You Don’t Need Motivation, You Need Commitment

I’m willing to place a bet that every single day, you are doing a number of things that don’t particularly fire you up. Consider the following questions:

• Do you wake up every day motivated to be at work on time?
• Are you jumping with joy whenever you embark on another trip to the supermarket for your weekly groceries?
• Does the thought of preparing a meal always fill you with enthusiasm?

Chances are, you do most of these things anyway whether you are ‘in the mood’ or not:

• You are at work on time, because you need the money, don’t bear the stare of your supervisor or don’t want to lose that client you have worked so hard to get
• You go to the supermarket regardless of your motivation, because you want to ensure that there is food available in the house whenever you need it
• You prepare a meal because you don’t like being hungry

Why then do so many people expect to be motivated before they take any action? How may times haven’t you heard someone complaining that they would have gone running if it wasn’t for the rain, they would have worked on their business if they didn’t suddenly feel that tired, they would have made that phone call to the customer, if it weren’t for the fact they were in a bad mood after the previous call…

Maybe you are telling yourself similar things from time to time? In truth, if you want to implement a goal or a plan to create new habits, whether these are to go running every morning, to cook wholesome food or to work every day for 30 minutes on your business, you don’t need motivation, but commitment.

Commitment is the result of higher purpose. If that purpose is clear and you have decided that the planned change will have a significant impact on your life (e.g. I’m running every morning so that I stay in good physical health, which in turn will have a positive impact on my mental health; I cook wholesome food because I want to live longer and maintain good health; I work on my business every day because I want to be able to sell it and retire in five years time…) then you will be more likely to regularly remind yourself why you are doing what you are doing and end up creating habits which incorporate positive, purposeful behaviours in your daily routine.

You don’t need motivation to achieve your objectives. You can still go for a run in the rain, practice that new piece on the piano just before going to sleep, work on your business between clients or cook a meal from scratch even when you are unmotivated. You will find ways of doing all these things regularly as long as you are committed to achieve your goals.

If you don’t manage to take action on your goals today, you know that you will give it another go tomorrow, because a temporary setback doesn’t affect your commitment. When this commitment is the result of an alignment between your vision, purpose, goals and everyday actions, then you will always find ways of renewing it and you will keep showing up.