Motivation made easy

I’m a pretty motivated person. Often I’ll get asked how I got “so motivated” and how I “maintain it”.

These sorts of questions usually leave me a bit stumped.

Motivation is a really fluid thing. I think that anyone who tells you they’re motivated 100% of the time is probably lying or is probably a bloody nightmare to be around.

There are times when I’m really motivated to eat take away Indian food and lay on the couch watching dodgy television – but I don’t think that’s the type of motivation I’m being questioned about!

To me however, motivation stems from three main areas of your life:

Like the flu…

Motivation can be “caught” from those around you. Who are you hanging out with? Do you feel more motivated to achieve your goals and take action after you’ve spent an evening with friends, a day with colleagues or a weekend with your family?

What you do…

Is what you’re doing on a day-to-day basis uplifting you or dragging you down? “What you do” relates to your work, your hobbies and your pastimes. If a majority of what you do is getting you in a more motivational state of mind – you’re on the right track.

Stick like glue…

Okay – I was clearly struggling for a rhyme here, but what sticks like glue to you is my way of asking what you’re putting into your brain? When was the last time you read a book that put you in a more motivational state of mind? Is the type of music you listen to geeing you up or making you want to smash your face into a wall (sorry, just thinking of some music I heard yesterday coming from another car). In short: if you’re putting good stuff into your brain, there’s more likely to be motivation coming out.

I challenge you to find an unmotivated person who even fulfills two of these characteristics:

1. Hanging out with people that are motivated, positive and who take action.
2. Who is doing work they are inspired by and has hobbies / pastimes that lift them up.
3. That reads and listens to motivational information.
But remember: motivation without action gets nothing done.

Kirsty Dunphey is the youngest ever Australian Telstra Young Business Woman of the Year, author of two books (her latest release is Retired at 27, If I Can do it Anyone Can) and a passionate entrepreneur who started her first business at age 15 and opened her own real estate agency at 21. Now Kirsty does lots of fun things which you can read about here. Her favourite current projects are Elephant Property, a boutique property management agency, Baby Teresa, a baby clothing line that donates an outfit to a baby in need for each one they sell andReallySold, which helps real estate agents stop writing boring, uninteresting ads.