Sometimes it’s not always easy to understand what ‘motivates’ the ambitiously creative entrepreneur, because this is an individual with rather deeply ingrained drivers. Though I believe that we tend to look at mere motives all too often, especially when it comes to what’s supposed to drive our will to overcome the challenges of starting up our own fitness or coaching businesses.
No business is easy to start, and that’s especially true with those of us, who are personal trainers. It’s a major risk, and a hefty one at that. Not to mention, probably the most difficult aspect of setting foot on this path comes from those familiar telltale questions that we often ask ourselves…
- What it I don’t have what it takes?
- When will I see my first paycheck?
- Will my friends and family approve?
- What if I face too many setbacks?
And then, there’s the granddaddy startup killer of them all: what if I fail?
The Problem With Waiting For Motivation
What if I told you that EVERY entrepreneur, no matter what niche or industry, no matter how much startup funding they receive, no matter what degree they’ve earned -every single one of us has had to overcome those questions? Well, believe it, because that’s simply the truth of the matter. We all deal with these doubts. You just need to get over it and kick ass!
And these doubts lead to procrastination, and procrastination (if left unchecked) will lead to the ultimate failure: and that is the failure to begin in the first place.
So how do we bust through to the other side, and find that unflinching drive inside of us?
Well first, you need to rid yourself of the notion that you somehow depend on motivation, because that’s only going to falsely confirm that your doubts are valid arguments for a failure to launch. This is the case, because motivation is an external force that you’re depending on to feed your willpower -and that’s just not going to be enough. And actually, my conclusion has been proven correct.
The Substance of Inspiration
A researcher, Martin Reuf, and Princeton University conducted a study that aimed to determine what motivates people to become entrepreneurs. What they found was actually the complete opposite of what seems to have been expected.
It turned out that the bottom-line motivator, a sweet paycheck, wasn’t the prime ‘motivational’ factor that drives entrepreneurs. In fact, it was something a great deal deeper:
“Non-pecuniary motivations are more important than monetary motivations for people to start a new business. One is autonomy: People want to be their own boss. The other is identity fulfillment, which is more about people having a vision about a product or a service. But their employers do not give them the freedom to develop within the company structure. That is a key driver.”
The study found that the ‘key driver’ had more to do with fulfillment, building something great, and freedom. So if you read between the lines, those aren’t outside forces; no, those are coming from within a person.
Cash is a motivator from outside a person.
An idea is something altogether different, because that comes from inspiration -which is a horse of a color that’s on the complete opposite side of the spectrum.
You Are What You Believe
Here’s a great quote from the great one, Tony Robbins, which says: “It’s what you practice every day in private that you will be rewarded for in public.”
His most basic premise is the fact that you’ve got to clear your mind of the beliefs that are holding you back, while at the same time, replacing them with ones that reinforce your commitment to success. Much like the way people need to work out regularly in order to get in shape, you’ve got to practice positive and productive rituals every day, and reaffirm what your vision for success truly is to you.
This is why depending on motivation will have you back on the job hunt within a depressingly short period of time: because your drive, your commitment, your driver isn’t originating from inside you. You’ll only have a limited amount of willpower if it’s dependent on an external material source. Motivation won’t drive anybody over the long haul.
But let’s remember what the study said. It’s VISION that will do the driving, and this is something that has to come from your core beliefs about what you truly want in life.
Vision: It’s What Drives You
When a person has a vision, then everything changes. That person isn’t depending on motivation to feed that person’s inner willpower -instead, their vision has taken hold of their inner willpower and begun pulling them towards it.
A driven, effective, committed entrepreneur doesn’t have to ‘push’ themselves out of bed in the morning. They’re actually pulled out of bed (and in my case, roughly 11 minutes before the alarm clock goes off).
The key here is that you need to stop depending on motivation from outside sources and start depending on that never-ending source of energy within you. That will sustain your willpower through the toughest times, because you’ll be rooted in something far deeper than a paycheck or popularity: it will be coming from what you want out of life…
And that’s what gives you, and your startup business, a purpose.
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