Secrets of the Motivation Train

Most of us grew up with the wrong idea about motivation. We live our lives believing that some “motivation fairy” is going to swoop from the sky, blessing us with the energy to tackle things that we don’t want to do. The idea becomes addictive; we scroll through motivational content online and jam out to motivational music endlessly, hoping for a spark that never ignites.

The truth is, there is no motivation fairy. While the occasional motivation boost can help, it won’t get us where we’re trying to go. Before you click away, I’m not saying motivation isn’t real. I’m saying motivation is heavily misunderstood, and only by understanding it can we make its power our own.

What is Motivation, Really?

Motivation can be defined as “a process whereby goal-directed activities are initiated and sustained” which doesn’t sound very magical.

Trust the Process!

Girl Bosses Everywhere

Think of it this way: you have goals, and there are steps to reach them. Motivation is the process you design to start and keep working towards those goals. Admittedly, the word “process” indicates things that aren’t fun like schedules and structures, things that aren’t as exciting as my “Motivational Playlist” seems to suggest.

The idea might take the “magic” out of motivation, but, strangely, the idea that it’s not magical makes it more exciting. We’re not out here at the whim of some motivation fairy to get the urge to strike us. Motivation is a process we can control, and that’s where the real magic lies.

All Aboard the Motivation Train

I was a pretty terrible student in school, a fact that I’ll discuss in detail another time. As a result of this, I was meeting with a school counselor to whom I’d explained that I really wanted to do well in school, but as hard as I tried, I couldn’t find the motivation. She told me, “You won’t find motivation by searching for it. Motivation is like a train, and your brain is the conductor. Your brain sets the direction, and motivation follows after. You just have to move.”

At the time, the analogy failed to resonate with me. It took me many more years of life’s roller coaster ride, dancing between aspiration and failure, before the pieces would fall into place. Eventually I learned the secret magic of motivation and could expand on the analogy.

Picture a coal-powered train. It’s heavy, so getting it to move takes immense effort.You have to constantly feed coal to the engine to get the train to move, little by little, until before you know it you’re running at full speed. You still have to feed the engine to keep the train running, but not as much as it took to get started. The weight of the train which was once an obstacle now is what’s keeping you rolling.

Of course, there will be hills to climb, requiring you to feed the engine again. Once you are over the hill, though, the weight of the train will carry you back down the other side.

That’s how motivation works. We have a goal, a destination. Moving towards it at first feels impossible. Our mind and body resist, creaking and groaning like the old train refusing to move. We have to start, though, even if we have to start off crawling. Eventually we can stand and walk, and every step gets easier until we can run, habits are now forming.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

Aristotle

You see, motivation is that habit you’re creating. You are turning your movement toward your goal into a part of your routine, a part of your life. You are creating an addiction for success. Rather than exhausting yourself, the momentum you are building is propelling you farther forward than you ever imagined.

This is the real magic, this magical ability to hack our body’s routine, to make us love something we used to dread. Every day, those difficult things get a little easier and before you even realize what’s happening, you’ve reached your goal, and the next one, and the one after that.

All you have to do is get started.