Motivation

People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily.
Zig Ziglar

People often say that motivation doesn't last. But that doesn't mean that you should not bother with it. What would happen if nobody bathed because cleanliness didn't last. Actually the whole point of bathing is precisely because cleanliness doesn't last. In our daily lives, we are continually getting dirty. We can't help it. And so we need to bathe. And in our daily lives, our minds are continually getting just as "dirty" as our bodies are. We can't help that either. And so we need to get motivated. In a way it is like bathing for the mind.

There is a strong temptation to get really motivated to do something, to find out all the reasons why it must be accomplished, and then to go about your business and next year you're wondering why that thing didn't get done. It was because you expected your motivation to last. And it doesn't, any more than a flower lasts through the winter. Like a flower that can't cope with the cold and snow on top of it, our motivation can't cope with the negativity and endless "emergencies" that come up all the time in our daily lives. It needs to be continually replanted.

You must replenish your motivation every day. You must remind yourself every day why you need to get a particular goal accomplished. You must get excited about your goal every day. Otherwise your noble intentions will just get lost in all the "dirt", the negative energies and constant competing requests for attention that you will inevitably encounter every day. And without motivation, how will you ever acheive your goals?