Why You Can’t Motivate Yourself to Achieve - Life Coaching

As an Inspired Action life coach, my job is to assist my clients in action on their goals and dreams. This is not easy to do because most people have been trained to motivate themselves to take action.

The problem is that motivation doesn't last. Motivation is like utilizing sugar in your body. It’s good for a short burst but it’s not sustainable energy.

Motivation is defined in the dictionary as providing a motive for action. Why would you need to provide yourself with a motive for action? You only provide yourself with a motive for action when you don't want to do what it is that you are doing. I don't recommend relating to your goals and your dreams in this way.

I have coached thousands of people who tried to motivate themselves to take the actions that they felt would cause them to accomplish their goals and dreams. Most people did not have thick enough skin to continuously take actions that they didn't want to take. Most people would start fast and furious and then they would back down and fall apart because they couldn't sustain the discomfort of these new actions. Ultimately, they didn't want to take these new actions, and their motivation did not last.

My coaches and I use a process called Inspired Action Coaching. It's based on the idea that when you are inspired you naturally take action. Inspired action is that feeling inside of you that pulls you forward. Inspiration is defined as imbued with the spirit to do something. You've experienced this kind of feeling before. It feels like a draw, a pull, energy from within you that has you taking actions you wouldn't normally take to achieve something that you are interested in.

I've found that when you change the context of your goals from “have to” to “I’m excited to” you are inspired and in action. When you get honest about what you really want to do, what really turns you on, what makes you feel good, when you get clear about your purpose, why your are here on earth, you are naturally inspired and in action. When you are imbued with the spirit to do something, action is automatic. No motivation necessary.

If you are not inspired you will have to force yourself to take action. Forced action will create a stop and start pattern of action or the feeling of peaks and valleys. You will get frustrated and probably give up on your goals.

Inspired Action feels like something that has taken over your body. You take actions in a way that is more effective and more powerful because it comes from a place of joy, verses a place of fear. You want to do it, verses you need to do it. When you want to do something, it gives you a feeling of delight and energy and enthusiasm.

To achieve inspired action you must eliminate the goals and dreams that are about escaping your current life. You must let go of the childhood dreams that were actually ways to prove to your parents that you were good enough for their love. You must stop taking actions out of guilt and obligation. I hate to break the news, but most people are trying to achieve a particular lifestyle so that they can prove to the world that they are respectable human beings that fit in. These kinds of pursuits rarely lead to inspired action. To achieve Inspired Action you must be operating from your life’s purpose.