There is a difference between being inspired to motivation, and using mental reasoning, logic, and self knowledge. The former has an element of creativity, whereas thinking that you have all the knowledge needed to get motivated on a project, has an element of potential boredom and fatigue. We are assuming that you have already set your goals or desired outcomes, so goal setting is not the issue. It may be more of volition, or goal pursuit. It may be useful to firstly consider what may cause a lack of motivation, to get some insight into how inspiration is best to achieve motivation.
Let's use a case study for this first illustration. ( A true story, but I have changed my client's name ). Joe Blow has set his desired outcome to be a successful professional golfer. Joe had a fairly balanced lifestyle, socially, work, and support from his parents, even at the age of twenty seven. His passion, skill, and dedication saw him through all the years of practice and golf coaching. He was now a pro golfer. All the trappings went with it, such as the new $900 putter he showed me.
I met Joe not long after he started playing tournaments. He played well, but suddenly realised that occasionally he would lose it mentally, on an occasional hole. He didn't know why, so couldn't see a solution. How could he be so confident and motivated for the whole game, and yet still have occasional lapses. He was desperate, because he could see himself never winning a tournament.
No amount of additional coaching seemed to make any difference. He had the skills, knowledge, and motivation, so what was missing? It was quite simple, I told him. He had diverted, at times, from enjoying the euphoria of his skills and passion, to letting emotional stress take control. He might be in a tight situation, and instead of taking it in his stride, he let his mental thoughts create an emotional state that was tensing him up. How Does Inspiration Help With Motivation?
Joe realised that playing at a higher level of competition required more than just fitness and golfing skills. So how was he to get motivated to believe he could win in this new environment? He wasn't lacking any skills or desire, and so didn't think it was just a matter of more years of practice.
I gave him some brief instructions, and kept in touch by phone, as I was moving interstate. I told him to do this just before he went to bed, and as soon as he woke up. He had to visualise in detail, exactly how he would play each type of hole - the feel of the swing, his breathing, his confidence, his calm control all through a tournament. It was nothing new, but what he was doing, was reinforcing all this detail into his deep memory while he was very relaxed. So when he was in a tournament, he didn't need to stress, because he had already programmed into his own deep unconscious mind, his inspirational attitude. It just came naturally and effortlessly. He rang me about three weeks later to tell me he had won his first pro tournament, and even got an albatross.
This is part two of a series of motivation articles, soon to be available as a free PDF download
