The self help industry has thrived and built itself over the last few years on a number of assumptions, perhaps the chief one being that other people can either motivate you or teach you how to motivate yourself. Neither of these assumptions is correct really, although they do contain an element of truth. Anyone who has ever been to a rally or to a motivational speaker conference will probably have heard someone speak who has inspired the, Truth is as human beings we get inspired from a lot of things ranging from music to art to photographs to words, both written and spoken.
Powerful orators are around us all the time, and depending on the setting, their words can profoundly influence how we see and do things. Being inspired is not the same as being motivated, and its not just a semantic distinction. Motivation has to come from within us, and whilst some one words can trigger an effect, the real energy that powers our motivational forces has to come from within. This is really important to know, because then we looking in the right direction. The other really important thing about being motivated is to learn what does motivate you and not look for what you think ought to motivate you Kanat Wano.
Very simple concept, but actually one that is very difficult to put into practice. As human beings we often look for what we think reality ought to be, rather than what is actually is. This means that we think we should be motivated by things like family photos, or beautiful landscapes or our pets. In truth we might be motivated for lots of very different and complex reasons, some of them not very pleasant at all – but then that’s what were like as human beings, for better or worse.