https://youtu.be/U_yS06mvSKw
SUMMARY:
How to stay motivated.. and make it permanent? Just 17 minutes — Is there a REAL strategy that we can learn to STAY motivated and keep making progress in any area of our life in just 17 minutes?
Well, I'm a firm believer in possibilities so of course the answer is YES! 🙂
The 4 steps in this video could permanently change your motivation forever.
What will we discuss?
- How the Power of “Finding Your ‘WHY?'” Keeps you Motivated
- How “Identity” Propels Motivation and Crushes Resistance
- The Power of “Group Effort” on Motivation — Latest Research Results!!
- Staying “Flexible” while Sticking to Strategy
Enjoy and Share!
Full Transcript Here:
Okay so how in the world do we stay motivated? I mean we've all been motivated. Whether it's New Year's Eve and you've got your list of your resolutions, or Winter is changing into Spring and you realize you're gonna have to put on a bathing suit in few months or bikini in a couple months and you have this vision of what you want to do right? But why is it over time that it seems to fade away? We lose our motivation, we lose that energy that compels us to do something that requires work and requires effort. I mean when we're motivated, all of us have been there right? – there's something that you have to do, it took work, but you did it, you actually – you didn't just do it, you actually wanted to do it. Even if it was physically inconvenient you were still compelled to get it done.
How do we keep that? How do we keep that drive, that spark in our chest in the things that we want to get done in our life? Well, I think we all first need to recognize the ability to stay motivated will have the biggest impact on the course of our lives. If we the develop the habit or we develop the skill, because it is a skill, to learn how to stay motivated, everything changes after that. So that's what I hope, that's what I am crazy enough to hope to accomplish in the next few minutes. Because lets face it, motivation has been studied for decades for generations, the science of it, there are books on it and everything but I am going to cram everything I can into these few minutes of our time, so that if you never again hear anything about motivation, you never read anything else about motivation for the rest of your life, you will still be way ahead of the curve by the time we finish this video. So let’s get into it.
We're going to break this down into four simple steps, step #1: We have to know our WHY. WHY are we doing what it is that we want to do? If our goal is, if our challenge is to maintain healthy lifestyle, well, “Why”? Because for some of us being healthy, getting fit and exercising is because we want abs right? We want to look good in a bathing suit. Or if our goal is a professional goal or business goal; growing your small business, doubling your income, getting some advancement in your career – for some of us the WHY for something that is simply money.
But here is the question – is your WHY strong enough? Because see people forget and they don't realize that if your WHY is not attached to your values, it’s not likely to compel you past the inconvenience of continuing the work you need to do. So in another words, your WHY has to come from something deeper than just physical appearance and something deeper than just money. Because you know looking good is great and maybe for some people that’s enough of a reason to get fit and exercise and eat right. But what if we did something deeper than that? What if we attached being healthy and exercising than being fit to – your children? What if instead you just wanting to look good for yourself, you say “Y'know, I want my kids to see how healthy their mom and dad are. I want my kids to see me. I want them to imitate my behavior. I want them to eat well because they see that’s what I do. I want that to become their lifestyle, because I want them to be healthier than I will ever be. I want them to live longer than I'll live.” That has meaning behind it, doesn’t it? That’s more than just ripples in your stomach – as cool as abs are.
What if we attach the desire to improve our business or careers, what if we attached that to more than just money? What if our WHY became freedom? We want the freedom to travel to the places that we want to go. We want the freedom to take our families and see the world or eat in the best restaurants. There's something that you really, something that you value not just for yourself but for others, that you can attach to your goal. Even if your goal is a personal goal, you can still attach it to something bigger than just simple things and simple appearances. We need to get away from the clichés and truly attach our goals to something that means something to us. Am I right? So we have to know our WHY. My WHY for being here today and filming this is because my value with my adult life has always been helping other people. I want your life to wind up way better than my own. And trust me I want my life to be good and my life is good but I want yours to be better. And that’s a compelling WHY and I value that. Yes, this is a business for me but its beyond that. I have a WHY that has me doing this right now even though I have a laundry list of other things that are important that I could do, but not as important as this. So we have to have a compelling WHY, and every time we start to feel our motivation fade, we remember that WHY, and that'll get us right back on track.
Step #2, just as important, IDENTITY. We have to identify ourself with our task. So in other words, if we wake up in the morning and you say, “oh, I am such a fat slug, I don't feel like going to the gym, I am tired, I don't feel like working out and this is a pain in the butt…” we are disassociating ourselves from our task if we do that, right?! I mean that’s not going to get you out of bed and to the gym. That’s not going to get you to make a good breakfast or lunch or dinner for yourself. You have to attach your identity to your goal. You have to say to yourself, “I am a fit person, I'm a healthy eater and that’s who I am. And because that’s who I am, this is what I am going to eat, even if I don't feel like it, it’s who I am so I will get my butt to the gym, I'm making myself a good breakfast, am making myself a healthy lunch. I'm going to do the same for – I am going to make sure my kids are eating right, my family's eating right, because that’s who I am. It’s not a separate task, it is who I am.”
There's not much more powerful in your life than the power of your self-identity. The IDENTITY of your “self” – who you see yourself as. If you have professional aspirations, if you're a business person and you know your business is struggling, it’s not going to help if you just bang your head against the wall. You have to find your IDENTITY and say “you know what? I may be struggling right now, but I am successful, I am a business person and I will find a way. Why? Because that’s what good business people do and that's who I am. I am not going to whine about how tough it is right now. I am going to go and find some answers. I am going to seek out others who have had this problem and have overcome them and find out how they did it. Why? Because that's who I am and that’s what I do.”
I'm in front of this camera right now because I consider myself a speaker, a mentor, a teacher. Somebody who's job it is to help somebody else out. That’s who I am and that’s why I am here, so getting in front of this camera is not even a choice for me, it’s just naturally what I do because that's how I have identified myself. That’s how I have identified myself and that's simply a matter of choice. Because you might say to yourself, “well, how do I identify myself with a healthy person or business person or a student or a good parent or a good teacher, how would I do that? It is simply a matter of choosing to. Nobody is going to sneak in to your bed at night and tattoo it on you. You get to make that decision. It’s your freedom of choice to identify with who you are. Don't wait for somebody to tell you – as a matter of fact if you're waiting for somebody to tell you, I'm telling you right now, whatever your goal is, that’s now who you are. And take that with you every day from now on, and do what you do, because that's who you are.
So, step #1 is know your “why”, step #2 was IDENTITY…step #3 – Become part of a team! Now, I know some people out there right now going “Ugh, what do you mean part of a team? No, I don't have time to meet with people and do group sessions and all that stuff…” — you dont have to. Stanford University just recently released a research study on how working in groups can boost motivation. How working together boost motivation. And here is all they did, they took two groups of people. They had one group of people they labeled as psychologically connected and another group of people as psychologically separate. So this group, they brought them in together, they put them all in separate rooms and they all had a task. They were told that they were working as a group to solve a puzzle. And even though they were put in rooms separately, in their mind, they were working as a collective group. All they were doing was solving a complex puzzle. So the researchers told them, “As you're in this room, you are going to get tips from other people that you are working with you, you are going to give tips to the other people that you are working with, but you're just going to be in this room. You are going to be working ‘alone', but you are not actually alone, you are working in group.”
The other group that was psychologically separate, they went into their separate rooms and they were told “even though you are all working on the same task here..”, they weren't told that they were associated with one another. They were told that their task were the same, but the tips that they got and the tips that they gave only went to the researchers and not to anybody else. And guess what happened, you guessed it – the group that was psychologically connected, 48-63% more persistent in accomplishing their task. Their energy levels were sustained more, they didn’t get tired as fast. They felt more engaged in what they were doing. They performed better… and it’s amazing because everybody in both of these groups were doing the exact same thing!
So what’s my point? My point is, you need to develop a sense of being in a team, you need to develop a sense of working together. But it doesn’t mean you have to change your entire life and schedule and go workout with a group of big people or attend business meetings with other small business people. If you can, great, do that, but don't get intimidated into thinking that you need to actually physically collaborate with other groups. All you have to do is associate with other friends or relatives if you want to get in a better shape. Just connect with someone. Connect with someone so you have a sense of working together. If you are a business person, connect or call or reach out to people that are in similar situations. Don't go it alone!
We are in such a connected society and you can literally download a running app and join an online community and challenge your own times against other people. There's no way in the world that anybody should feel like they are accomplishing a goal alone. You don't have to. And when you have yourself feel like you are connected to others accomplishing your goal, when you feel like there's a sense of a group – everything changes. Because there is nothing like hooking your path with somebody else and working towards something together. It will literally boost your performance. So find your team, whoever it may be, friends, family, online people that you meet – collaborate with others. Realize you're not alone. Join some groups so you can have a collective effort towards the goal that you want. So that's step #3 -have a sense of being on a team.
Step #4, You need to have a strategy. Get your strategy, but remain flexible. Because a lot of times, what'll happens is even if people are able to sustain their motivation when everything is going well, and they're working out great and they're crushing it in their business – if they don't remain flexible, when they hit that bump on the road, sometimes…”oh my God, we got trouble.” – and they quit. God forbid you're doing great in your healthy lifestyle and all of a sudden you roll your ankle while you're out running and you are down for couple of weeks. Well that wasn’t part of their plan, so what some people do is they freak out and they quit. Like, “forget it, I'm hurt, I can’t work out anymore, I can’t eat right… what’s the point?”, and they just completely fall of the wagon when it’s just a temporary setback.
So, even though you have to have a strategy down, don't tie yourself to your strategy so much that it creates a liability for you when you hit the road because guess what? You will hit a bump on the road. You will! That’s life! We all hits bumps on the road. I could be filming now and the power could go out – lights shut down, cameras shut down…that would be a bump on the road, it would be annoying, but it is part of life, you have to be flexible. If your business is going well, suddenly circumstances change, you have to be able to adapt. Socrates said “Wisdom comes from wonder” (I actually misquoted this while filming, he said “Wisdom BEGINS in wonder”) We have to maintain a sense of wonder about things. When things go wrong, we have to be able to be curious enough to say, “okay, this didn’t work or this is causing a problem, how can I fix it?” There is a way, we have to believe there is a way. So, have your strategy but make sure your strategy is flexible.
That’s huge! because that'll keep you going, that will prevent you from shutting down. Expect things to go wrong and know that you have the ability and the tolerance to be flexible when it does. So know your WHY. Know WHY you are pursuing the goal that you are pursuing. IDENTIFY yourself with that, whatever your task is that you are trying to accomplish and you want to stay motivated with, that’s who you are. It’s not something you are doing, it’s not something separate, that is you, connect yourself with that IDENTITY every day. Have a sense of a team, collaborate with friends, collaborate with others, find online groups, find mentors, connect yourself to somebody that can train, teach you. Whether they are online, whether they are a friend of yours, whether it’s at a local business, somebody that can help you learn whatever it is to learn more about, whether it’s your health or business, your personal life or your parenting skills. Have a sense of community, and make sure you're part of a team. And finally number 4, make sure you have your strategy, but make sure that strategy is flexible. Because life will throw us curve balls, we know that. We have to be able to adapt and overcome and think through our problem instead of staring at them.
I hope that helps you out! I hope those four things help you maintain your motivation, because guess what? It's what helps me maintain mine. I know what my WHY is, I know what my IDENTITY is, I have a team – people that I collaborate with, and I definitely have a strategy, but I also know that sometimes, it has to change and it has to change on the fly. And that helps me stay motivated which is why I cared to share it with you today.
So once again I am Aaron Keith Hawkins, I hope you feel you've invested your time wisely with me today. As always you can find me at aaronkeithhawkins.com. I hope today's video helps you along your journey to living the best life of your life. Thanks for being here, we'll chat soon!