What Motivates You?

For many of us, while growing up, our parents held the responsibility of providing ournmotivation. All we had to do was say, ”I'm bored.” And our parents would jump into action tondo the job of making sure our life was satisfying. Now, the downside is that in order to handlenthis responsibility for us, our parents would have to tell us what to do. Of course, as wenstarted to reach our teen years we started to feel the pressures of society demanding that wengrow up. In an attempt to meet this demand without giving up the luxury of not beingnresponsible, we falsely concluded that we needed to prove that no one could tell us what tondo. Our mistaken idea of maturity was that we would become adults as soon as we couldnprove that no one else was the boss.
That mistake led many of us into making another mistake. We concluded that love meantnkeeping people concerned with us. We would frequently say “No” whenever someone wouldntell us to do what was good for us. We made many of our decisions based on enjoying thenpseudo power that comes from resisting. Few decisions were made based uponnconsideration of what was truly in our best interest − they were based on what we could getnaway with.
Self Motivation Test
Based on these mistaken assumptions, many of us never learned to take on the job ofnmotivating ourselves. How can you tell if you are suffering from that mistake? Here is a test:
1. Can you think of a time when you had the feeling that others were discouraging you?
2. Can you think of a time when you said, “I would have been able to accomplish mynobjective if only he or she had not . . .”?
3. Can you think of times when you say, “I'm bored”?
4. Can you think of times when you say, “I feel that you are being too pushy”?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, it is an indication that your life could benimproved by accepting more responsibility for motivating yourself. You are probably leaningnon others and allowing them to hold that responsibility.
How To Use Your Test Results
In question #1, why do you expect that it is someone else's job to make sure you staynmotivated? Take on that job yourself. When someone does something to encourage you, younwill appreciate it more because you are not dependent upon it. You will be standing on yournown two feet.
If you answered yes to question #2, you are lacking in determination to accomplish yourngoals. To be effective, you need to strengthen your character so that you can stick to a taskneven when other people are interfering. Developing this ability will take some training but it isnwell worth the effort. The early warning sign that lets you know when you are preparing tonquit is feeling frustrated. When you notice that you are creating a feeling of frustration, donsomething to motivate yourself. For example, search your memory for three occasions whennyou did not give up and it resulted in a wonderful outcome.
If, as in question #3, you are saying that you are bored, you need to take on the job ofnmaking your own life interesting. Don't expect that anyone else be obligated to do that job fo
© Global Relationship Centers, Inc. 2007nyou. “I'm bored” usually means, “I am not participating fully.” To be responsible for your ownnmotivation you need to ask yourself, “What do I need to do to develop more interest?”
And, as stated in question #4, if you feel others are pushy it is probably a symptom that younare more concerned with proving that others cannot control you. You have probably notndeveloped the habit of asking yourself, “What is in MY best interest?” Ask yourself, “Why donthey need to push me? Is it because I am standing still and not going anywhere on my ownninitiative?”
What would you do differently if you took on full responsibility for maintaining your ownnmotivation? Would you read encouraging books every morning? Would you stop going tonscary movies? Would you start noticing whether your tone of voice has a quality of possibilityninstead of a tone of impossibility? I suggest you add ten more things to this list right now, andnstart being responsible for your own motivation today.nn