On today's episode of what I preach but don't follow..(note to self: I must follow what I preach)

What is motivation? I could either choose to thoughtlessly copy down some internet definition or I could be honest and actually describe what it feels like to be motivated. I have decided to take the highroad.

Now, I am not going to be presumptuous and call myself the most motivated I have ever been, but I’ve had a fair share of being motivated. Every time I’ve had to do something that has involved matters of consequence or otherwise, I’ve always made sure to do my best in order to get to the other side. And how do I get to the other side? With the right amount of “being motivated” or so I think. 

I’ve witnessed successful people at conventions being badgered by people about motivation and where it comes from and how to derive it. “How do you do it?”, they keep asking. People are always so curious to make sense of the extraordinary. I don't think motivation is extraordinary at all. I’ve obviously experienced not enough of it, but I know that it works best when you’re doing something you’re passionate about. We shouldn't expect ourselves to be fueled with motivation regardless of what we’re trying to complete or achieve, because it doesn’t work that way. And through the right way, anyone is capable of being motivated.

There are numerous ways of getting our daily dose of dopamine, to achieve the level of satiation where everything becomes inconsequential but the high itself. Shortcuts have been discovered and invented, but shortcuts aren't effective in experiencing the true fulfilment of what comes after successfully being motivated i.e. the feeling of achievement. So why consume intoxicants when you could go behind what you’re truly passionate about (this is assuming, what you’re passionate about does good to the world and yourself as opposed to, just yourself). Ergo, I’d rather choose being passionate about something than being inebriated under something else entirely.

When you know what you want, you chase it, you feel the motivation coursing through your veins, you reach the suspected finish line, and then the dopamine hits you. So the only way to successfully attain said dopamine is by defining the finish line. With the right amount of passion, motivation could become a constant, which is not bad, but sometimes it is natural to temporarily feel jaded. This could happen when you fail to define a proper finish line, and finish lines don't have to be just the one, finish lines can be set in a way that precedes finish line after finish line, this way you don’t fall in a rut. 

You define your expectations, you define your goals, you derive the proper amount of motivation and now you’re your own person running a relay with a stick and each time you reach a finish line you hand the stick to future you, knowing in your heart that this would continue no matter what and that you’d be waiting at each of the finish lines to grab the stick and do your best at what you're good at. Anyone can afford to be motivated. Motivation can only yield happiness in the grander scale of things. Now go kick ass.