Choice Is Motivation

We hear the term " empowerment " a lot these days. For those who need a reminder, empowerment refers to liberty and our ability to achieve what we desire. Motivation , on the other hand, is that what keeps your spirit and enthusiasm high. Your need for self-empowerment or self-motivation in life comes from within. Motivation gives you something to which to look forward, and it makes everything seem attainable – even those goals that may seem impossible.

Mainly what motivates you is the dream of having a better life, career, family or love. Acquiring self-motivation can be a difficult process to start, but it ultimately all comes down to making a choice. Your decision to choose an appropriate motivational tool can be more difficult than you might think.

Personal motivation is a very important skill in this day and age, especially when we have so many distractions to pull us away from tasks at hand. When you can maintain your focus on the tasks at hand, you will begin to see you journey take great, positive strides toward the success you seek. I've talked about and given ideas in previous blog posts regarding your focus, but how do you stay motivated when some days are filled with challenges? Feeling empowered is important, but being a self-starter – a person who can pick herself up and jump right back in – is the foundation of staying motivated.

External motivators are short-lived. Others in your life can act as cheerleaders to help keep you in action, but it all comes down to you and your own personal interest in the game at hand. You are your biggest competitor, and only you can dictate the outcome. In reality you're dealing with more than just one element in life. It's not like you can turn off everything and just solely focus on the one piece on which you want to work. For example, say you really want that promotion at work but need to improve a few of your hard skills first. That means taking a few courses to get up to speed; but your family needs you in the evenings to help out, your significant other wants your time after the children go to bed, and your weekends are filled with soccer, tennis, gymnastics, housework, yard work and God knows what else. All these elements are not just a flip of the switch so you can give 100% to completing the courses and get the promotion.

For most of you who are reading and have already begun to relate to a similar situation in your life or are beginning to pull together potential solutions, great! When we're looking in from the outside, the solutions seems so, well, obvious . But when you're caught in the middle of the challenge, they're hard to see.

It's important to remember that getting motivated in the first place was a choice you made. You chose to set a goal (the promotion), and you chose to seek out information that would allow you to reach that goal, finding out what skills necessary were needed and determining of which one(s) you might be in need. Taking the second step and seeking out more information indicates to you that you're in action and are motivated. With the balancing of all life's challenges that stand before you, your motivation is waning but you're still in choice.

Within making decisions and choices, there are ways you can increase your personal motivation . The key among these is setting a meaningful goal. The actions you complete along the way need to be supportive of your achieving your goal. When you move through your actions, you need to make observations with regard to how they either moved you closer or further away from your goal. Taking time to reflect along the way is important to maintaining your motivation.

Putting this back into our example, having a conversation with those in your family who are also decision-makers with regard to enabling you to take the necessary courses would be an action that's not only supportive of achieving your goal but would be moving you that much closer to the goal.

Self-motivation is a fundamental aspect that leads you to success in life. Being a motivated individual helps you push on through difficulties you encounter. Motivation brings out traits of you to excel in any area of your life – along with, of course, the use of your talents, skills and knowledge.

Until next time, embrace your inner wisdom .

Namaste,Karen