The Real Killer of Motivation
Routine is a murderer.
Years ago, before starting the Motivation123 Web site, I had pockets full of plans and ideas. My mind was in a constant state of activity.
As for my reality, nothing ever changed. Nothing in my life went in the directions I had hoped for. It got to the point that I began to doubt whether or not a better life was even possible. Could I change?
Then, while paging through a magazine at the doctor's office, I came across a question, just a short team of words that gripped my attention.
It was simple--as most powerful truths are--but it made an immediate impact. And from that day I possessed a key to progress that has served me ever since.
Before we get to that answer, however, we need to pin down the problem.
The Killer
In a word, it's routine.
It's the pattern of living that, like molten lava, slowly crawls into adulthood, covering and consuming our hopes, dreams, and ambitions.
It's doing the same thing every day because that's what you've always done. It's a vicious circle of repeating actions and events that leads to nowhere.
The reason nothing was changing in my life was because I was stuck in a routine. Every day I followed the same basic outline of living: wake, work, sleep, repeat.
I had new ideas, to be sure, but my actions were old.
Then I was hit with the truth while waiting - for what seemed like weeks - in my doctor's waiting room.
The Question I Took with Me
The sad reality is that most people never realize what is happening until it's too late. That is the skill and cunning of habit and routine.
It wraps its arms around the minutes and hours of your life, distracting and luring you into autopilot, into a dazed mode of living.
All the while, the little time you have to construct your ideal experiences is being sucked away, stolen.
Routine is a murderer. It kills hope and the chance for change. It blinds us to the truth and with a scalpel cuts away our goals and ideas. Routine puts a hand in the face of growth and improvement, leaving room for nothing but the same.
You need a way out of the routine. And for me, the way out came in the form of a question:
'If you continue to follow the same patterns, what are the chances you'll ever experience the things you want to do and ever become the person you hope to be?'
I read the sentence again. What would my chances be? Things hadn't worked out so far, so why would doing the same thing result in anything different?
My Realization
I had my answer. My chances were none.
I would never do the things I had always thought about, never grow into the character I hoped for. If I followed the same routines, the same patterns, I could expect pretty much what I had been getting.
For some, this is the perfect scenario. But for me, I wanted more. I knew how much life had to offer and I wanted to dive in head first. I wanted to experience it all and live a life worth living again.
I looked around the office, looked at the people next to me. None of us would reach that place without a change in pattern. We were all trapped in a circle of habit.
This brings us face to face with a truth that most men and women would rather avoid.
It's relieving to let our goals live in 'someday.' We don't have to worry about never attaining them. Instead, we can put them off and fool ourselves.
'It will happen someday.' No, it won't.
The truth is, if you don't change your routine now, you will never reach those goals. You will never wake up to a life that matches the one in your mind. Never.
Don't hide from this. Accept it. Embrace it. Use it to smash through the chains of routine and drive you into a new way of life, into a new pattern of progress.
Source: http://www.motivation123.com
