Anybody can start something and anybody can quit – but it takes a winner to finish. Nobody wants to be a failure, nobody wants to be a quitter either. However, not everybody who starts something is able to finish the job.
A lot of people start new ventures with great excitement and enthusiasm. They get off the starting line and start to run for sometime. But something happens on the way and they start to lose the motivation. Probably they start to doubt themselves or their ability to succeed. Finally, they give up on their dreams and fail to reach the finish line.
You've got to have motivation to reach your destination. [tweet this]
If so many people give up on their dreams, give up on things they were once so much excited about, there must be a logic to it. Today in this post, I am going to discuss the top 5 motivation killers that causes people to drift away and give up on their dreams:
1. Lack Of Passion
A lot of times, people who are excited about things they are doing, they are really not passionate about it. Many do not take time to find out and connect with their own dreams, their own purpsoe and rather latch onto a dream or vision somebody else set for them and start running. Since the dream is not their own, they mistake excitement with passion. However, as soon as the first set of disappointments or challenges show up, excitement settles down and fear and doubts start to take over.
Slowly but surely, people in this situation lose the motivation and end up giving up on the dreams they thought they were once passionate about. It reminds me of this famous quote from Lewis Carroll:
If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there. [tweet this quote]
When the dream is not your your own, you are not passionate about it. When you are not passionate, you are motivated as long as it makes sense on the scale of logic. The moment logic says "It's not going to work anymore", it is easy to lose the motivation and the dream!
That is why writing down our dreams, aligning our dreams with our purpose in life is important. Have you renewed and reviewed your dreams and goals recently?
2. Feelings Of Guilt
When we know what to do and we don't do it, we feel guilty. When we know what not to do and we do it anyway thinking nobody is watching, we develop the feeling of guilt. When we know what is the right thing to do and still we don't do it because it might make somebody upset, we develop the guilt.
The feeling of guilt is one of the major killers of motivation. It creates frustration, paralizes our creativity and handicaps our ability to think positive and move forward in the right direction to make it happen. This is one of those hidden yet very powerful enemies of motivation we must guard ourselves against on daily basis.
The solution is found in knowing that the darkness only exists until you shine the light on it. We are humans and mistakes happen. Staying in close communication and sharing your frustrations with people who you love, respect and trust can be of great help getting rid of this motivation killer. A close working relationship with your mentor and/or coach can be a blessing and fatal weapon against this enemy of your motivation.
3. Lack Of A Cheerleader
We all have the ability to perform our best when we feel loved and supported. There are numerous examples of people who excelled much beyond their perceived abilities just because they had some great cheerleaders, uplifters in their life.The sports teams love to play at their home ground and at the same time they feel the pressure to perform their best. Why? Because they have the support of their biggest cheerleaders and they want to make them proud.
While having a cheerleader is a blessing for our motivation level, not having one is equally fatal. Society in general is negative and most people are ready to advise why something won't work and why you shouldn't be doing what you are so excited about. Among all the negativity, one person who says, "I believe in you and I know can do it!', can have a tremendous positive impact.
Are you making an effort to build your army of cheerleaders? If not, you still have a choice – Be your own cheerleader! Look in the mirror and be the best cheerleader you can be. Speak out loud and do your self talk, be proud of yourself, be proud of who you are and be proud of your dream!
4. Lack Of Knowledge
Personal confidence is power. With growing knowledge, grows self confidence and our confidence in others. But accumulating knowledge requires discipline and consistent efforts towards learning. A lot of times, people are so excited about achieving their dreams that they tend to ignore the aspect of learning.
But whether or not we are prepared, challenges will come. It hurts when we are excited about getting the job done, we are doing everything in our power to make it happen and then we are faced with a set of disappointments. When our confidence is high, disappointments are just part of the journey. But for people with a low level of confidence, disappointments cause fear and doubt and kill the motivation.
Wise people never stop learning. They understand success principles and conciously develop the habit of accumulating knowledge as much as possible. The knowledge, when applied, has tremendous power to boost our confidence – a shield against some of the other motivation killers discussed above. Are you investing your time and money on increasing knowledge?
5. Poor Health
Poor health is something that is worse than anything else in life. On the other hand a healthy body accompanied with a healthy mind is a blessing. Not just for the motivation, but for everything else in life, we all have a responsibility to keep our health at it's best. Jim Rohn said it the best when he said:
Take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live.
All the joys of life are much more joyful when we enjoy great health. Making sure to eat healthy, doing a little bit of morning exercise, yoga, taking a good dose of high quality nutritional suppliments to cope up with today's stressed atmosphere (where almost everything is grown under the influence of pesticides) – is absolutely critical to maintain a good health. How are you investing in protecting your health?
Your Turn To Share
Do you feel motivated today to take charge to make it happen for your dreams and goals? How are you dealing with these motivation killers? Please share your thoughts in the comments now.
Really very motivational post. These five motiation killers have robbed many of their dreams and left many in doubt in fear. This is a great reminder to keep in front of us everybody morning to stay motivated. Thank you for always showing the right path to our entire organization.
Awesome Mayank. This really is a great reminder for all of us. Thank you!
WOW Kumar reading through this post this morning was like passing a spare straight through my heart , All this
5 motivation killers have robbed me of my personality so much and have planted all sorts of fear and doubt in me . When i look back i see that at times i even fear nothing , Am posting this comment to remind myself each time that will fight all this
5 motivation killers and get them far away from my life as possible .
Thanks so much for this post
Thank you for sharing your experience Darrek. One thing I know is, we all have power to change things starting today and make a difference in our tomorrow.
I know you are making it happen now and that matters! Wish you all the best and again, thank you for sharing!
This is an excellent and relevant topic for all the winners out there who are fighting their battles and making it happen. I would like to add that doing positive self talk increases the self – image and that in turn increases the confidence.
So, Positive Affirmations, daily self talk on the other hand is a powerful motivation booster to counter these killers of motivation.
Kumar, very nice and easy to follow! Your 5 points capture body, mind and spirit behind motivation, which some may only think of as attitude. Clearly, it’s so much more than that. Lots of people can relate to living someone else’s dream and, therefore, lacking the passion for it. Your cheerleader point is also really well put. Whether or not we have supportive people us, we do need to believe in ourselves and be our own cheerleader always. I’d add that it takes true humility and comfort with self to be willing to recognize that no one is a lone island. It’s perfectly fine and healthy to seek support from others–I’ve found that there’s never a shortage of folks who want to help and support someone they love and respect and whose cause/dream they believe in. Again, nicely written, Kumar!
Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts Dr. Alice. Appreciate your inputs and I liked the way you related the 5 points to the body, mind and spirit aspect of our existence. Great words!
Very motivating post, Kumar! Feeling already motivated after going through your post. One thing I will add to what you have said already if I may.
I feel that inactivity is one of the most common methods for reducing enthusiasm and passion in life. Inactivity also feeds the feeling of guilt. But whenever I am not acting, I feel guilty since I know in my heart that I should act and I don’t sometimes. I think this may be the 6th motivation killer in my opinion.
This is a very good outline of motivation killers. I would just like to add one major factor as well – lack of ambition. All successful people started with ambition.