Well, we all suffer from it, some worse than others. Don’t we? Staying motivated is difficult at times, even for the best of us and even in the best of situations. Throw in rough waters, “crossroads of life” dilemmas, and even the strongest willed can become paralyzed from the demons inside. “What abouts” and “what ifs” can be the most justifiable and logical reasons to lose motivation. I’m sure that whatever is sapping your drive (or mine…heck look how long it’s been since my last post!) is very important and needs to be taken seriously and all that crap, but really what is happening is the enemy is using these tools to rob us of joy. That’s right…JOY! Stealing, diluting or squelching joy is what the enemy’s goal in negating what God’s greatest gift is to each of us, and that’s to live lives full of joy.
“But Rick, why are you writing about stuff like this when you’re supposed to be filling us with business wisdom, etc?,” I can hear you asking! Well, so much of our ability, productivity and effectiveness resides squarely in the space between our ears. If we’re not feeling confident mentally, we lose momentum, confidence and our desire to press forward against the odds in order to passionately pursue our businesses, our relationships, our faith…really holding us back from living our lives. Losing motivation happens to all of us, admit it! Particularly now that we’re all immersed in our instant gratification society of smart phones, texts, tweets and the Internet. So how do we turn back on the motivation, particularly in the face of uncertainty?
My team at ECO are feeling a power drain right now. We’ve been trying to find new investors to help us meet the rapidly growing demand for our natural sunscreen products. We have fear that we may end up drowning in our own success by not being able to meet the demand we’re seeing for our products. Therefore, paralysis by analysis has set in! As a Spirit led business, we are confident in the plan God has laid out for us with ECO, but our human weaknesses mask desire and motivation to move forward. What is holding you back? Like us, what crossroads are you facing? I invite you to share it publicly in the comments below and let many of the followers and readers of my messages (thanks everyone!) whom you don’t even know (or they you!) share in them with you, pray for you and re-motivate you. Why? Well, I can tell you the best thing you can do when you’re lacking motivation, or your faith is weak or crumbling, is to actually look outside yourself and your circumstances and help someone else.
Trust me, when you start doing this, as HUGE as you think your problems are, in learning to look outside yourself and share in the concerns of others there’s a very good chance that your issues might well pale in comparison. I’m not saying that your issues aren’t important because clearly they are, but by looking outside your situation to others makes you realize that there is commonality and strength in knowing that you’re not alone or by yourself in your troubles. God gave us His Holy Spirit to dwell inside EACH of us…including you. So why shouldn’t we use the power of prayer more to help us through stuff? Hey, volumes upon volumes have been written on the “whys” we don’t, so I ask you directly…”WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO LOSE?” To regain motivation…look outside yourselves, whether at work, with your loved ones, or even strangers you meet. How can you help them?
Times are still tough for a lot of people, so what’s wrong with this approach? Whether you’re religious or not, Christian or not, Christ set the example of looking outside ourselves to others, and I think the world can be a better place if we move in that direction…even a little bit. Start living your life like this, and you’ll find that staying motivated will be much easier, and you will never be the same. And that’s a good thing!
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