Every action needs a reason, a purpose to fulfill. Even if that isn’t understood, or considered. Without a reason, why act at all? Or at least why not take another course of action. This is motivation. At its core, motivation is a promise that your actions will return something of value. When you understand your motivation, you can gain more control of yourself.
Excitement
Motivation comes in several different stages. The first stage is excitement. It promises novelty in exchange for the courage to try something new. It’s the most common, and it’s what most people think of when they think about motivation. It’s also effortless. Excitement lets eagerly dive into something with expectations soaring. And sometimes that even works out really well. Sometimes we dive in, and just love every moment. And we continue and we’re hooked.
Persistence
But more often, we hit a snag. We stumble and fall. That’s when the second type of motivation comes in. That’s persistence. It doesn’t promise joy from your actions (you’ve tried it, and right now it sucks). Instead the benefits happen later. While those benefits can take many different forms, they are wrapped in a vision of the future, of what life could be if you stuck with that action. Persistence is not a very fun motivation, and it’s very difficult to keep at it for a long time (because you do need to get those promised benefits eventually).
Passion
After we see the benefits of our persistence, eventually we start to associate our actions with those benefits, instead of merely our vision. That’s the third type of motivation, passion. That comes from doing something and knowing exactly we’re getting out of it. Instead of promises, we know the cost, and what we’ll get out of it. And better yet, it’s a damn fine trade. Persistence and passion both require sweat, but passion no longer has the emotional drain of convincing yourself that your actions aren’t pointless.
Quitting
Transitioning from one stage to the next is where most people quit. And that’s ok. Sometimes the juice isn’t worth the squeeze. Sometimes you might have too many good opportunities to pursue, so you can only go after the truly great ones. Finding out that something isn’t worthwhile is a lesson, not a character flaw. But many people also quit at things that are worthwhile.
Staying Motivated
Switching to persistence, we need to create a vision of the future. What would life be life if you persisted? What benefits would you accrue that would not be possible otherwise. Our strain is cut into our minds in sharp detail, every time you work on your goal. Your vision of the future needs the same treatment. Every time you work, make sure you understand what you’re getting out of it.
Moving to passion, we need to feel the benefits that our actions are generating. Promises can only work for so long. Make sure that your actions are delivering on the promises that you’ve been making. Delve into the consequences of your actions. Watch for the first sign of what you’re getting. Start to anticipate the benefits earlier and earlier, until you move before you start.