455: How to Get and Stay Motivated

Hal Elrod: Hello and welcome to the Achieve Your Goals podcast. This is your host Hal Elrod, and today, we’re doing a solo episode. It’s been almost now over two months since we did a solo episode. That was Episode 445: Eating for Energy and Longevity. Of course, you can find that at MiracleMorning.com/podcasts, but ever since then, we’ve done just a string of interviews.

 

We had Cathy Heller on the podcast. We had Tim Rhode and Pat Hiban. We had Ben Nemtin. We had Brent Pella, the stand-up comedian. We had time management expert Laura Vanderkam, the one and only Steve Sims talking about stupid goals, and then Louie Schwartzberg talking about his new documentary, Gratitude Revealed, and Cameron Herold last week about the vivid vision.

 

Now, we’re going to talk about motivation. And today, I’m going to really redefine what motivation is and kind of look at it in a different way and then share with you the most straightforward path to being able to get motivated if you are not motivated and to stay motivated so that you can sustain the drive, the energy, and the activity necessary to achieve your goals and continue to improve in the areas of your life that matter most to you.

 

Before we dive in, a couple of things, one, I want to thank our sponsor, Organifi. Organifi is our long-time sponsor. And I just love the company, I love the people, and I love the products. And so, I’ve been taking Organifi supplements. They make whole food organic plant-based supplements that are in powder forms. You can throw them into a smoothie, a glass of water, juice, almond milk, whatever floats your boat, and have a boost of nutrition, improve your immunity.

 

I take their Critical Immune when I travel just to make sure that I am doing everything to keep my immune system really strong as well as their immunity, which is a powder. The Critical Immune is actually a capsule and I combine that with their Immunity powder to just keep the immune system strong. And so, if you want to fight off flu season and all that good stuff, I encourage you to head over to Organifi.com/Hal, that is O-R-G-A-N-I-F-I, Organifi.com/Hal, and then use the code HAL at checkout, H-A-L, to get 20% off your entire order.

 

And I want to share something with you that I have not yet, I don’t think I’ve talked about this yet because we’ve been keeping this kind of on the down low. Many of you know about this. There were 200 of you at this live online event last month. But we are doing something new that’s been called the Miracle Morning Community Monthly Gathering.

 

Now, actually, as of today, we literally just renamed it The Miracle Morning Elevating Consciousness Experience. And the last few months, we’ve done one a month, the last Wednesday of each month, and we’ve been really making sure we have the technology dialed in before we open this up to the entire community, and because, well, just more people equals more potential challenges with tech. So, if you are interested, head over to MiracleMorning.com/gathering, and then you can secure your spot. It’s totally free. Nothing is sold there, literally. This is just a way our team came together and asked how can we better serve the Miracle Morning community, bring people together, and further the mission of elevating the consciousness of humanity. And this is what we came up with.

 

And so far, in the last three months, the average rating at the end of each event, we ask a quick survey that goes in the chat and people can vote on what they like about the event, what they want to see, more of, anything that they want to change, and then give their rating of the event. And for the last three consecutive events, the average rating has hovered right at 9.8 out of 10. So, people are really getting a lot out. And the feedback is, I need this, like, wow, I didn’t know how much I needed this.

 

So, if you’d like to learn my best insights on elevating your consciousness, if you’d like to go through a Guided SAVERS Practice led by Lucy Osborne to expand and deepen your SAVERS practice, if you’d like to connect with other members of the Miracle Morning Community in an organized, intentional way to bring out the best in each other, head over to MiracleMorning.com/gathering and then secure your spot. And again, it’s totally free. There are no strings attached. There’s no hidden agenda. This is just a way for our community to connect and support each other. And so, our next event is November 30^th. As of now, it’s been the last Wednesday of every month, and it will be that until further notice. So, head over to that link and check it out.

 

All right. Without further ado, let’s talk about it, how to get motivated, how to stay motivated so you can achieve your goals.

 

[INTERVIEW]

 

Hal Elrod: Hey, goal achievers and members of the Miracle Morning Community. This is take 37 of the podcast today. I am not on my game. I don’t know if it’s 37, it’s up there though. But you have those days where you just can’t think clearly. It’s funny, as I was recording one of my last takes, I realized that that supplement that I talk about when I thank my sponsors from CURED Nutrition, the one that’s called Rise, which helps with mental clarity and cognitive function, yes, I ran out of it yesterday. And so, I don’t know if there’s a correlation, but I’m now waiting for my next shipment and I’m like, I wonder if that really makes that big of a difference, but I don’t like that I can’t think clearly without a supplement, so that’s not a good thing. But it’s a good thing if it helps, but not a good thing if you can’t function without something like that.

 

All right, without that, today is going to be really talking about how to get and stay motivated. This is something that has been the most requested topic in a recent survey that we sent out. Actually, the two biggest challenges people describe that they faced were number one was motivation, number two was procrastination. And if you think about it, there’s really such a correlation between the two because if you are not motivated, then you are going to procrastinate, right? It kind of goes hand in hand.

 

Now, before we talk about that, I want to share with you a quick story. I just got back from speaking to 1,200 educators in New York City, where over 200 schools in the State of New York get this, over 200 schools in the State of New York have adopted the Miracle Morning and implemented it with their teachers, their students, their principals. And the results have been incredible. In fact, right when I landed in New York, I went to a school in Queens. The name of the school is PS 35Q That’s like, I don’t quite get it, but that’s a public school, 35 Queens, I think. It’s the naming system for schools, whatever.

 

So, Brianna Greenspan, who is a member of- or I should say she’s a coauthor in the Miracle Morning book series. She wrote The Miracle Morning Art of Affirmations. She’s also now the director of education for the Miracle Morning because she is the person who brought the Miracle Morning to all of these schools. She now goes in and does trainings for teachers and principals. Brianna leads the Miracle Morning Clubhouse room every day. If you are a user of Clubhouse, the app Clubhouse, I encourage you to check out her daily Miracle Morning room, which she has now led for like, I think, 600-plus consecutive days, seven days a week. It’s every morning from 7 to 9 a.m. Central Time. So, that’d be, what, 5 to 7 a.m. Pacific, 8 to 10 Eastern Time.

 

So, Brianna was leading one of these rooms one day, and a principal Aneesha Jacko, who’s the principal of the school I just mentioned, she spoke up in the room and she shared how they had been implementing the Miracle Morning in her school. They being she, she was leading it over the loudspeaker in every classroom in the school. It was an elementary school. And she led the SAVERS each morning. And so, imagine that, all of the students spent 60 seconds in silence, followed by 60 seconds of reciting some positive affirmations, followed by 60 seconds of visualization, a minute of exercise, a minute of reading, a minute of journaling what they were grateful for.

 

And she reported to Brianna in Clubhouse when she was up on the mic. She said her school had gone from being one of the worst schools in the district in terms of detentions and suspensions to having zero, zero, not a single detention or suspension. And I think at that point, it had been three months. So, it was like a daily problem that went to zero after she began implementing the Miracle Morning with the students. And so, Brianna, hearing this, was so inspired.

 

And there was another principal on the line that spoke up and said, hey, how do I implement the Miracle Morning? And that was, gosh, nine months ago or so, about a year ago. And that’s what led this whole Miracle Morning movement into the schools. And now, it’s like one of my visions in 2016. And this shows the power of writing something down, even if you don’t know how you’re going to make it happen.

 

In 2016, I wrote down my 10-year vision for the Miracle Morning movement. And one of the things I wrote down was that I wanted to that the Miracle Morning by the year 2026, what are we at now? 2022. So, about four more years, by the year 2026, I wrote down every school in America begins their day with the Miracle Morning. And as a result, bullying is almost completely eradicated. How are you going to beat up the kid that you meditate with and that you recite affirmations with and that you’re developing an empathy with your fellow students? Not to mention when you’re spending time as a student self-regulating your emotions and getting really clear on feeling peaceful, I mean, why does somebody bully somebody else? I’m not an expert in bullying, but I’d imagine there’s some inner turmoil going on in that child that would cause them to take it out on another child.

 

So, I wrote down that bullying was being eradicated. I wrote down mental health issues were on the decline, students’ ability to focus and their belief in themselves were on the increase. And I wrote this down in 2016, that my 10-year vision was by 2026. I didn’t know how it was going to happen, didn’t even make a plan. And this is part of the power of, I think, manifestation, which I don’t know how to explain it. But now, this is happening in 200 schools in New York and spreading across America, if you will. And so, really, really inspiring.

 

And then after I saw Aneesha’s school, the principal, Aneesha Jacko, who I’m going to have on the podcast probably here in the next few months, she is so inspiring. I listen to her, talk to her students and her teachers. And it just blew my mind. She is so inspiring. And one of the most difficult, like her school that she works at their proficiency scores are like in the 30 percentile. Now, she’s raised them up to the 40 percentile since she’s been there. And she attributes a lot of that to the Miracle Morning practices. But still, she’s got a really, really challenging job. And those students have a really just a challenging life. I mean, I can’t even really relate to it of growing up in a relatively normal environment, if you will, whatever normal is.

 

But I’ve been speaking a lot lately, sharing the Miracle Morning, which has been exciting for me, personally, and just to be able to spread the movement. Last week I was in Nashville, Tennessee, speaking at the Children’s Miracle Network Success Summit. A few weeks ago, I was in England speaking for Arbonne UK, and then, of course, I just got back from New York speaking to the educators. And then next week, I go to Salt Lake City to speak to a national CPA firm.

 

Now, one of the things that a lot of folks ask me is where can I go see you speak? So, if you’re like, I’d love to come see the Miracle Morning keynote live and in person, a lot of these events or all of the events I just mentioned are all private events, right? If you don’t work for Arbonne or you’re not an educator that belongs to the association I spoke for, you can’t get into these events.

 

The next public event I’m speaking at is the Front Row Dads Conference, December 2^nd through 4^th in Austin, Texas. Now, I realize that this is only for dad, so it’s a little bit limited. I apologize if you’re a mom or you’re not a dad for whatever reason or any other capacity that this won’t apply to you. But if you are a dad and you want to surround yourself with other dads who are just dedicated to being the best father that you can possibly be for your kids and your family, you can go to this event, you can sign up at FrontRowDads.com/live, go there for all the details. And then they gave me a discount code, HAL, H-A-L, same code as you use for our sponsors to get 10% off of your ticket. So, FrontRowDads.com/live, I will be speaking at that event December 2^nd through 4^th in Austin, Texas and I hope you can make it.

 

And again, that group I’ve mentioned before, Front Row Dads, is I am so passionate about. It’s been one of the most impactful groups I’ve ever been a part of, helping me to be a better husband and be a better father and be a better human being. So, it’s just a great group of guys.

 

All right. So, talking about how to get and stay motivated, today’s really kind of a fireside chat, if you will. I don’t know if that’s the right term, I don’t know what, does that mean fire involved would be a fireside chat? Or do you need to be here so we can talk back and forth? I’m not sure. I should break Google the definition of fireside chat.

 

But being that this is such an important topic, let’s start by defining what motivation is. And because this is my 38^th take or maybe my 12^th take, I don’t know how many takes I’ve done on this episode today, I’ve just been off. I apologize if I’m repeating something that I already said because I don’t remember if I said it like three takes ago or just now, I don’t know. But this will be valuable for you, I hope. And I know that for me, motivation is something that if you are motivated, you can do anything. You can do anything. But I think that one of the biggest confusions or misunderstandings around motivation is that it’s a feeling. People want to feel motivated.

 

And I would like to offer a different perspective on what motivation is, that it’s not a feeling. There are feelings associated with motivation. If you’re motivated, you feel excited, you feel you have energy, etc. And also, those feelings lead to motivation. It’s kind of cyclical, right? If you are feeling excited and you have a lot of energy, it’s easier to be motivated.

 

I mean, think of it this way. If you’re exhausted, being motivated is really difficult. If you’re tired, there’s really no hope in you being motivated necessarily. But motivation is not merely a feeling. And the way I would encourage you to think of it is that motivation is a commitment. Motivation is a commitment. So, if you are committed to something, then you are motivated to do whatever is necessary to achieve that thing. Makes sense?

 

So, if you’re committed to something, then you’re motivated to do whatever is necessary, and that means doing things when you don’t feel like it. See, that’s the problem with this misunderstanding of the motivation is you’re like, oh, I don’t feel like doing it. I wish I was motivated. It’s like, well, no, no, no, you’re just not committed because if you’re committed, then you’re motivated to do whatever it takes, even if you don’t feel like it. You see the distinction?

 

And I know that might be kind of confusing. It might be, right? Like, okay, well, that makes sense, but I don’t understand how to get there. Like, okay, so if I’m committed to something, then I’m motivated to do whatever it takes, but what if I don’t feel like doing it? Well, the answer is you do whatever it takes, whether you feel like it or not.

 

Here’s what I mean. One of my friends, Romacio Fulcher, we haven’t spoken in years, but we used to be friends. But Romacio’s voicemail, and I’ve probably shared this on– I don’t know, a few podcasts in the past, but Romacio’s voicemail used to say that there is always a way when you’re committed. When you’d call him, it was always– so he ended the voicemail.

 

And remember, before I talk to you, in the meantime, there’s always a way when you’re committed. And so, when it comes to motivation, one of the lessons that I have embodied for many years and I’ve taught this before comes from John Maxwell, to act your way into feeling. John Maxwell talks about how most of us are waiting to feel like acting. I don’t mean acting, like acting in a play, I mean taking action. We’re waiting, like I’m waiting for the feelings that I need.

 

And the distinction that John teaches is that’s not how motivation works. You can’t sit around waiting to feel like doing something, to feel motivated. It’s taking the action that generates the motivation to follow through. And this perfectly explained this correlation we’re talking about between being committed, and therefore, being motivated even if you don’t feel like it.

 

John Maxwell’s lesson of acting your way into feeling says, okay, I’m committed to doing this thing, achieving this goal. Let’s take– I don’t know, exercising, for example. I’m committed to losing 10 pounds. That might be the thing you’re committed to. And if you’re not committed, it’s not going to happen. I mean, if there’s one thing at the end of the day that determines whether or not you achieve a result in your life, it’s whether or not you’re committed. If you’re committed, like Romacio, my friend, said, there’s always a way when you’re committed. And if you’re not committed, there’s no way, there’s no point.

 

So, you have to decide if you’re committed. I can’t tell you whether or not you’re committed. You have to decide if you’re committed. And then, okay, so that’s step one is I’ve got to commit to something. I’ve got to get clear. So, I guess clarity and commitment go hand in hand because you have to be really clear on what is it that you want in your life.

 

And let’s actually do this, let’s turn this into kind of a little bit of a coaching session. Let’s actually get some results right now. So, number one, let’s get clear on a commitment that you want to make. And it could be just think of something in your life that you want to improve. It could be your health, your fitness, something like that. In fact, we’ll stick with that example of, let’s say the commitment is I’m committed, not I want to lose 10 pounds, because you can want something and do nothing about it. In life, we don’t get what we want. We get what we are committed to.

 

So let’s start with, okay, I’m committed to losing 10 pounds. All right. And then if we bring John Maxwell’s strategy of acting your way into feeling into this, you go, I’m committed to losing 10 pounds, but I don’t feel like eating a salad or I don’t feel like exercising or going to the gym. I don’t feel like it. So, what John Maxwell teaches, and I’ve practiced this for 20 years, is you have to act your way into feeling.

 

So, the example that I wrote about in the Miracle Morning book is that would mean, let’s say you want to get in better shape, lose weight, whatever, build muscle, it doesn’t matter, just improve your physical fitness. The secret to making it happen, the secret to acting your way into feeling would be having, let’s say, a timer on your phone set and having a gym bag packed. So, you packed the gym bag, you’ve got your car keys, timer goes off, and you’ve committed that in order to achieve your fitness goal, you’ve committed that I’m going to go to the gym at 7 a.m., whether I feel like it or not.

 

So, what happens is when the alarm goes off at 7 a.m., you don’t think about it. We often think ourselves out of doing what we need to do. So, you don’t think about it. You’ve already thought about it ahead of time when you made the commitment. So, don’t unthink yourself out of doing what you need to do. So, when the alarm goes off at 7 a.m. or whenever you schedule to go to the gym, you grab your gym bag that’s ideally already packed. And if it’s not packed, you just walk over, grab your clothes from the gym bag, and you get into the car, you start the car, you back out of the driveway, and you start driving toward the gym.

 

Now, again, it’s not about whether or not you feel like it. You just do the easy first step, grab the gym bag, grab the car keys, get in the car, and drive toward the gym. And then here is what happens. This is what it means to act your way into feeling. Now, when the alarm went off at 7 a.m., if you would have thought to yourself, do I feel like going to the gym? Well, if you’re sitting on the couch, odds are no. Odds are you don’t feel like doing what you need to do to achieve the results that you want in your life.

 

So, if you’re sitting on the couch at 7 a.m., you don’t feel like it. But you don’t allow yourself to think yourself out of it, you grab the gym bag, get in the car, go to the gym. And here’s what happens as you’re driving to the gym, the energy, the motivation, it starts to drive the feelings that you need start to be generated on the way to the gym while you are moving in the direction of where you’re committed to going. And then when you get in the parking lot of the gym and you park your car, what are you almost inevitably going to do?

 

Now, of course, you could talk yourself out of it, but more than likely, you’re going to grab your gym bag, get out of the car, and walk into the gym. And when you walk into the gym and the music is blaring and you see people sweating and that energy is palpable because people, they’re doing it, they’re doing the work, most of them don’t feel like being there, but they’re committed, they’re doing the work. And that is inspiring. When we see other people living in alignment with their commitment, that inspires us to do the same.

 

And so, that drive, that motivation that you need to work out so you can lose those 10 pounds, it’s generated by you taking those initial actions. Now, you walk in the gym. Music’s pumping. The energy’s up and your energy goes up. You go in the locker room, put on your clothes, and you go out and you get a workout in. And then, afterwards, you’re glad that you did. You feel good. Maybe you feel proud of yourself. You’re sore. It’s that good sore. And then now, you’re creating a neural pathway in your brain that says, grabbing my gym bag at 7 a.m. and getting into my car leads to these feelings of accomplishment which will lead to those 10 pounds being lost. And that is how you generate motivation.

 

You generate motivation through action. You generate action through clarity and commitment. So, you gain clarity on what is the outcome that you want. Let’s break this into steps. So, let’s say step number one is clarity. I know I said commitment and clarity, they go hand in hand, but let’s really break it down into nuances.

 

Number one is clarity. Getting really clear on what is one area of your life that you want to improve, one area at a time. And that’s the thing is one of the biggest challenges is overwhelm. Anything you want to change in your life, consider that there are almost always going to be obstacles. Almost always. If you’re wanting to achieve something meaningful, there’s going to be an obstacle or a series of obstacles. And if you are unaware of what those obstacles are likely to be, then they’re very likely to discourage you and derail you when you face said obstacle, when something probably, oh, I wasn’t expecting that. It’s one thing to set a goal and expect it to be a clear path, but it never is.

 

And sometimes, the obstacles are external, but more often than not, they’re internal. Like, I don’t feel motivated. Telling yourself I’m not motivated, and then not following through with what you need to do, that’s an obstacle. It’s an internal, emotional, psychological obstacle that you have to be prepared for.

 

And so, how do you prepare for that? Well, the clarity, starting with clarity, clarity of what it is that you are committed to achieving in your life, clarity of one area you want to improve. And it can be– well, not it can be, it really has to be. It’s a daily thing, clarity of what are you going to do today. So, the clarity starts with the big picture of what do you want to create for your life?

 

And then you break that clarity down into specific results or outcomes along the way. And then it’s a day-by-day clarity of what am I committed to doing today. What’s the one thing I will do today that will move me in the direction of the outcomes or results that I’m committed to that will enable me to create the life that I’m committed to creating? It starts with clarity, and then after clarity of what it is that you want, what it is that you’re committed to, it comes to making that commitment.

 

And while they go hand in hand, clarity and commitment, because you’re clarifying your commitments, you’ve got to actually commit to them. And the best way to commit is in writing. Actually, I would say the best way to commit is not only in writing, it’s actually to tell other people. The best way to commit is to make a public commitment, a public declaration, commit to another person. This brings accountability into the fold. If you commit just to yourself, well, then now you have to rely strictly on your own ability to hold yourself accountable. If you commit publicly, well, now you’re leveraging your integrity to follow through with what you say you’re going to do, which is a very powerful form of accountability.

 

When I committed to run my ultramarathon, I committed publicly so that it was out there. And now, it wasn’t just me by myself where no one knew what I was committed to doing, and then I could easily just let myself off the hook if I didn’t feel like it. It was committing publicly that I was going to do this ultramarathon to raise money for charity, and then my integrity was now on the line. And I don’t know about you, but well, I do know about you, none of us want to be viewed by others as not having integrity. There is the whole, I don’t care what other people think.

 

And in certain contexts, I think that’s really valuable. I think that you should be yourself and not worry what other people think of you. That’s their own opinion. But in the context of accountability and getting yourself to follow through, caring what other people think in terms of you upholding your integrity, that’s a very valuable way of caring what other people think. That’s a context that will serve you. So, committing publicly is a way to do that.

 

And of course, you could commit also to another person, if you have a coach, you can commit to your coach, but you’re putting your integrity on the line. You are allowing yourself to be held accountable by people other than just yourself. So, step one is clarity, clarify what it is that you want and you’re committed to. Step two is to commit fully. That’s a rock-solid, draw your line in the sand, write down I am committed to _____, no matter what, there is no other option.

 

You may have heard me share that before. That is the Miracle mantra. That is the first step in the way that I teach affirmations now. I am committed to _____, no matter what, there is no other option. When you read that every single day with conviction, wouldn’t you imagine that’s going to increase your level of commitment? It’s going to fan the flames of your level of commitment. So, clarity is the first step.

 

But the second step when it comes to commitment is you’re just committing to what you’ve clarified that you want to accomplish in your life. And again, this is a framework. I can’t tell you what’s going to motivate you. Only you know what motivates you. But this is the framework where you’re going to clarify what outcomes or results you want in your life that are motivating to you. You’re going to commit to those outcomes because, again, when you commit to something important to you, that’s when you are, by default, motivated to figure out what it takes to make it happen.

 

And then the third step is you’ve got to clarify your plan. You’ve got to clarify your plan or you can call it your path. What are you going to do? And I really want to make it clear that this should be simple. I know we’re talking a lot or I’m talking a lot here, but I’m a big fan of The ONE Thing. The ONE Thing is a book by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan. Jay’s become a good friend. Geoff Woods has become a good friend. And Geoff is the former– oh, I don’t know what his exact title was, but basically, he was in charge of The ONE Thing. They’re the training wing of their company. But that book, The ONE Thing is all about clarifying one thing, the importance of one thing, and how you can only do one thing at a time.

 

And so, when I talk about these steps clarifying what you want for your life, I encourage you to focus on one thing and one improvement at a time because, yeah, overwhelm is very real. Overwhelm prevents us from taking action because you go, oh my gosh, there’s like 10 things that I want to change in my life, 10 things I want to improve, 10 issues that I’m– the numbers are arbitrary. There are countless things in life that we can focus on.

 

So, the power, like a laser, you focus a laser. It’s on one central point. And that’s what makes a laser so powerful. It can cut through steel, cut through glass. I think steel’s more impressive than glass. But either way, when you focus on one thing, so I encourage you, as we’re wrapping up today’s podcast, that you clarify one thing in the next week or the next 30 days, one thing that you want to improve. Choose the one area of your life that’s been causing you a lot of stress because you’re not living in alignment in that area with what you want or with your full potential, or clarify that one thing that if you improved it would make a really meaningful impact in your life.

 

So, that’s kind of two ways to look at your one thing. It’s either moving away from something that is causing you stress. So, if you handle this one thing, it’ll relieve your stress, it’ll make your life better, or it’s moving toward something that you aspire to. And that also will, by moving in that direction toward that thing, making progress toward that outcome, that result, it will enhance your life, it will make your life better. But clarify one thing. Commit to one thing. I’m committed to _____, no matter what, there’s no other option.

 

And then in terms of creating your plan, I’m not talking about creating like a five-page business plan or even a one-page business plan, I’m talking about a one-sentence plan. What is the one thing that you can do? In fact, that’s The ONE Thing question from the book. What’s the one thing you can do that by doing it, it will make everything else easier or unnecessary? What’s the one thing you can do that by doing it, it’ll make everything else easier or unnecessary? So, what is one thing you can do that will move you forward toward that outcome that you’ve clarified and you’ve committed to?

 

And sometimes, it’s recurring. Like when I was training for the marathon, it was running every day. I didn’t have to pick new things. If you’re starting a business, it’s going to be different things. You’re going to go through phases as you start a business. Number one, clarify your idea. Number two, clarify your target market. Number three, clarify their biggest problem. Number four, clarify the solution you’re going to provide. I mean, if you’re starting a business, you’re not committing to the same activity each and every day. You’re just committing probably to the same time frame, meaning like, I’ll work on my business for an hour every day. But if you’re writing a book, you’re just going to write every day. If you’re training for a marathon, you’re going to run every day.

 

Back when I was in sales, I just had to make calls every day. So, sometimes your one thing every day is going to be a recurring activity that you do over and over and over every single day. Sometimes, it’s going to be more of just dedicating time every day because your one thing will change from day to day or week to week as time goes on because there is going to be a sequential order of activities that you need to execute in order to make progress.

 

Again, the example of starting a business, if it’s improving your marriage, though, for example, your one thing might be I’m committed to reading this marriage book every morning during my Miracle Morning, and then I’m committed to doing one thing every day to add value to my spouse’s life. That’s an example of how you can apply the one thing to your marriage. And again, you can apply that to every aspect of your life. If you need to make more money, that was also a very popular answer in the survey that we sent out is folks needing to earn more income.

 

And on a side note, I will mention that, in 2008, when the economy crashed and I created the Miracle Morning, the economy continued to get worse. And after six months of my income dropping and having my house foreclosed on, I was able to double my income in two months, even though the economy continued to get worse. This is a side note, but it’s important if this is an issue for you.

 

How did I do that? Well, I was a coach at the time, and so, I read a book called Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port, and he talked about if you have a service business, how to book yourself solid, have more clients that max out your capacity. And by simply implementing the strategies in that one book, I was able to turn it around. I’m sharing that with you as encouragement that there is always a way, as Romacio Fulcher, my friend, says, there is always a way when you’re committed. Don’t ever blame outside forces for why you are in this situation that you’re in.

 

Now, let me clarify that. There may be outside forces to blame. For example, if you were fired by your boss because of the economy and budgetary cuts, and now, they have to let people go, you’re not to blame for that. But this is where the difference between blame and responsibility comes into play. You may not be to blame for everything that happens to you, but you are the only person that is responsible for turning things around. And there is always a way when you are committed. And in order to stay motivated to– you might be going how I need to get motivated, forget stay motivated, like I’m not motivated at all, apply what we talked about in today’s episode. You may need to go back and listen to it again, which I would encourage you to do.

 

But again, the essence is understanding that motivation is not just a feeling, it is a commitment. When you are committed to something, you are motivated to do whatever it takes to achieve that thing, whether you feel like it or not. I talked about John Maxwell’s strategy of acting your way into feeling where you understand that you have to take action in order to generate the feelings that you need to follow through. The example I gave you was grabbing the gym bag and getting in the car and not thinking yourself out of going to the gym just because you don’t feel like it because if you just take that initial action and get in the car, you will drive to the gym, you will work out. You can apply that to anything.

 

When I used to be in sales, I’d pick up the phone and call the first number at the time that I scheduled to make my phone calls, even though I didn’t feel like making those calls. And I was afraid of rejection and I wasn’t feeling motivated. It didn’t matter. I acted my way into feeling by picking up the phone, calling the first number, and then figuring out what the heck I was going to say.

 

And I do that with the podcast a lot. I did that with today’s podcast. I wasn’t feeling motivated, so I just hit record. That’s why I did 37 takes or whatever. I just kept hitting record and just trying and trying and failing and trying and failing and trying and failing. But I acted my way into feeling. And finally, here we are. Take 37, and we recorded a podcast. Was it perfect? No. Did I make mistakes? Yes. But I acted my way into feeling. I was committed to recording a podcast for you. So, even though I didn’t feel like it, I was motivated because I was committed. And that is the distinction.

 

So, clarify what it is that you’re committed to in your life, step one. Step two, make a rock solid, unwavering line in the sand commitment of what you’re going to do. And again, choose one thing that you’re committed to and one thing that you’re going to follow through with. And then number three is create your path, create your plan. And your plan is simply that one thing you’re going to do today and the one thing you’ll do tomorrow and the one thing you’ll do again the next day. Whether it’s the same thing every day or it is sequential and it evolves, commit to that one thing. There is always a way when you’re committed. And when you’re committed, you are motivated.

 

It’s your responsibility. No one is going to do anything for you. Don’t let that discourage you. Let it excite you because that’s great. You don’t have to rely on anybody outside of you to change your life. You have the power to change your own life one day, one morning, one commitment at a time. Goal achievers, I love you so much. I hope you enjoyed this podcast. And I will talk to y’all next week. Let’s stay motivated.