This January, I am doing an online 30-day personal development program. One of the first things we addressed was health and fitness. The instructor pointed out that health and fitness is conceptually easy: exercise more and eat healthier. The challenge is in our motivation.
With the proper motivation, you can overcome all of the small roadblocks that come into our lives. You have to want to be fit more than you want that piece of chocolate cake. So, the program focused primarily on finding the motivation to ensure that you stay on track for your fitness goals. And many of the reasons to consider were external, such as being a good example for your kids, looking good for your spouse, and having the energy to execute on your career.
This can be true for growing our businesses as well. Some of the most motivated people I have met are people on a mission to improve the lives of others. When I started writing a newsletter just to “stay in front of people” it was only monthly or not at all, because it is easy to lose your motivation when it is all focused internally.
Once I realized that the reason I wanted to write a newsletter is to make it easier for others to grow their businesses, it was much easier to be motivated to write (nearly) every week. So, how can you focus your motivation for what you do onto others? It really does make a difference in how you are motivated.
Here are a few questions to ask yourself:
Who benefits the most from my product, service, or knowledge?
How do they benefit?
How is their life better because of how I help?
Are there more people I can help with only a little more effort (or the same effort)?
I hope you get motivated in 2018!