Taking action is the key to success and for many people, they rely on feeling motivated in order to take action. When we’re motivated, doing what needs to be done is easy. The challenge shows up when our level of motivation isn’t where we need it to be and as a result, at least for most people, the level of action taken decreases and even stops.
The Problem with Relying on Motivation
To understand why this happens, we need to realize that our level of motivation will go through an up and down cycle much like a roller coaster. Typically, when you start off working on a new goal, your level of motivation is high and therefore, taking action is easy. Think about how motivated people are at the beginning of each year and you’ll see what I mean.
Once the excitement from the “newness” of the goal goes away, motivation will tend to decrease. This usually occurs due to the decreased rate of expected results based on the amount of work that was put in. Progress is usually not a straight, upward line. Instead, it’s full of ups, downs, and plateaus. During the downs and plateaus, it’s often difficult to conjure up enough motivation to take massive action.
So if motivation isn’t something you can always rely on, what can you do to make sure you follow through on the necessary action steps that will take you from where you are to where you want to be? The answer is habit.
The Power of Habits
One of my favorite motivational quotes is from Aristotle where he said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”
Motivating yourself through various ways such as psyching yourself up, visualizing success, and so on is great but there will be times when you won’t even be motivated enough to motivate yourself. When your actions have been developed into habits however, very little conscious motivation is needed for you to take action.
If you study a bunch of successful people, you’ll find that most of them have a habit of performing the actions that led them to become successful. For example, people who are fit and have a great physique achieved that through proper diet and regular exercise, something that most people have a hard time doing consistently. If you asked them whether or not they need to motivate themselves to hit the gym, they’ll likely tell you that they don’t. They’ve been doing it for so long that it’s now just a part of their life like showering.
It’s All About Consistency
If you want to greatly increase your chances of success, here’s what you do. First, figure out what action steps you need to take on a consistent basis to achieve your goal. Second, use whatever motivation you have on disciplining yourself to take consistent action. This is the key. Without consistency, you’ll have a hard time developing successful habits.
As time goes by, your motivation will tend to drop but if you’ve been disciplining yourself to take action long enough, habit will start to kick in and help you out. The stronger the habit, the less you will need to consciously motivate yourself in order to take action. Just like bad habits, good habits are something you can depend on. Once the habits are formed, continue with the action until you achieve your goal. From there, choose another goal and repeat the process.
How long it takes to form a habit depends on the habit. Many people say it takes 21 days. For many habits, that’s probably correct. For some habits, it may take much longer but the key is to use every bit of motivation and discipline you can muster to develop those habits. If you’ve ever looked at someone successful and wondered how they make it look so easy, now you know; they’ve made what needs to be done a habit.
If the thought of constantly having to consciously motivate yourself is killing your motivation, focus on the fact that with discipline and time, things will get a lot easier. At the very least, aim for 21 days of consistent action. Focus on developing the right habits and success will only be a matter of time.
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Kevin Ngo runs MotivationalWellBeing.com, a motivation site that provides tons of tools such as motivational quotes, videos, songs, and articles to help people stay motivated long enough to create success habits.
-what was your biggest takeaway lesson from the ideas above? Share in the comments below.