Motivation.
We’re very familiar with this as a success tool – it’s touted as being a necessary daily practice that falls somewhere between hustling, strong willpower, and craving to mimic the lifestyles of inspiring gurus.
But I want to share a shocking little secret about motivation and why it does not help your goals.
You cannot have motivation if you don’t have a motive. Ha!
If you don’t have a really, really profound (we are talking ocean deep) reason for doing something, you will always have to force yourself. If some part of you is not committed on some level, then hustling and willpower will be your default Modus Operandi, not your soul purpose.
What exactly is a motive anyway?
Quite simply, it’s a reason – a ‘why’ – for doing something.
That may sound simple, but most of the planet doesn’t know why the heck they are doing what they are doing!
We are so programmed by our upbringing and how society has molded us that, over and above the reason of bringing in money to live, we rarely question the status quo. So many people live out their entire lives without ever asking ‘why?’. In fact without questioning anything!
Right now, we live in one giant continent called ‘Busyland’ in an online universe called the info-verse. Our modern life consists mainly of a matrix of industrialism, commerce, technology and recreation, but mostly busyness made of people just going through the motions of surviving. Masses of folks exist in a kind of sleeping torpor, much like the world depicted in the film ‘Matrix’.
In this modern matrix of busyness, much of humanity has become unplugged from any contemplation about their existence and plugged in to all the distractions that keep them sleeping. This existence is called ‘convention’. Convention and status quo are the death sentence for dreams and fulfilment.
It takes courageous people to break out of their status quo and pursue their true purpose and potential. It takes rebels and mavericks, free-thinkers and adventurers, visionaries and pioneers, and guts. But it mostly takes people who are ‘whole’ and who are motivated by their purpose.
So what does that actually mean?
Let’s look at the way we humans are made up and why it counts so much.
Part of us is made up of the energetic activity produced by the brain, also called consciousness. Our miraculous physical temple – the body – is home to the mind and to that eternal part of our make-up – spirit or soul – our heart intelligence, connected to all intelligence.
If all three of these aspects are not in agreement, making healthy choices will be very difficult, let alone creating an extraordinary, thrilling life we want to hang Christmas baubles on!
Your ‘why’ – your true motive – is your life journey.
The power of that ‘why’ is vital for your happiness and triumphs. It is your destiny.
How you get there will not lead you to your destiny but REVEAL your destiny. And your destiny is your power, your potency and potential.
It is your fate, your fortune, your circumstances.
How things turn out is not the future, it’s turning out all the time; it’s a constant, ever-evolving experience.
We don’t create our destiny by force, struggle, determination.
This is the biggest myth that traditional success training has taught us and why the popular idea of motivation became necessary to overcome the struggle!
As whole humans, we must revive our destiny by remembering our ‘why’, purpose, and vocation.
Modern scientists like Dr Joe Dispenza point us to the truth that we are no longer in a ’cause and effect’ universe but a ‘causing effect’ universe. In other words, we are constantly creating our destiny daily.
For example, think about a day as a bead threaded onto the necklace of time.
Is this bead a shining pearl of a day? Or is it a heavy bead that rubs you uncomfortably? Are you making an annoying necklace that you twist and ring daily? Or a shining string of pearls that feels smooth to the skin?
We must know our motive to remember our destiny.
If we don’t know why we’re doing a particular thing, it’ll feel weird somewhere in the mind.
If we don’t know why we feel weird in the mind, it’ll feel weird in the body.
If we don’t know our ‘why’, it’ll feel weird somewhere in our life.
Do you know what weird feels like?
It feels like when your mind, body and soul are not in agreement.
It feels like any regular negative emotion that causes a mild or intense sensation or symptom in your body.
Mostly it’ll feel like the difference between unextinguishable energy and joie de vivre, or experiencing regular lethargy, fatigue or exhaustion.
This is why you have to get that whole self to agree to live your ‘why’ as your primary daily focus.
If you feel a strong desire to upgrade your life physically, financially, relationship-wise, career-wise, or get some more meaning in your life, but it’s not happening, or you feel stuck, then let the stuckness be a clue!
Because it means that some part of you disagrees with that choice. If your mind is telling you you ought to or want to change, and months or years go by without any improvement, another part of you is not in agreement with that desire.
That is why goals don’t work. That is why even good intentions fall astray. That is why change feels like a struggle. It is not until all the parts that make up your humanity agree with each other that we are in a position to make true breakthroughs in our lives.
This alignment and the awareness of it take practice. So how do you know if you’re succeeding?
It’s simple; our bodies are brilliant gages that our three elements of mind, body and soul, are in agreement or out of alignment.
It is essential to get those three elements to agree with each other.
So how do we do that? There are three ways:
1 By acknowledging that we have choices – that we have the power to define our circumstances. How we react and respond to things is the way we choose. We are choosing all the time.
In fact, what you are focusing on, you are choosing!
- By understanding that being whole is your true nature and dedicated to embracing that every day.
- By creating the intentions, rituals, actions and habits to support your true nature.
Let’s get practical now and test where your focus and choices lie.
Make a list of all the activities you do in an average day – eating, sleeping, working for money, exercising, surfing social media, meditating, driving, whatever your leisure projects are, hanging out with family, social life.
Make a list for a day and then over a week and calculate what amount of time you devote to what activities.
In 24 hours, how many hours do you give to each activity?
In a week, how many hours does that add up to out of 168 hours?
If you take out the total time you’re sleeping (when you’re not making choices), how many hours are you giving to these activities?
Now let me ask you another question, and this is one to journal on.
What would that time plan look like if your heart designed your day?
What would that time plan look like if your mind, body and soul were in agreement?
Does that make you excited?
Mind, body and soul need to be in agreement. This is not some cheesy, pseudo-spiritual statement; it’s science. Balance, harmony and thriving are science.
There is a science to having free will and being fully alive.
There is a science to fulfilling all your human potential around your ‘why’. This is your primary motive and all the motivation you need!
So, out with the struggle and strife, out with the hustle and grind!
You won’t need to persuade yourself, beast yourself, or stoke yourself up in the mornings with ‘motivational’ speeches and stirring music, if your ‘why’ is so powerful, it gets you leaping out of bed in the morning for the love of your destiny, feeling like all parts of you are in agreement!
So what can you do next? How do you know your ‘why’ anyway?
I highly recommend one of the most widely-read books on potential, in the world – ‘Start With Why’ by Simon Sinek. This is a titan reference book for tuning into what defines you as a human; it guides you to create a life of meaning and purpose so authentic and true to you, that you will never have to motivate yourself again.
And remember to check in with your body daily to see if any part of you is not in agreement with that vision – bodies never lie!
Jenni Parker-Brown
Jenni's mission is to help women entrepreneurs leverage their genius, grace, and super-powers to transcend any market challenges and fulfill their greatest potential as healthy, wealthy change-makers.