When Does Motivation Take a Wrong Turn?

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I am going to go a little against the grain and make the statement that motivation can be a bad thing at times.  Honestly,  that really should not be a statement that is considered to be against the grain.  We all have seen instances where people have been highly motivated to do bad things and I think that we would all agree that this would be an example of motivation being a bad thing.

I am not referring to those instances,  though.  They are too obvious to really spark any kind of debate.  What I am referring to is when people get highly motivated to do things that they are just not capable of doing.  You have one side of the self help spectrum that really gives off that “anyone can do anything” kind of message and unfortunately,  that can give rise to some people being highly motivated to try and achieve something that is just not possible.

When they do start to face their obstacles,  which can easily be described as life giving them feedback that it is not going to happen,  that motivation keeps them going and spinning their wheels.  For example,  not everyone is really cut out to run their own business.  Yet,  many people do have that dream. So,  some will go out and invest in some little start up and they are highly motivated but totally lacking in the skills that they need to have.  And when that business flops,  they get motivated again and move on to the next one.

What this ends up doing for some people is causing them to get caught up in a cycle where they go from one opportunity to another and they don’t see the truth for what it is.  That they are just not cut out for owning their own business and that maybe,  just maybe,  they may want to look at taking another route in life.

I am not saying that motivation is a bad thing.  But motivation with no direction OR motivation in the WRONG direction can be a bad thing.  That is when it takes a wrong turn.

Setting Goals That Are Achievable

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When you search through the self help world,  you do have to be careful that you are still able to maintain some semblance of reality.  It’s really easy to get swayed by the idea that you can achieve impossible things and you kind of have to walk this balance of setting goals that are audacious enough that they inspire you and challenge and still realistic enough that they are achievable.  You can really take the dreamer approach and run wild with it and end up finding that you don’t actually achieve much of anything at all.

I have seen that happen to many people and I have to say that it really is too bad that it happens.  While there are many GOOD courses and guides and books on self improvement,  there are just as many charlatans that will say whatever it is that you want to hear just to find a way to part you with your dollars.

So, let’s take a look at what I mean by setting goals that are achievable.

Everybody wants to get rich,  but not many people have the immediate skill set that is going to get them there.  So,  they dream and dream about having the wealth that they crave,  but they don’t really have a realistic way of getting that wealth.  All they really have is the dream.

Being in this position,  it would be ridiculous to set a goal of earning some astronomic sum of money.  You might be able to double the amount that you currently make or something like that,   but to think that you can go from making $ 30,000 annually to $ 3 million annually without having any kind of skill set to produce that… is unrealistic.

This is where so many people fall for the wrong message that can often come out of the self help world.  They don’t have the skill set,  yet they want to have the money.  When they see that there is someone out there that claims that they have some “secret” way of making that happen,  they get reeled in quick.  They also find out that it’s not going to happen.

On the other hand,  if a person was to set a goal of really exploding their income and they had some skill set that is known to produce those kinds of results,  i.e.  acting,  then that may actually not be an unrealistic goal.

It’s good to have your goals and to even make them BIG enough that they thrill you,  that they motivate and excite you at the mere thought of achieving them.  Just don’t make the mistake of making them so big,  that they become IMPOSSIBLE to achieve.

The Goal of Self Improvement Should Be Simple

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The goals of anyone that embarks on their own personal self improvement journey should start with the one simple goal of making your life better tomorrow in some way than it is today.  You may have many other goals that come up along the way and you may find that at times,  it seems like there is always something that gets in the way.  Such is life.  As long as you can look back and see that there have been improvements that have been made,  then you can really count your journey to be a success.

I’ve known a lot of people that have embarked on this journey only to get knocked off course and then just abandon any hope of improving their life.  That is a shame,  because you have to know that things are not always going to work out the way that you hope that they would and it becomes the true test of your spirit and your character what you will do when that happens.  You can become stronger when you take little instances of adversity and then find a way to overcome it.

It can be hard,  but at the same time,  it can be done.  You don’t have to abandon all hope just because one goal goes unmet.  Or because you have a bad month or something like that.

More to come.  Stay tuned.