How To Build Motivation To Succeed

Motivation Is Critical

Everyone has different levels of motivation.

I’ll tell you a little secret, I struggle with this at times.

Some days, I just want to sit around and drink coffee, play with my daughter, read books, and relax.

And you know what, some days, that is ok.

But,

If you want to succeed, that cannot be your normal state. You can’t expect to sit around drinking coffee all day and be successful without putting in the work.

Your normal mode of operation needs to be one of working towards success. One of setting small goals and hitting them with regular consistency.

Setting these small goals that fit the bigger picture towards your big goals in life.

Have you ever heard the teachings that you should “have a chief aim in life, and get a burning desire for its achievement”?

Your chief aim should be so big that it would take multiple lifetimes to achieve it. your big goals and small goals alike should all align with this chief aim so that with each success, you get one step closer to realizing your big dreams.

But,

How do you get that “burning desire” for its achievement?

I mentor a few younger men, and this is a question that has come up repeatedly over the last few weeks.

They all say, “I don’t have that burning desire.” “I’m not really motivated”

Comfort Destroys Motivation

Admit it, we are soft. We are complacent. We are comfortable.

Comfort breeds complacency. It is so easy to work a mediocre job, go home and watch Netflix, do the easy things, and live a comfortable, mediocre, wasted life.

Do not submit to the comfort!

When was the last time you stood on the top of the mountain and enjoyed the view?

When was the last time you thought about doing something hard like climbing a mountain?

When was the last time you even thought about trying to climb it?

This is your life.

Your weak, comfortable, little life.

Go climb the Fuckin mountain!

Go try.

Motivation breeds success, and success breeds motivation.

Let me repeat that, Motivation breeds success, and success breeds motivation.

When you have the confidence that you know you can succeed at whatever you want to do, you will be more likely to go do it.

Lack Of Confidence Destroys Your Motivation

When you are unsure if something will work, or scared of failing, you are less motivated to even try.

When you are confident in your success and know that you will get a reward for that success, you will be more motivated to achieve that small goal.

Do you want to know one of the most successful ways I have had at building confidence and motivation in the men I guide?

I make every one of them buy a small pack of recipe cards. The kind that have 6 or 8 blue lines, about 3” X 5” and are perfect for writing down small goals and achievements.

Then, each morning, they write down one small goal they are going to achieve that day.

Then, at the end of the day, they write down how they achieved it and how it made them feel.

Writing down that feeling is critical. Use a pen with blue ink. (you’ll learn why later)

Then, stack them somewhere you can see them every day. Multiple times per day. And review them when needed.

Most people stack up small wins and successes all the time but still feel like they aren’t accomplishing anything.

By having a physical pile of accomplishments, that keep stacking up in front of them, it reminds them of their successes every day. They see the physical results of each small success.

It reminds them that they are successful.

It reminds them that they can achieve great things.

Once they do this small task for a while, we start working on setting multiple small goals, bigger goals, exciting goals, and goals they really want to achieve.

Then, we break those down into smaller pieces, and it becomes real to them. They can see the path ahead. They are confident that they will achieve their bigger goals in life.

And suddenly, they are motivated to achieve great things.

This is only one small technique that you can use to help become more motivated, more confident, and build your string of success that will compound over time.

Health

This amazing thread from Dr Brandon does a great job explaining why “low fat” foods are not necessarily a healthy choice. The last few years have brought some incredibly interesting facts to light about how most processed food fills your body with inflammation.

The old “tried and true” nutrition facts we grew up with, and are still pushed by mainstream food manufacturers, are not really healthy at all. They are, in fact, ruining your health slowly and feeding the medical industry with life long customers.

Mindset

Once again, I am pulling an excerpt from The Evolved Dad with a great piece about mindset. If you are not already following him on Twitter, I recommend you check him out.

After reading many articles, and listening to books and podcasts I came up with my reframing.

Reframing your thoughts to Remain Calm

Reframing has been my practice of changing my thought process of the situation (even if I know what is happening).

Let me explain

If I hear my kids screaming — “Oh No — here goes again” my brain thinks for me

I tell my brain to just shut up and let me be.

Then I change my thought to “It is what it is — but, it will become what you make of it“.

“You now have the chance to remain calm and become a better person”

“Staying calm will allow you to better control the situation”

“Pretend to be that billionaire that never loses his cool“

“One day — you will be that person — until then, just practice”

This has been a constant practice for me, for a very long time.

The successes make me feel powerful — and losses make me want it to happen again so I can get better 😲

It takes time, it takes self talk, it takes inner strength.

You do not need to be a super human — YOU can do this!

You can check out the full article here.

Building Character

You don’t build character sitting on the couch watching Netflix.

You don’t get amazing stories to tell doomscrolling on your phone for hours.

Character is built through living. Through doing hard things. From following through on a decision long after the excitement of the moment has passed.

Go live your life. Go create those wins. Go fail. Go do things that make great stories to tell later.

When you get old, and you look back on your life, you will never regret the adventures you lived.

You Are Successful

You do things every day that would have been impossible just a few years ago.

You have stacked up a huge string of successes to get to wherever you are today.

Don’t get caught up on your failures.

No matter how hard it is. Someone has had it harder, and done it better than you.

Use the recipe card technique above to build your confidence in your small successes every day.

Stack up those wins where you can see them.

Use them as motivation to develop bigger goals and dreams. Use them as a reminder of everything you have achieved. Use them every day.

When you practice this technique, the most amazing feeling is when you run out of recipe cards. That $1 pack of recipe cards. 100 small recipe cards.

Because, when you run out, you realize you have succeeded 100 times in a row.

And, once you realize you can succeed 100 times in a row, you realize you can never truly fail.

You only fail if you quit.

Upcoming Confidence Course

This is one small technique I use in my upcoming confidence course.

I am just finishing up the final modules and fine-tuning the techniques and activities to practice building confidence.

I have had a couple of people reach out to ask if I will be doing one-on-one coaching through this course, or if we will be having any group calls or Q and A sessions to answer questions.

This isn’t really something I was thinking about but if enough people are interested in it I will figure out how to make it happen.

Drop me a reply here if this is something you would be interested in and let me know.

And, as usual, I love feedback so make sure to hit reply and let me know what you thought of today’s issue of Fkn Manly News.