Motivation isn't what you think.
Motivation - a concept that has gone so mainstream that you don’t need to explain what it is to anyone.
When you speak the word “motivation”, you don’t have to counter the people who have no idea what motivation is. Nobody will come to you and ask “what is motivation?,” not because everyone understands it but because it has become so pervasive that everyone THINKS they understand it.
That’s the thing with lies - they get mainstream so quickly that we start thinking they are real.
Even now as you’re reading this, don’t tell me that when you read the title of this post, thoughts like “Don’t give up,” “You can do it,” “You will win, just don’t quit,” “Fight like a warrior,” blah, blah, blah - it’s a never-ending string of thoughts that start echoing in your mind.
It has become so prevalent there’s a specific genre of motivational content for a specific kind of shit you’re going through.
You’re preparing for an exam and start feeling tired; there are motivational videos to remove your tiredness.
You don’t want to go to the gym; there’s a different genre.
You got hurt in a relationship; motivational content has got you.
Your business has failed; a motivational pill is available for you as well.
In between a thought to motivate yourself and the last second of a motivational video, it never occurs to us that it might be something that’s acting against our self-interests. Now, this might be a bit shocking to you because every time we watch a motivational video, the idea that it’s making us a better person keeps lurking at the back of our heads.
Let me explain what motivation is with a couple of examples:
A man is driving a car toward the cliff edge, himself being unaware of the cliff edge, suddenly his car stops and won’t start until someone pushes it from the back. The man loses his heart, but I reach out to him to not only push his car but also motivate him to never stop until he reaches the destination.
Now, tell me, did my push to the car help the man? On the surface level, yes, but in reality, no.
A drunk man approaches the liquor shop and asks where the ocean is. The owner of the shop, being fully aware of the business opportunity, not only tells him where the ocean is but also sells him 2-3 more bottles of alcohol.
Did the owner help the man? Not really.
Who is the motivational speaker? In the context of the first example, he is the one who pushes the car, and in the context of the second example, he’s the owner of the liquor shop.
What’s motivation? In the context of the first example, it’s the act of pushing the car, and in the context of the second example, it’s the act of selling alcohol.
That’s what motivation and motivational content are all about when seen through the fog of motivational content.
There’s one commonality between the motivational speaker and motivation seeker: both of them have no idea what’s happening, why it’s happening, and what’s the source of that happening. Neither the motivational speaker asks the motivation seeker about where it’s headed, nor the motivation seeker asks the motivational speaker why he wants him to reach that destination.
If it’s a bit confusing, let’s delve into the fundamentals.
Observe what everyone is doing, what everyone is running after, and what everyone is hoping to achieve. Isn’t it that whatever we want in life, whatever we ask for is confined to a mere 5-6 things?
To have its proof, conduct a little survey in whatever sect of the society you belong to; if you are a student, conduct a survey in school; if you are a parent, conduct a survey with other parents, etc. The results of the survey would tell you that the vast majority of things that a particular sect of society wants to achieve, which if I have to give a number would amount to 85-90%, are the same for each and every member of that particular sect.
How is it so? How is it possible given the individuality that we regularly boast about? If we were really making individual choices, wouldn’t our expectations be different? At least they won’t be as common as they are now.
What does it tell us?
It tells us something very basic about our lives. It tells us that we don’t have the individuality that we regularly claim of possessing. It tells us that our actions don’t come from the source of our personal understanding, understanding of what? Understanding of the world, and more importantly, oneself.
Then where do our actions come from?
Our actions come from traditions, standards, norms, social conditioning, culture, and our common way of living - all of which are an expression of our lost concept of individuality. The source of our actions is “Everyone’s doing it, so I’m doing it too.”
Whatever goal you say you have, whatever your passion is, whatever thing you want to achieve; all come from the center of social conditioning, not from the center of your understanding.
The motivation you need to complete “your” goal, the motivation you need to keep moving forward in “your” passion project, and the motivation you need to have some achievements; are all a testament to the fact that the goals, passion, achievements are not yours, for if they were, you wouldn’t need a momentary upsurge of excitement to keep chasing them.
The fact that you need to keep running toward motivational videos just to not dwindle from your path proves that the very path you’re on is not chosen by you. That’s why the effect of motivation starts dropping after some hours; it’s your heartful intelligence yelling at you to reconsider the path you’ve taken but we never listen or pay attention to it.
A momentary upsurge of excitement to forcibly continue running after something - that’s what motivation is at the end of the day.
“Then how will we achieve our goals without motivation?” That’s the question that our ego-centric mind puts forward.
We focus too much on our goals, passion, and achievements while no focus is directed at where those goals are coming from because doing that would eventually show that our entire idea of ourselves and the world is completely wrong, and for ego, that’s unacceptable. Ego doesn’t want to admit it’s wrong, so it keeps marching forward on the same road without ever considering where the road is leading to. That’s why listening to motivational stories or reading motivational books is ego-pleasing and appealing to our little self.
Before saying “I need motivation,” say, “I need to know where my desire toes and goals that need motivation are coming from.” Forget motivation, first completely investigate the things that need the motivation to carry on. As you do this, you’d know that almost all of the goals that you were wasting your life and energy running after are not even yours, you just randomly picked up those goals because they were trendy around you.
As you discover this, it might take time, immediately drop the goals that aren’t yours, and develop the goals that are actually yours; yours, not in the sense that you’re running after them, but in the sense that you formulated those goals for yourself according to your life, you didn’t just copy and paste society’s goals into your life.
If I have to say it in one sentence, don’t run toward motivation, run toward bringing clarity into your actions. The more clarity you develop, the more you will see through the fog around you i.e., the lesser motivation you will need.
The amount of motivation you need to act in life is inversely proportional to the clarity you have in life. Without clarity, you’ll keep listening to the motivational stories in some way or the other, you’ll keep looking at the motivational speakers as your “gurus.” If that’s the situation of your life, you’re on the wrong path.
If any motivational speaker is not asking where your goals are coming from, if his sole focus is on just pushing you toward the goal, then he is like the owner of the liquor shop we got familiar with earlier in this article.
Wanna know what real motivation looks like?
Look at what Shri Krishna is doing right before the Mahabharata happens.
Seeing Arjuna shiver in fear and not willing to fight against evil, what did Krishna do?
Did Shri Krishna say, “Come on Parth, you can do it,” “There’s victory beyond fear,” “You can, and you will win,” “Don’t quit until you win,” etc. any point in the Bhagavad Gita? Did He approach Arjuna in the same way as today’s motivational speakers approach any doubtful person?
Imagine for a moment, what would have happened if there were any of today’s motivational speakers guiding Arjuna. He surely would have confessed Arjuna to start fighting by giving him a momentary dose of excitement, which would have lost its steam in a couple of hours.
What did Krishna have, and today’s motivational speakers don’t?
Krishna was clear about what was happening; he had the weapon of clarity that He provided to Arjuna. Today’s motivational speakers don’t possess that, they are unclear about what’s happening, so they just keep pushing the doer to perform the action without ever asking him to question the validity of his action.
When you have clarity, things like courage, determination, willpower, and discipline - all come by themselves because you know what you are doing and why you’re doing it.
Gaining clarity is the biggest and purest form of motivation out there because it doesn’t lose its steam like petty motivation, it lasts as long as one has clarity of his actions.
Motivation is like giving a hard push to the car from behind. How long will the acceleration gain last? We all know.
Clarity is like fixing the damaged engine of a car. What happens when the engine is fixed? The car runs smoothly, makes less noise, and most importantly, runs long.
Which one of these do you need? Our ego generally prefers the former, but a voice from the deep valleys of our hearts suggests we go for the latter.
But when there’s no clarity in action, that means when you are just flowing in the social flow, you just adopt actions that are the norm. The pill of motivation keeps forcing you to go in the direction that your deepest being doesn’t want to go toward, and what happens when you’re forced to do something?
Stress develops, which after accumulation over a period of time, develops into depression. Therefore, it’s no wonder that both motivation and depression have been on the rise during the last two decades. I’m not saying that depression is solely caused by motivation, it’s a ridiculous thing to say, but an equally ridiculous thing is to say that depression has nothing to do with the virus of motivation.
As long as the source of your actions remain unknown to you, you’re going to keep running on the wrong path - the path that holds nothing other than stress, anxiety, and FOMO. Bring clarity to your actions, and be clear about your mental conditioning, only then can you see motivation as the garbage it is.
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