Paul Lingren https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulandrelingren&ved=2ahUKEwi9_5rlpNGGAxW1LDQIHZGvAM8Qjjh6BAghEAE&usg=AOvVaw2bSX53HX3k7iun9qeKZ6KP
Ambitious entrepreneurs who lack motivation need to hear this…
I know what it's like to have flashing visions of success and fulfillment, but it feels like an invisible wall is always in the way of getting up and taking action.
A few years ago I was sitting right where you are.
The reason I was there was elusive to me at the time, but it felt like such a horrible prison that I promised myself that when I got out, I would help other people do it too.
Does the prison metaphor sound familiar?
It was like every time I went to work on something…
To complete a goal for the day…
That same invisible wall would stop me.
It felt impossible to start.
If that's you…
What I say here is likely to challenge some of your beliefs, but that's my exact hope.
My beliefs were in my way years ago.
That invisible wall is a belief you have that flies in the face of the action you're trying to take.
Because your beliefs & your intentions are in conflict, your body is physically unable to take action.
It's extremely frustrating.
But fear not, there's a way out.
Motivational Spirits
I used to get seriously pissed at myself.
Years went by for me…
…most of the time you'd find me sitting in a pool of sweat binge watching How I Met Your Mother for the 13th time.
I just couldn't seem to grasp the secret of motivation.
“How do my friends stay so motivated?”
“Is there something wrong with me?”
This is what would go through my head.
But there's this big thing I didn't realize at the time…
(And this is one of those times your beliefs might get challenged, so be ready to ponder.)
Motivation is a big scam.
Motivational posts, motivational speakers, motivational events, motivational songs….
All of it is scamming you and I'll tell you exactly why.
Why do you think we need motivation?
Think about this long enough and you'll come to the conclusion that: Motivation's purpose is to give you the energy & willpower to complete tasks you don't enjoy.
Motivation is external.
Like the drinks waiters & waitresses spend all their tip money on after their shift.
The external reward of spirits give them extra motivation to “get through the day” because they have to.
After a night of one too many drinks, the prospect of another fun night with the coworkers after the next shift takes its place.
The spirits in this situation signify any reward you think you'll gain once you complete your goal…
…but it's immediately followed with a familiar feeling of emptiness.
Motivation is great in some situations.
It just doesn't consistently work for people who want to be happy and fulfilled.
Wanna know what does work?
Inspiration.
Inspiration comes from your inner spirit.
Imagine an engine driven by your soul's purpose, and requires nothing outside of itself reward to run.
Unlike the liquid spirits, this spirit driven by your purpose will actually gain energy the more it fulfills that purpose.
Meaning when a human being looks at their self image, they look at what they've accomplished in terms of what they think is valuable.
Doing something that inspires you means you're constantly creating evidence that you're a valuable person.
It's self fulfilling.
Here's how the value portion goes…
What You Value
Every individual places a unique level of value on everything.
For instance…
I value my wife Reni far more than you will ever value Reni.
I have more evidence in my Life of her value than you do.
That means I'm also far more likely to do things for her because of the value I place on her.
Similarly, there are things in your life that you value greatly, and I could never understand their value the way you do.
Things that are of higher value to you are likely to have weekly or even daily actions assigned by you to nurture them.
And what's more…
No accountability partner or motivational speeches are needed for you to fulfill the actions that support these values.
For the purposes of this post, let's call what we place a high value on: our “values” like Dr. Demartini does.
Turns out:
Your values play a massive role in your life, determining nearly everything from your thoughts to your regular habits.
They even play a role in how you see the world, and what drives you.
Here's another way to put it…
Your values are what get you out of bed in the morning.
If you're not reaching your goals it's because of what you value, but we'll come back to that.
Your “Success Metric”
Although it's awesome that each individual has a unique set of values, we humans have a massive flaw.
Most people use those values as a measuring stick for judging the success of other people.
(Even though their values are different.)
But it's double edged…
Most people also tend to use other people's values to judge their own success.
To prove this, answer a simple question for me.
Can you think of a time in your life when someone else imposed a goal on you that you didn't want, but you went through with it anyway?
I get it; I've been there.
Mom wants us to get a fancy degree.
Dad wants us to get a job.
Friends want us to go to that weird party.
This is referred to as “projecting your values onto others” and most people out there do it all the time.
Those are the times you really need motivation.
Fulfilling on someone else's values often feels like going backward, away from your life's true goal.
It feels wrong.
That's your heart telling you that your actions are out of alignment with your true goals in life.
That's what nearly every day of my life felt like for the first 25 years I lived.
So I spent many years, many dollars, and many brain cells to solve that problem for myself & many.
Try something…
Instead of measuring your achievements by someone else's values, try measuring it by what you value.
Remember that famous quote?
“If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it's stupid.”
This could be part of the reason you're unmotivated and most days, feel like a failure.
You're using someone else's ruler to measure your success.
Empower Yourself
When was the last time you asked yourself: “What do I want?”
…seriously, when?
Pretend someone asks you what your goals are.
How do you reply?
Do you tell them what you ‘need' to do?
When goals are thought of as ‘needs' rather than ‘wants', they get assigned a different kind of energy.
Take a moment to compare ‘needing' your goal with ‘wanting' your goal.
Did you feel a physical difference?
‘Need' often comes from an external obligation or something you feel you're required to do for someone else.
‘Want' often comes from within your spirit and is something you feel genuinely compelled to do.
I ask you to do that to prepare you for what's next…
Because it might challenge you a little bit…
If you want to be seen as a responsible person, you won't get there by doing what you ‘need' to do.
Meaning: If I as a leader have to threaten you with consequences to get you to do something, I don't consider you to be responsible.
But as we've established…
…fulfilling on a desire has a very different energy.
If you seek to do productive things purely because you want to, then I would say you're being responsible.
I believe true responsibility is something you give to yourself.
I also believe it's where your true power comes from.
Imagine waking up every day excited to work on your Business because you just can't wait to get the next thing done.
That's inspiration.
That's truly coming from “I want”.
Link Your Values To Your Goals
Now here's the thing…
Most people have this common problem where:
The goal gets set, but then procrastination hits until the final day where it ends up being too late to start.
This happens a lot.
If that's you,
There's a hidden problem causing this more obvious problem.
What's happening is: your current values don't support your goal.
Another way to say that is, the things you're inspired to do on a daily basis do not move you progressively forward to a point where you will actually achieve that goal.
It's not your fault at all.
In fact, everyone experiences this at some point.
When it happens, you have a choice to make.
You can either:
1: Change your goals to match your values.
(Rather than shooting for 100 new clients this year, why not shoot for 100 evenings on the couch watching Netflix?)
Or
2: Change your values to match your goals.
Imagine for a moment that it is actually possible to rewire your mind so that your values changed.
For example, let's say money isn't very high in your values, what if we just moved it up to a higher level?
What if we could wire ourselves to value money more?
If that were possible, you just might end up with more of it.
Well…
It is in fact possible.
Thanks to a well known fact of neuroscience “Neurons that fire together wire together”, we have the power to rewire our brains almost any way we want.
That includes rearranging our values.
How?
If neurons that fire together end up wiring together…
…that means the way you used to think in the past determines how you're thinking now…
…and more importantly, how you choose to think now determines how you will think in the future.
So, if you want to value something more in the future, like money, invest your mind into why it's valuable to create habits around it.
The act of imagining the benefits of something will build more connections in your brain to those benefits, increasing their value to you.
Money…
Your spouse…
Your health…
When you value something more, it becomes more abundant in your life.
Any of it is possible for you.
All it takes is a simple process wiring together those thoughts.
The Heart
At the heart of all this, what are we really after?
Desire.
If you can lock in a strong desire to fulfill some ongoing purpose in your life, you can be very successful.
By the way when I say strong desire, I'm talking about how Napoleon Hill meant in “Think & Grow Rich” when he refers to a “BURNING DESIRE”.
That's all you need.
Once you have that burning desire for your vocation, everything else falls into place.
If you have your passion, but you want it to burn brighter, you're going to want to lean in here.
I have a way for you to multiply your desire for your passion.
“But, what if my passion for everything is dead?”
If that's you…
…you might even know what you're ‘most' passionate for, but it's not that strong…
…then this is perfect for you.
I have an online course you can go through on your own time that will help you awaken your passion.
If you want access, reach out to me by email at
with the subject line “Awaken My Passion”.
Hope this was valuable for you.
Take care!
=Paul Lingren
Quick bio about me: I'm a creative Writer. I love turning new perspectives into reality with me words. I'm trained in writing copy. I have a mentor, Cole Vandewoestine, who is one of the best in the world. I love to work on myself and improve. I'm highly coachable and love to learn. I get along with everyone. I will do anything that leads to the growth of other people. I have 7 years of experience producing content online.
