Bart Loos

This may be the most important article you’ll ever read on motivation.

What if you can have unstoppable motivation? How would your life look different? You would be able to achieve your dreams, make the money you want, maybe start your own business, have the freedom and joy you desperately need, … and lots and lots more…

People do interesting things to get motivated. They’ll talk to themselves, put great music on, they go watch inspiring movies, even do fire walks, watch mind movies, get a wake up clock with motivational audio on it, do affirmations ‘ I’m motivated, I’m energized, I’m good …’

Isn’t it amazing to see how creative you are in trying to find new ways to motivate yourself?

Does that work? Not Really.

And you already know that since everyday you get out of bed and start motivating yourself all over again. And some days it works and other days it doesn’t.

And you’re wondering why the heck you lack motivation

And there’s a simple reason for this why you need to do this over and over again, but let’s us first start out with defining what motivation really is and what none of the motivational experts are telling you:

Motivation is the feeling you need to be able to do the things you do not want to do in the first place.

Are you with me? If not, read that again.

And I hear you thinking right now... ‘This is not the case at all, because I want this so badly…but there are just these days I just can not get myself moving at all’

See this is exactly what I mean.

Lots of motivational experts tell you that the best thing you can do to get motivated is by taking action. But as you already know... this does not work. Some tell you that you have to forgive yourself, or to reward yourself, …The carrot and the stick method..

What do you think is going on then? Well it all comes down to same thing over and over: they are giving you advice to overpower the real problem at hand.

There are reasons why you do you not want to do things in the first place... even if you think you want them so badly.

The reason is that there are uncomfortable feelings getting in your way.

Feelings like self doubt, uncertainty, is it good enough, am I good enough, doubt, insecurity, fear of failure, perfectionism, not knowing what to do next, no commitment... the list goes on and on....

This is what stops you dead in your tracks time and time again. Not the so called “lack of motivation”. That’s only the excuse you use. The truth is that you have no way to handle those negative feelings.

The notion that you need to motivate yourself to get things done only leads to trying to overpower those uncomfortable feelings. And denying the real problem. Actually it keeps you in a comfortable spot and helps you to avoid those negative feelings.

Here is something very important to realise: People who get things done do NOT have those feelings in their way. They just do. They do NOT have to be motivated.

What you need to do is get the crap and negative feelings out of the way first and this perceived "lack of motivation" will NEVER be a problem any more.

So start looking at what happens right before you start procrastinating, or what you are really feeling about the task at hand when you are not motivated.

This realisation is the first start to help you release your unstoppable motivation.

Have fun

Bart Loos

Free Report Will Improve your Business Mindset in 7 days or Less

s4nt0s

Wow great post, I completely agree with everything you said. From what I've read, all those motivational books, movies, seminars, audio tapes, etc... Are considered external motivation and will only be temporary. You really have to change your negative self talk if you want to really make a difference. (easier said than done)

There was a good book on this subject titled, What To Say When You Talk To Yourself. Great book!


Thanks for sharing,
Devin

Daredevil Marketing

I have to say that your post is the most refreshing way to look at the concepts of motivation and procrastination that I've ever read.

Awesome post and I wager to bet that NO ONE that reads it would be able to resist stopping to reflect - even for just a moment - on how they feel just before they begin to procrastinate.

-DareDevil

Dynamic, Ethical Online Marketing Strategies - DareDevilMarketing.com

grumpyjacksa

interesting......

so in a nutshell...


a lack of motivation is a symptom of another problem....

and overcoming it simply means addressing the symptom, and not the cause...

if this gets out, there will be a number of motivational speakers who may differ fiercely........

but i do belive you have a valid point.

Bart Loos

Hey Devin,

Glad you liked the post.

The negative self talk is just another symptom. ..of an underlying cause.

Some might be beating themselves up because they have an negative believe about themselves. Maybe they think they are a loser or stupid, ..or whateva.

You don't want to overpower the selftalk, but change the limiting belief.

Hope that makes sense.

Have fun

Bart

Free Report Will Improve your Business Mindset in 7 days or Less

Bart Loos

Thx DareDevil!

Glad you like it.

Have fun

Bart

Free Report Will Improve your Business Mindset in 7 days or Less

Bart Loos

Actually it's the way around: addressing the cause and not the symptom like they teach you to do.

It's great to differ.. isn't it. ..

Now let me give you one example. I like Tony Robbins, I really do. .. but what you see is that many people who go to his seminars are coming back highly energized and ready to tackle the world.Yep they just did a fire walk.. and sure that's energizing .. but their underlying beliefs and negative feelings are not addressed. This will only be good for a couple of weeks.. then they wear down.

And now they need to go back to a seminar.. to get that high feeling..because they can't motivate themselves... and they don't know why..

It's a great way to create seminar junkies but not to really helping people get moving.

Have fun

Bart

Free Report Will Improve your Business Mindset in 7 days or Less

moneysoapbox

Interesting point and very valid argument.

Probably the only way the feel-good seminars have any long-term effect is if people manage to accomplish something huge in those two weeks of motivated feelings.

Managing to make a few thousand in one week for the first time may be what reaches in and makes the person think (on an unconscious level) that he/she IS capable of making money and will now go on to make more..

Of course, that wouldn't be the case for all individuals. I'm just speculating

CDarklock

I think it's a little unfair to pin that on Tony. After all, he says the same thing: it's all about changing your frame of reference, interrupting the pattern, the map is not the territory, we've heard all of it before.

It's just that 90-odd percent of people simply don't bother.

One of my acquaintances in the direct marketing field likes to use the phrase "how good can you stand it?" - and the truth is, most people can't stand it all that good. Once they get a little short term success, they back off while they get used to it, and the window of opportunity passes. Then they're back where they were, which is fine... after all, it's comfortable, it's familiar, they're used to it.

At some point, you have to learn how to be comfortable getting uncomfortable - because it will become comfortable later.

Thom Swartwood

Bart,

I also completely agree with you post.

External Motivation is fleeting at best. If we need to motivate ourselves every day to do what we don't want to do, is this really motivation?

Or is it justifying, and procrastinating so when things don't work out we can blame it on something else. We can say... I was motivated to get it done, it just did not happen.

Motivation is an emotion like any other. It can be positive, negative or falsified, just like love and hate can be.

Motivation from within (not self talk, or justification) is a positive emotion that can help you better succeed. If I do something because I love to do it, I am motivated to go out and do it as well as share it with others.

I Sales coach and speaker told this story:

I was sitting on a plane one time and the person next to me recognized me and asked if I was that Motivational speaker. I answered yes and he went on to say he did not believe in this motivation garbage, people go to a meeting and get all fired up, they leave ready to make a change and then in two weeks they are back to doing what they were doing before. The speaker did not want to argue with this man so he asked the man if he took a shower daily.. The man looked at him strangely and said "of course I do" the speaker look at him and said "That doesn't last forever either, although taking one every now and again sure helps".

My point is that I agree.. We throw around words like they are water. Motivation is real and can play a role to help us move forward in our lives.
If I can motivate myself to look at the true problem and to find out what I am feeling right before I start to self doubt then I can deal with that problem.

I look at it this way... Our first idea is always the best.. If we are in sales and we think.. Wow today would be a great day to go and talk to so and so, and then we start to justify and procrastinate on why we should not do it then we need to bring those feelings out into the light of day and really look at them to see what is causing them.

We must be motivated to look into the darkness and make a real change in what we are feeling.

Hope this made some sense.

Thanks
Thom
MBS Coaching International

Bart Loos

You're completly missing the point, this is not about Tony. He does great things. It's neither about the things you might have heard from NLP.

Read the original post again.

It's about how people are tricked into the belief they need "motivation" to get things done.

And a temporary boost might help... but this won't work in the long run.

How many are there not that get started on a project.. and work fiercely on it for hours,days,even weeks.. and then in one moment it's all over.. then they are bored, not interested anymore, distracted, ... because one small stumbling block took the whole highly motivated state out with one simple kick.

Then they get on this list and ask how they do get their motivation back.. time and time again.. we've seen and heard that all before...

And most feedback they get is sound, and there are very great tips in it, especially when you don't have any crap in your way, learning some strategies to handle your day or your tasks can be very helpful.

Though most of the time the feedback is missing it's point, because the real issue is not handled.

Does that makes sense?

Have fun

Bart

Free Report Will Improve your Business Mindset in 7 days or Less

CDarklock

I don't think they're being tricked at all. I think most of the motivation goobers are right there saying they need to actually change their lives, but they're just not listening. In fact, I see a lot of motivational sorts saying outright that most people are not going to do this. And then they don't.

I simply fail to see how they've been tricked. I think they're doing it to themselves. I don't believe the motivational experts can be blamed in any way.

la dominatrix

More or less what Sigmeund Freud said about a hundred years ago, get your conscious thoughts and attitudes in line with your subconscious. Funny when a lot of people think about change they give themselves pep talks and say "Dont do................."

The funny thing the self conscious, it does not register or recognise negatives. So if you say don't procastinate, it just hears the procrastinate and another self limiting belief is perpetuated.
la dominatrix

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"A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral". ........Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Bart Loos

hey exYou make exactly my point with "most people are not gonna do this"..(besides it's a common trick to use a negative to get the opposite response ) . .the goobers are not getting it or do not want to bother..(it might be to harsh or too confronting to have their clients deal with the real problem.. after all it are supposed to be feel good seminars) Either way, I think they can do way better... if they would 'the most'..would change in only 'a few'..

Hey you can choose to keep focusing on the goobers.. but then you're really missing what this it's really all about... :-)

And that's to help people out here to handle their 'lack of motivation' and giving them another viewpoint at the problem.

Have fun

Bart

Free Report Will Improve your Business Mindset in 7 days or Less

CDarklock

I must really be missing something here.

People go to a seminar and are told that they need to change their attitudes and behaviours, and that most people simply won't bother to do it.

Those same people, already told what they need to do AND that most people won't do it, trot off into the world and don't do what they need to do.

Then they come back to another seminar, rinse and repeat.

Where exactly were these people tricked?

Bart Loos

If a motivational expert can not get you to do what you need to do.. how good is he really?

If people really don't bother .. why the heck do you think they are coming back to these seminars... because it just makes them feel good. and that's something they don't find in their own lifes.

And if you have been paying any attention, you would realise that focussing on changing attitudes and behaviours is not the way to go when you really want to change your lack of motivation..

This is where the Goober's trick you.. they won't help you with dealing with the real problem.. or they don't know how or they don't care...

.. and now it's time to get this thread back on track...

Have fun

Bart

Free Report Will Improve your Business Mindset in 7 days or Less