I’m going to be brutally honest with you today…Let me tell you a secret which many coaches do not tell you (and I know this will spark some big controversy, but I’d still say it anyway…) Motivation is an important part of your success equationIt will fire you upBut the fire is temporaryBefore you kill me… I have many friends who are motivational speakers, I appreciate them and I think they’re playing a very important role But let me give you a kinda stupid example , In January 2021, one of my biggest internal fights was waking up on time (I have to admit here that I always woke up early enough for my work but that month I felt like I had let my guard down and went back to sluggishly waking up at any time)I knew that whenever I woke up early, I planned my day well and was more productive the entire dayBut sometimes I got up at 9am,10am or 11am (and had a rather ‘slow’ day) I wanted to change my routine at all cost, and ideally wake up around 7am, do my short morning routine and chores, and then get to the table by 8:30am to begin my dayI tried watching videos on YouTube, everyone of them said “jump from the bed, stand up and stretch, look in the mirror and say I am strong… ” hahaYou know how this thing works , don’t you?Do you think all those things are easy to wake up and say when sleep is “sweet” in your eyes?😅 I tried a couple of that crap and it failed me! So one of those days something happened… I heard one of my mentors say when you’re struggling to achieve any goal, the real factor that matters is not the drive to achieve that goal but the system you set to fuel the drive (read that again) That was how I decided to bait myself through a very funny system which I’ll share with you now (don’t laugh at me😅)1. First, I made a decision and said to myself “Arrey if you want to wake up at 7am, you have to make sure you’re in bed before/by midnight”. So I told myself it doesn’t matter what I was doing or who I was talking to, I started trying to be in bed by midnight2. Second, I moved further to set an alarm clock that will wake me up (and I know many motivational speakers will say “as a man with a vision, you don’t even need an alarm to wake you up”). Haha that’s a story for another day , but my friend, be honest with your reality, quotes will not wake you up. If you need an alarm like myself, go for it, if you’re a super man, fine! But I SET AN ALARM3. Thirdly (and very important), learning from that mentor, he said to me “Arrey put your alarm clock faaaaar from the bed so that you would have to wake up, walk to it and turn it offAnd then he got me to try a trick on myself. “Arrey on the spot where the alarm clock is, put a glass of water there… “ he told meDo you get the point now ? That means each time my alarm rings (you know how annoying it gets), I had to walk to one end of the room to turn it off–and at that spot where the alarm was, I had to drink a glass of water He said to me “when you drink the water, say to yourself, ‘Arrey drink and if you still feel as to sleep, then go back and sleep” Haha😃 Do you know how that went ? Long story short, I tried the same system for around 7 days straight working on my sleep and waking up time and it worked! The glass of water actually took away sleep from my eyes each time I didToday it happens that I do not necessarily need the alarm clock (the days I need to be up early, I find myself shaking at some point) , why do think I shared such a “useless” story with you? I’m sure you don’t even care about my sleepBut the reason is simple,Watching videos on YouTube and saying to myself I’ll jump from the bed every morning was the motivation I needed (not the solution to the problem) But putting together a small system which started with an alarm clock and a glass of water, was the thing I needed to train myself to be up early, I don’t know how many motivational speakers you follow (I don’t even know if motivation is something you consider strongly as this point of your life) Motivation will fire you upBut the fire is TEMPORARYIt doesn’t even matter what part of your life or career you’re struggling to fix right now…What matters is that you take advantage of the fire motivations bring in their messages to you and turn it into something permanent when you’re alone Because nothing will change until you take action, implement and and get your hands dirty with the workAnd most importantly SET A SYSTEMI’d have to admit… The fact that some charlatans have even limited motivation to repeating scripts and alliterations, not personal and successful business experiences, does not make motivation less any valueIt’s kinda-like how we haven’t stop drinking good wine because bad wine exist… So my friend, motivational speakers are important to your journey but you must be guarded about setting systems for yourself that back your drive when you’re aloneAnd even so, I personally believe THERE’S NO GREATER MOTIVATION THAN ACTUAL SUCCESS STORIES AND PERSONAL EXPERIENCESThat’s why I share most of my stories with you even do I’m no motivational speaker (and you could easily see yourself in them and learn from my bad and good)This is actually the same foundation rock on which the AB Afrikpreneur vision is built — with the belief that personal experiences speak more and motivate better than any scripts and rehearsed quotesSo the big question is, who do you listen to ? And what do you do with that knowledge when you’re alone?A lot of friends say they listen to my stories, but in all honesty, I can’t help you when you’re alone, you’d have to face your reality!So , Pick your motivation wisely and make sure to run with itBut most importantly, SET A SYSTEM THAT WILL HELP YOU. Remember I said when you’re struggling to achieve any goal, the real factor that matters is not the drive to achieve that goal but the system you set to fuel the drive (read that again) Have a great week ahead and I wanted to let you know that we’re actually working on something very special with the AB Afrikpreneur team. I the trust the community will looooveee it (so keep an eye on our BIG announcement)PS: do me a small favour of sharing this message with someone, I can’t do it all by myself and that’s why I ask that if you receive this for FREE and you love it, why not show a little appreciation by sharing with someone on your social media who would really benefit from your kindness? Thank you in advance Like I always say… Cheers to many more years of shamelessly living and crazily excelling in passion and purpose Stay strongArreybInternet Entrepreneur | Journalist | Author |
