sick.

The most compelling reason of all? It’s the cliche. But burning the cliche in your head can compel you, eventually, even if it doesn’t work 999 times in a row. The 1,000th time could hit you like a ton of bricks.

You just want more out of life. I know you do. I don’t know what that thing is, but you want it, and you can either pretend like you don’t want it or go for it. It’s that simple.

Reach the Traction Point and Follow the Self-Improvement Arc

These two concepts are the core of everything I’ve learned and taught about self-improvement. I mention them in every single article because they’re that important.

When you’re trying to build a new path for your life, completing the entire path itself isn’t important at all. You just need to complete the first 20 percent of the path and you’re 80 percent of the way there.

Most people quit almost instantly. Few make it past a year. Almost none make it five years or more.

As you pass each milestone — 90 days, six months, a year, a few years, five years — your odds of quitting fall sharply. Make it six to 12 months and you really have a shot.

You don’t have the full dream yet, but you have signs that success is possible — an audience, some customers, a two-pack at the top of your stomach, whatever — and you deposit little subconscious signals into your brain that you’re someone capable and deserving of success.

You do this piece by piece.

When I first started writing five years ago the prospect of writing three books, quitting my job, and owning a six-figure business wasn’t even in the realm of reality for me.

But it didn’t need to be.

Your biggest and wildest accomplishments will fall outside of what you currently think you’re capable of. So don’t even worry about them. Focus on getting traction first.

Next, there’s the self-improvement arc, which is just a fancy way of saying you’ve gone through the process of achieving a long-term goal. Once you go through an entire arc, you realize just how limiting your beliefs are.

And, when the next venture arises, you know from day one that you’ll never quit. You don’t have to guess or think.

Follow this arc enough times and you reach a state of consistent daily motivation.

Ayodeji is the author of Real Help: An Honest Guide to Self-Improvement