WHERE DOES YOUR MOTIVATION STEM FROM?

Speaker and Author Jim Rohn quotes, “Motivation gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going”. Despite many views about motivation and the argument whether it works in our favor or not, we can’t deny that we still express motivation at different times of our life. Motivation is ultimately an expression of energy that we may define as passion or emotion and it inspires us to take action. This in turn affects your motives in why you are aiming to achieve a goal. I encountered surges of motivation a vast number of times while working in sales, and I can pinpoint exactly where it derived from. Observing this allowed me to come to a realization that there are different levels of this energy and they all take me to an even higher level of satisfaction that is constructive towards my life. 

COMPETITION & REVENGE 
The first thought I want to bring up is that our mental and emotional state can influence the type of motivation. As you may guess, if we feel angry, resentful, underestimated and maybe even have a sense of proving something, we may derive motivation from competition and revenge. Each type has a different area of focus. As for this level, the area of focus is trying to achieve something through a set of actions that can tangibly show those who doubted us that we are the best or worthy based on achievement. We want those who we felt looked down on us, to look up at us. Sound familiar? For example, I’ll use my own experience when working in sales. A type of motivation they used was competition in the office and outside with other offices. As effective as it was to get numbers up and for sales reps to leap into action, it was temporary and because it was temporary we had to push others to compete again and again. The outcome came from feeling happy to have achieved something but I can honestly tell you that it brought no satisfaction to my life as a whole, I wouldn’t say it brought forth any qualities worth admiring. Everything we do with great tenacity, like motivation, has an effect on who we become. If the focus is “me” and the achievement is based on something that benefits “me” what do you think this does to you? You can probably assume that this will create a self-righteous and egocentric version of you. In this case, we have seen time and time again many people become arrogant in the sports industry. This isn’t to say all people who play sports derive their motivation from this level but I would say that this could be the most common. Although this may be the first taste of motivation to most, I would highly encourage others to discover different ways to express motivation.
 
SELF IMPROVEMENT
I’m sure you’ve heard the term, “level up”, “new year, new me”, “boss up” etc. Most of the time, the state of mind we may find ourselves in while deriving this type of motivation is when we aren’t happy with something about ourselves and we want to make it better, hence “self-improvement”. This level will make you hungry to develop better habits, discipline and even a sense of pride for achieving what may be a better version of yourself. When people feel that they have achieved results in the areas they wanted to improve on, they start to tackle another area and then another. They get a high that blossoms from their self-esteem and what tends to happen is they feel like it’s not enough. Now, you have this feeling that you just aren’t satisfied and you never will be satisfied, that it’s a normal-thing. A lot of us can grow happy for all that we have achieved and maybe stay on this level, we think “Well, I’m great! I’m a solid human-being, look at all that I have achieved for myself and my loved ones. I’ll just keep setting bigger goals to achieve the next big thing”. Fortunately, I worked for a sales company that had a business model that evolved my motivation-level to the next.

MAKING AN IMPACT 
Those that have experienced a taste of this level are the ones who have shared their growth onto others. I remember being 2 years in sales and I reached a place where I was achieving multiple awards and recognition for improving my numbers. The company had a system where you could train and lead a team when your numbers met the training-standard. I was promoted and off I went to develop and train a team. I grew a deep desire to act and work like I had never done before. It wasn’t about me anymore it was about helping others, serving them as their leader so that they too could see this grand-potential they had within them. I can’t explain the energy that fuels your soul when helping others until you do it yourself but I believe that’s what we were made for. Another example is when a man named, Mully, went from being what he calls, street-boy, to a multi billionaire and gave that all up to make an impact on others who lived on the streets like he did. He adopted kids off the streets and took care of them until soon he had more than 500 kids! He has now created an education system where all the kids live in a self-sustainable land and get the opportunity to go to college off tuition free thanks to Mully’s impact. Our souls were made for servanthood and to connect with others where the focus is not limited to you. Think about how limiting it must be to derive energy from within you and it only comes back to you. There’s no value being placed to the world outside of you, no impact. The  definition of impact is to come into forcible contact with another object. When we work passionately to serve the well-being of others, that force has an immense amount of energy that only multiplies like a compound effect! We all have purpose and we are all valuable but when we speak on how we go about manifesting it, this is how our value truly manifests itself. 

MESSAGE FROM VICTORIA
I hope that in moments where we act through passion, we can reflect and really ask ourselves where this motivation is stemming from. Let's continue to explore who we are and manifest our truest selves. Peace and love be with you! 

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