Motivation and procrastination – the wealth impact

Motivation is one of those topics that can be deeply personal…

Over the years I have had the pleasure of being a part of a couple of high-level masterminds with fellow entrepreneurs. It has been quite clear when talking with these people what their motivation is…

and why they are pursuing the business that they operate in.

By spending so much time with these highly motivated people it got me thinking about what and why more people aren’t as motivated.

What is it that stops you from being a highly motivated person…

Someone who will pursue their dreams with single-minded dedication and focus.

What became evident was that it comes down to one major attitude or characteristic… procrastination.

Procrastination tends to stem from the fact that your to-do list is longer than what you are capable of getting done at any point in time.

Having a to-do list that appears insurmountable tends to result in you becoming stuck… which in turn leads you to develop a feeling of not being able to get anything done…

and also leads to you doing the easy stuff first, and leaving what really should be done to later, which often doesn’t come at all.

The Roots of Procrastination

It is my personal experience, and I am sure yours too, that we all generally have some sort of image in our mind of what we want to do…

However, there always seems to be something else that comes along to distract us, a voice that says, ‘wait, do this instead’.

If you were to think of a time when this happened to you, I suspect the feelings that you get when you reflect on this experience are not comfortable for you.

Normally when you reflect on a scenario when you didn’t do something that you planned or wanted to do, there will be cues as to why, such as distraction.

You will say to yourself, ‘I’ll just do this for a minute’ and next thing you know a few hours have passed.

These are side trips that take you away from your destination…

The important point is to find the moment that you went from intending to do, to doing something else, and find the sequence of pictures, sounds, and or feelings that you experienced.

This will be the root of procrastination for you…

A classic example of this problem is when you have an assignment or task due, and you put it off until the last minute before it is due to complete.

Every time you sit down to do the work, you will find other things to do instead, such as checking social media, watching tv, or going out with friends.

Normally this is due to associating the doing of the assignment with some form of pain or of being afraid…

There are lots of ways that we have of making ourselves afraid to do something and we’re not even aware we’re doing it.

Motivation as the Alternative

So what can you do to avoid procrastination?

It is clear from my discussions with people in these mastermind groups that finding something that you love doing is a key motivating factor.

In my formula for becoming a millionaire, I identify your ‘why’ as one of the four elements of success for becoming a millionaire…

Find that motivating factor for why you want to be wealthy, or why you want to achieve financial freedom.

When you spend the time to consider what your motivation for wealth is, what I have discovered over the years and has been reinforced in recent times, is that it is never the money.

Successful people never focus on money as their motivation…

There will be an overriding force that manifests as your purpose for wanting to achieve wealth and financial freedom, which is likely to be related to your family and providing more opportunities and experiences for them.

It could be something else entirely, but this is the most common reason that I see…

It is this ‘why’ that will drive you to overcome the hurdles, such as putting it off for a later time due to being distracted by other things…

Lessons in Motivation

Having spent time with highly motivated and successful entrepreneurs, it is a great reminder that our wealth creation goals can only be achieved by taking action.

Those people that take action on a consistent basis consistently outperform those that are more haphazard with their actions, nothing surprising in that statement really…

I started out by posing the question of how motivation and procrastination are related to your wealth…

And the simple truth is that if the balance of these two is misplaced, that is, if procrastination is more dominant in your life than motivation then your chances of success will diminish.

However, if you have spent the time to identify your why, and it is a purpose that truly motivates you, then the likelihood that you will take action will dramatically increase…

With an increase in activity, it follows that there will be a related increase in your wealth.

Conclusion

Now, this may not be proportional, and at times you will put in massive effort for little or no financial return, but…

Consistent action over a sustained period of time will always lead to better results than inaction caused by procrastination.

Probably the single most important lesson when it comes to motivation and wealth that was so well described by one mentor, was that sometimes people are afraid to make money because they don’t feel worthy.

But when you make more money and achieve your own financial freedom, you allow yourself to give more back.

So any incongruence you may feel about making money can disappear once you decide that when you have taken care of you, you can then start looking at other ways to help your community… and that is a powerful motivation.

Do you agree? Let me know your thoughts and leave a message telling me what motivates you, what is your why?