Wouldn’t it be easy if we had a secret box for each of us that housed a magic ingredient? The box location would be unique to individuals. Only you can access your box. The magic ingredient is that which is required by all of us at various phases of our lives. Instead of searching for it, you have it right there.. in the box. Open it, and what do you find? A magic element – ‘motivation.’
Motivation. A word so frivolously used. A word that everyone seems to know a lot about but not one has mastered. We look to people, places, things, and activities to motivate us, and we might even find it, but none of these motivating factors will work for long. It’s like a wave. It may stay for a while but it is soon gone. That is exactly why you need the secret box. You know it’s there and you can open it whenever you need it!
Why do we need motivation? Motivation is like a driving force that helps us achieve what we set out to do. It’s not that you cannot accomplish things without a motivating factor. It’s just that the efforts become smoother and exciting when you have something that drives you to it. Let’s look at a few examples. Losing weight to fit into beach clothes for summer. Saving money for that fantastic car you want to buy or that exotic holiday you want to take. The end result for all the above serves as your motivating factors.
What other kinds of motivation do we have? There are ones that ‘supposedly’ motivate you when you hear about them. You read or hear stories about others who have achieved certain feats which motivate you to take similar actions. This is the widely available kind and the most influential one. There is one kind where the aim is to mimic another. You look up to someone you admire and copy everything they do to achieve a false sense of achievement. This is the kind where a person becomes a blind motivating factor for you. Sometimes good and often bad, blind motivation is completely flawed.
Those were some of the types of motivation that exists but it so happens, that none of them are perpetual. You tend to run out of motivation with time. What method worked for you at a certain phase of your life may not work at a later time. There would be times when you would be emotionally drained that nothing will work for you. You’ll be lost with no clue on where to find your motivation. It would seem like all doors are magically shut. That’s when you’ll wish you had a secret box, made just for you, to pull you from this situation.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was such a thing? How easy! A box that would contain the right advice with meticulous instructions to push you through. Sigh! Then again, if the box did exist, I can guess its contents. Remember the ‘Dragon Scroll’ in the movie ‘Kung Fu Panda’? (The scroll that tells you how to acquire limitless power.) When Po becomes the dragon warrior and finally receives the scroll, he finds it to be empty. He could only see his reflection in the shiny scroll because there is no golden formula for greatness. It’s all about believing in yourself. So, why hope for a secret box? It’s going to ask you to look within for motivation. A simple, no-hassle (nonsensical) solution. Problem solved!
