Why Doesn’t Motivation work for me?

Do you get excited and look forward to seeing a motivational speaker? Do you read and/or listen to self-help books, podcasts and/or videos to get motivated? Are you following motivational speakers, gurus and coaches to jump start your self-improvement process? If you do any or all of this, do you ultimately find that you are uplifted and motivated in the moment, but that this feeling wears away and disappears, leaving you feeling empty again? If motivational sources are not working for you, there is a simple reason why.

Motivation, by definition, is an external stimulant that the receiver needs in order to be convinced (motivated) to act. It is “…providing a reason to act in a certain way.” Because it is entirely external in nature and origin, once it goes away, the receiver can no longer be motivated without it.

Inspiration, however, is intrinsic and arises from within. To inspire is “to fill with an animating, quickening, or exalting influence, to produce or arouse a feeling or thought.” When you are intrinsically inspired, this inspiration stays with you forever. Hence, motivation is temporary, short-term and reliant on a repeating stimulant. Inspiration is permanent, long-term and remains within you at your disposal.

This is why motivation doesn’t move you enough to make permanent and life-long changes in your life. It is simply not potent enough to change the paradigm in your mind to effect the change you are hoping and longing. This is why motivation does NOT work, beyond the near short-term. However, when you are inspired in a way where you come to the realization and actualization of the change on your own accord and from within your own power source, this intrinsic and internal process allows for a permanent paradigm shift in your mind. The resulting change is then easily actualized by you, without any reliance on an external source.

The best example of motivation is a fitness trainer. If you are completely reliant on a fitness trainer in a way where you are going to the gym/working out simply because of the existence of this trainer in your life, then you are simply undergoing an external motivation process. In other words, you wouldn’t do it if you didn’t have a trainer.

However, if you are using a fitness trainer for a specific duration to learn, educate yourself and improve your knowledge of proper training, nutrition and healthy living, then you are being inspired in the process. Once you get to the point where you feel knowledgeable and confident enough to take complete control of your physical fitness, without having to use a trainer, then you move on completely on your own. In other words, you’ve learned and gained the tools you need to keep you self-inspired for the rest of your life when it comes to physical fitness.

All of the greatest athletes in sports history are intrinsically wired with this fuel source of self-inspiration as their default, invincible driving force. It is the primary reason for their inevitable success on a legendary level. They’ve never needed to rely on motivation for their long-term ambition. They merely used motivation as an immediate tool in the momentary heat of battle to sharpen their competitive edge. However, the permanent layer serving as the foundation is always inspiration.

So there are two important factors at play when it comes to effecting and realizing a permanent change in your life. One is actively using an inspirational platform over a motivational one. The other is the choice you make to find the inspiration within you to commit to the process of real change.

This is the essence of permanent change that is inspired and borne from within. Awesome Ark’s life inspiring services and his book, “Live in the REAL!” delve much deeper into these life-changing and life-affirming processes of becoming your own self-inspirer on a perpetual basis.