You need to plan your motivation.

The fundamental principle underlying the self motivation model is you are in charge. This is good news, but it’s also bad news. The good news is that you have total responsibility for your motivation. The bad news is you have total responsibility for your motivation.

Unlike in so many other parts of your life, when it comes to your motivation, there’s no one else for you to rely on. When you went to school, you weren’t the only one in charge of your motivation. Your teacher played a big role in it. For most of us in our jobs, we aren’t the only one in charge of our motivation. Our boss or our manager plays a big role in it.

But when it comes to achieving your dreams, there isn’t a teacher or a manager to make sure you stay on task. That job is up to you! So how do we carry out this so important assignment, being in charge of our motivation?

The old saw, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail,” is nowhere more true than in motivating yourself. You cannot count on motivation just happening. It hasn’t “just happened” yet, has it?

So be your own boss, and give yourself the assignment to make a motivation plan, and to write it down. Creating your motivational plan may turn out to be the one assignment you do that ensures that you achieve your dreams.

What does a motivational plan entail?

First and foremost it includes your vision. Your vision is you manifesting your potential, becoming the reason you are here. The vision is first as you must have a worthwhile pursuit to become motivated and to keep your motivation high. Nothing is more worthwhile than becoming all you can be.

Second, your motivation plan includes some means of keeping your sucessability, your confidence in your competence, at a high level. One way to keep it at a high level is with the three step process for successability, discussed in an earlier blog:

vision >>> goals >>> tasks.

Add into your motivation plan other strategies that will help you keep your successability high.

The third part of a motivation plan is the environment. Your plan should include specific strategies you can implement to make your environment enhance your motivation. Your strategies should involve both your physical and your social environments.

The fourth part of a motivation plan is a process for continued improvement. By including such a process, you make sure that your motivation plan will keep getting better and will grow to meet changes in your life.

In order to become and stay motivated we must become intentional men and women. Being intentional men and women means we spend time figuring out who we are, our likes, our dislikes, and the things that motivate us. The motivational plan is where that all comes together.

Why not make a promise to yourself today to spend some time learning who you are? The motivational plan is a good place to start.