You can’t keep driving a car without filling up the gas tank or charging the electric car’s battery. By continuing to drive without fueling up, the car will eventually leave you stranded in the middle of nowhere.
We can apply the same principle to our leadership. But instead of gas or electricity as our fuel, our fuel is motivation.
And sometimes we lose that motivation. We forget how to keep motivated…
What Is Motivation
We can only go so long before we run out of juice. Especially if we forget what our motivation is.
Motivation is our desire or willingness to do something.
I have to muster up the motivation to write on a daily basis. I have to find the motivation to record or edit a podcast.
Finding my reason to write and record and edit is my motivation and fuel.
When I think about why I write, it’s because I know lives will be touched by the words I write. I record podcasts because there are people who like to listen to leadership content instead of reading.
This keeps me going. And whatever your motivation is, you will find your fuel there.
How To Keep Motivated
Staying motivated isn’t always easy. We forget where we’re going. We forget who we’re helping. We forget what we love.
This doesn’t mean you can’t become motivated again. It’s like good old Zig Ziglar used to say
People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.
So, let’s give you a few ways to keep motivated.
Consume inspirational material: The world can be a negative place. There’s war and rumors of war. There’s death and decay.
It can be ugly out there. And the negativity we consume seeps into our mindset.
When we decide what we’re going to feed our minds with, we decide what kind of fuel we’re putting into our lives. We can feed ourselves depressing news or we can find sources of inspiration and joy.
Look for sources that motivate you to keep going forward.
Surround yourself with positive people: We talked about the type of information you put into your mind. The same holds true for the type of people you hang around.
By keeping negative company, you feed yourself negative inputs.
Have you ever noticed that friend you hang around that brings you down? You might even feel like there’s no hope after spending time with him.
That’s someone who’s not good for you. They’re not going to bring about motivation.
Then there are the guys who always inspire you to become better. They challenge you and when you leave their presence you feel like you can take on the world.
Surround yourself with those guys!
Pray continually: I know not everyone in my audience considers themselves to be a believer but I have found that constant prayer redirects my focus to where it needs to be. My God.
This redirection of focus then helps me find motivation. My work isn’t about me. The work is about Him and His glory.
I’m just a vessel and that’s okay with me.
Recall past success: We can lose our motivation when times get tough. We only see what is happening right now. Sometimes that’s ugly as can be, you know?
This narrow focus detracts us from what we know. We know we’ve had success before. We know we’ve done good work. We know a difference has been made because of the work we’ve done.
We just can’t see these past successes here and now because we’re so focused on what’s wrong.
Don’t let a laser focus on your current problem take away what you’ve done before. You can keep yourself motivated by looking to the past.
Motivation doesn’t last. Neither does washing. This is why we must constantly be renewing our sources of motivation.
Find time to recover and renew. Don’t let your motivation run dry.
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