There's nothing like the feeling of working hard in hopes of reaching a worthwhile goal. Sometimes we dedicate weeks, months, or even years toward creating the reality we envisioned in our minds. But once we get there, something unusual happens....
Suddenly we find ourselves in a place of being completely unmotivated to continue. I noticed this pattern while listening to a group coaching call. A few of the callers had actualized some of their major goals. One woman up-leveled her lifestyle by moving into the home of her dreams situated in a beautiful neighborhood on water. Another woman manifested income that took care of all her needs (and then some) for several months. Both were struggling to stay motivated enough to keep working on their goals. The woman who just moved into her dream home found herself wanting to enjoy the home rather than work on her business. The woman who attracted abundance was neglecting her clients that she once relied on.
Both asked for help because soon they would need to refocus on earning income again or they'd lose their current reality. Woman #1 was afraid that she couldn't continue to pay on her new, glorious home, and woman #2 was becoming anxious because the newly acquired funds would soon run low.
We've all been there, grinding relentlessly until you finally reach the desired milestone, and suddenly your motivation to keep going falls off. I've experienced it first hand. I wonder if that has to do with why I sometimes slow down my efforts before reaching my goals. Perhaps I don't want to get to the peak then completely lose steam.
So how do we deal with this? Actually, there are two possible strategies:
SET NEW GOALS.
After woman #1 moved into her dream home, her goals fully manifested so she spent all of her time enjoying her new life (as she should). But if she didn't want to lose access to this new lifestyle, she needed to create a new goal to keep her motivated. The new goal doesn't have to be another upgrade in lifestyle, perhaps she could create a goal to automate her business so she can have more free time to dedicate towards her new experience. That new goal could motivate her enough to restructure how she runs her business so she could fully enjoy her new living space.
If you launched a business that's suddenly doing very well, perhaps you consider staying in your current lifestyle for six months to a year before suddenly increasing your cost of living. This allows you to save several months' worth of rent or mortgage payments. If woman #1 had done this, she could enjoy her new place for a while before having to try to motivate herself into working long days once again. Instead, she'd probably have to work harder than previously just to sustain the income that corresponds to her new lifestyle.
When new income enters your life, try to sustain it for as long as possible so that it becomes your new normal.
SWITCH FROM MOTIVATION TO DISCIPLINE.
There's motivation and then there's discipline. Both women didn't really feel like working on their business because they didn't really have to (for the time being). If they allowed their feelings to continue to rule their actions, they'd find themselves suddenly motivated to take action out of fear of losing out on their current lifestyles. But if they focused on developing new disciplines, they could potentially avoid experiencing worst-case scenarios.
When you're developing the art of discipline, you take action for the sake of consistency, not an outcome. People who work out several times a week even though they're already fit are doing it as a discipline. Discipline is doing what needs to be done whether we feel like it or not. When things are going well and you aren't motivated, it's time to develop disciplines.
I'm assuming that both women no longer carried out fundamental habits that probably led to their positive outcomes. Whenever you are unmotivated, focus squarely on developing habits that will carry you forward. Motivation comes and goes, we can't rely on it to always be around to fuel our actions.
Discipline is a much more reliable and worthwhile strategy to ensure that your new results become truly sustainable.
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