By Heather Mathews
Author of Manifestation Miracle
“Of course motivation is not permanent. But then, neither is bathing; but it is something you should do on a regular basis.” ― Zig Ziglar
Michael, a husband and a father of two and in his early fifties, was a logistics manager at a frozen foods company.
He made enough to provide for his family, and by all accounts, they were doing alright…
… but he knew he could do MORE.
He’d been dreaming of making it out of his job and starting his own business. And on top of that, he wanted to lose weight.
His doctor told him was about 40 pounds overweight, and he needed to trim down. So he set out to get up earlier in the morning to make time for himself and work on his dreams.
He’d get up at 5:30 am to exercise, have a light breakfast and do some research on his business.
For the first month and a half, he stuck to his new routine. It felt empowering; Michael was motivated to get out of bed to get a jump start on his day.
What he didn't expect, however, was that he'd run out of steam. As the weeks went on, Michael felt worn out by the grind.
And little by little, his motivation slowly drained away. Instead of bolting out of bed, he went back to hitting the snooze button to get “five more minutes.”
But it stretched out to an hour, and just like that, he went back to his old ways.
Michael didn’t know what was happening to him.
Why was he so pumped when he started out – only to be so demotivated shortly after?
So, he looked into the topic of motivation to understand what was going on. Michael realized that motivation is a finite resource.
It was up to him to find ways to sustain that drive and keep going. After that, Michael got back on the old horse and gave it another shot.
Michael managed to find a way to deal with the ebb and flow of motivation he felt throughout the week. Whenever he was running on empty, he knew how to fill his tank again.
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What Really Drives You?
Motivation can be elusive for a lot of people. As much as we’d like to have that feeling on tap, it just seems to dry up every now and then.
Motivation can make a massive impact on your life. Without it, it’s way harder to accomplish your goals and make your dreams happen.
A study from a network of universities in Spain shows that the neurochemical dopamine plays a crucial role in motivation. Dopamine used to be only associated with positive emotions, but as it turns out, it also affects your desire to get things done.
What happens is that this hormone fires in the brain while anticipating a desired outcome. This, in turn, can motivate a person to make that outcome happen.
In another study, scientists found that rats were more likely to go through obstacles to get to some food if they had higher levels of dopamine.
This shows that the feeling of motivation is something that comes from inside us. However, there are also external factors to consider.
