As I keep saying in this series of articles, people automatically believe that they are already motivated if they have goals in life. If only things were that simple. Seriously. Let’s face it, the reason why most people struggle and is unable to reach peak levels of performance is because they just go through the motions.
Of course, if you were to tell them this, they probably would not react all that positively. Most people, after all, have an adverse reaction to wakeup calls or reality checks. One of the greatest sources of difficulties people have with those moments of clarity is their confusion of emotional intensity with motivation.
If you tell them, are you properly motivated so you can live up to your fullest potential? The answer, predictably, would be yes. But people are confused. After all, they are working towards a goal, right? This means that they are motivated. Not true.
Emotional intensity is not motivation. Even if you’re pumped up and you’re excited and you’re able to connect the dots and you can see how big of a deal this is, that’s not enough. You know how you can tell the difference? Motivation sticks with you regardless of how many people say no. that’s how it works.
You remain truly motivated regardless of how many people point at your face, laugh and call you crazy or stupid. That’s motivation. Motivation is not just emotional intensity because you can have that in any soccer game.
If you’ve ever been to a soccer game in Latin America, you see a huge sea of people all caught up in the moment. That’s emotional intensity, but that doesn’t really motivate you when you have significant obstacles standing in your way on your path to success.
It is too easy to think you are on a lonely path to success. It’s easy to think you are the only going through that process. We all have our own individual path. They are on separate tracks. We can’t compare. We can’t mix and match. This is what gives the whole process a lonely air to it. Still, this is a golden opportunity. You are left to focus on how you can motivate yourself. You are left alone with whatever motives you have for your journey. You are left with the hard question of asking yourself whether you want the prize hard enough to do whatever for however long it takes to achieve victory once and for all.
You’re going to have to find that inner drive and that inner purpose every single step of the way so you can unlock your state of flow. Once you get into that state of flow, you achieve a momentum that will enable you to do whatever it takes for however long it takes until you achieve success. That’s how you live up to your fullest life potential.
Unfortunately, the more you confuse emotional intensity with motivation, the farther off you would be to doing what you need to do to trigger real motivation. I’m talking about sustainable motivation here. I’m not talking about your emotional infatuations, temporary affections, short-lived passion. I’m not talking about any of that junk. I’m talking about real motivation.