How to Stay Motivated Without The Hype

Written by Dave Navarro on April 6, 2006

A good motivation quote will inspire you … but a great motivation quote will get you to take action. In this part of my “Motivation Quotes” series, I’ll be focusing on how to apply a quote to your life - right now, today, and I have every expectation that this will spur you to take immediate action.

“Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it.” - Dwight D. Eisenhower

I think this particular motivation quote hits the nail on the head - motivation has little to do with getting somebody (or yourself) pumped up or excited. It has little to do with many people’s common perception of motivation - that of a hyper-upbeat, overly cheerful attitude.

But that’s not motivation. Emotion isn’t motivation any more than infatuation is love. When the novelty of the first date wears off, you need something deeper to sustain a relationship. When the novelty of your goal wears off, you need something deeper to keep you going. Motivation is the deep conviction that you must take action, regardless of how you’re feeling at the moment. You don’t “have” motivation … motivation has you. The “want” that Eisenhower spoke of is transferred and installed.

It’s important to strip the word motivation of it’s emotional context, because that’s where you can get into trouble. We use it as a cop out all the time. “I just can’t get motivated …” … that’s garbage.

When a marathon runner’s body is screaming in pain, begging him to stop, what keeps him going? A cheerful, happy, motivation? No, it’s a deep seated need to prove himself, or to finish what he started, or to win the attention of those watching the event. It’s certainly not superficial emotion keeping those legs going when every muscle screams “stop!”

I want you to erase the mental definition of motivation you have and replace it with this one, at least for the time being. Let’s do a little experiment and take this definition of motivation:

Motivation is appreciating the need to make something happen
to the point that taking action becomes unavoidable.

When you can fully appreciate how important something is, you get “pulled” towards taking action. Maybe someone can’t “get motivated” to lose weight and keeps piling on the cheeseburgers. He knows that he’s putting his health in danger, but he doesn’t fully appreciate it. He doesn’t see it happening to him. So no “motivation.”

Then his best friend - same age, same weight - dies of a massive heart attack. He takes it hard, maybe even fears for his life a little. But still, he doesn’t take any action. He’s not truly motivated.

But now, fast forward to his first heart attack. He’s lying in the hospital, hooked up to machines, and the doctor gives the bad news: “Lose weight now, or you will die very soon.” Now it starts to sink in. He can’t deny it, he can’t avoid it, he has to face it.

And so he does. Though he hates every minute of it, he changes his eating habits, begins exercising … not out of the emotional fear of death, but simply out of the true, deep acceptance of the need to take action. He knows that if he doesn’t act now, he will die. And so the “motivation” sticks … but he doesn’t call it motivation … he calls it need.

And it’s no different from you or I. If you’re not “feeling motivated” about something, it’s not because you can’t get excited about it … it’s because you haven’t internalized the need to the point where you really accept that it has to change - like it or not. You haven’t drilled it into your head hard enough that you simply cannot settle for not doing what you’re supposed to anymore.
So your homework is this: Sit down with a pen and paper and resolve not to get up until you’ve convinced yourself, beyond a shadow of a doubt, why you need to do something. Focus on all the things you won’t have if you screw this up. Focus on what will never get better unless you take action now. Focus on the fact that there is probably no other way for you to reach your ultimate goals than to develop the discpline to act in this area.

So get your pen, get your paper, and start going - and don’t stop until you’ve got it. You’ll thank yourself for it.

All the best -

Dave Navarro