Sometimes it's so hard to maintain motivation.

It seems like there's nothing special you have to offer the world and like you have nothing to say.

But it's not true.

Don't listen to that voice. Fight it. Prove it wrong.

Be someone with something to say.

Do something. Something other's can't do.

Create. Make something no one's made before.

Don't just consume.

Create.

Emotions: There's Not Always a Place for Them

Emotions: There's Not Always a Place for Them

 Being emotional is something I've always been taught to be. Growing up in a religious household I was always told to be compassionate and caring about, well... everyone and everything. As I've grown up I've come to realize how much this doesn't work in a world filled with prejudice, conflict and malevolence.

One of the biggest problems I have with emotions is injecting emotions into situations in which they have no place. You know, when you subjectively blow up with emotion and accuse someone of something that they did not by any means do?

Like when you call and text your classmate about hanging out and they don't reply for days and you think of one time when you said something embarrassing in front of them so you mournfully conclude that they think you are an awkward misfit who would drag them down the ladder to mainstream acceptance if they respond to your text.

When in reality, they skimmed through their texts while they were at work and never got a chance to reply and forgot by the time they got off.

Our assumptions of what people think and why they respond is incorrectly interpreted and blown up out of proportion, thus leading us to overreact to things and take them personally.

Things are what they are despite how you view them. Just because we project something as a big deal does not necessarily mean it's a big deal to anyone else on earth.

For us to take an objective situation, such as when you're spending time with someone and they leave the room to talk on the phone, and turn it into "they must be so sick of being around me" and "they are so rude and do not have any respect for me", is a completely ignorant and inappropriate time to warp a situation into something personal and emotional.

Emotions have no place in objective situations.

He picked up the phone when his sister called.

He did not reject you, he did not leave you, he did not want to show you how little he cares for you.

He picked up the phone, and that's it.

Don't turn something, into something emotional.

Being subjective towards someone with no logical reasoning does not make your emotions valid.

It's not fair to anyone, and you'll just end up looking petty and melodramatic. No one pities you. It's time to grow up and take charge of your own actions and emotions instead of sprinkling them all over situations where they do not belong.

How to Become Motivated to Get What You Want

How to Become Motivated to Get What You Want

Do you know anyone who says “I really need to lose weight”, after opening up a bag of chips and adamantly proceeding to consume the entire bag? Or what about someone who says they really need to finish an assignment, or do the laundry, or apply for a new job, and continues scrolling through TV channels?

The list could go on forever. The point is, we all know people like this, and most likely, you and I are some of those people. 

But why do we continue to do these things when we know we shouldn’t? Why do we do them when we know we’re going to be filled with nauseating guilt and regret as soon as we’re finished?

This, my friends, is mainly caused by one thing: lack of motivation.

Now, we obviously know to some extent that what we are doing is not only unproductive, but also harmful to ourselves. Otherwise, we wouldn’t state that we should stop. 

But why isn’t knowing what we should be doing enough to make us do it?

Because: knowledge doesn’t mean anything if you are not applying it.

What does this mean? This means that unless you are taking said knowledge and applying it to your situation, it will not be any more use to you than not knowing at all. 

Let’s look at it this way:

If you need a job, but you don’t know that you need a job, you’re not going to find a job.

If you need a job and you know you need a job, but don’t look for a job, you’re not going to get a job.

In the same way…

If you need to get more sleep, but you don’t know that you need more sleep, you are not going to try to sleep more.

If you need to get more sleep and you know need more sleep, but you aren’t changing any of your habits to make it easier to get more sleep, you are not going to get any more sleep.

On the other hand…

If you need a job and you know you need a job, and you apply for jobs every day until you find one, you will eventually find a job.

If you need to get more sleep and you know you need more sleep, and you start cutting down your caffeine intake and going to bed earlier, you will eventually get more sleep.

But what’s the difference between knowing but doing nothing, and knowing and doing something?

Motivation.

What is motivation?

Motivation is what makes you want to eat healthy badly enough to put down the bag of chips and grab an apple.

Motivation is what reminds you of how crucial it is that you work on your assignment now and it is what makes your body turn off the television and get working on it.

How do you find your motivation?

Motivation branches off of reason. In order to gain enough motivation to do something, you have to have a good enough reason to do it.

Now, finding a reason shouldn't be that hard. If you really want something, you should be able to clearly identify a reason why you want it.

If you are unable to come up with a good enough reason right off the bat, try coming up with several reasons and writing them down.

For example, a list of reasons for wanting to eat healthier may look something like this:

Reasons to Eat Healthier

• I will have more energy
• I will be able to maintain a healthy weight
• I will be treating my body with the love it deserves
• I will be able to focus better
• I will feel less sluggish at work

There may be one specific reason that is a bigger motivator than the others, but having more than one reason can be very helpful if you are having trouble maintaining motivation by just a single reason.

What you have to do next is take these reasons and blow them up. Blow them up and tower them above any conflicting thoughts you have that could cripple your motivation and distract you from your purpose. 

The key to staying motivated is being so dead-set, having such a laser-sharp focus on what you want, that any conflicting purpose that tries to snatch away some your attention is immediately tuned out into a fuzzy blur in the background.

Motivation doesn't come easy. You have to take your thoughts captive and arrange them in order of importance so that something of little importance does not dominate your thoughts, thus guiding your actions.

The mind can be a hard thing to control.

But you can control it.

It just takes a lot of time, a lot of hard work, and a lot of burning passion, or reason- to keep working on it. 

To sum it all up, gaining motivation requires:

1. Knowing your purpose.

2. Prioritizing these purposes in your mind.

3. Pursuing these purposes until you get what you want.

Take back control. Don't stop until you win.

Why be sad when you can be happy?

Why be broke when you could get rich?

I think people have an oversimplified perception of what it takes to be successful in reality.

You look at blogs, Youtube videos and posts on Instagram, and envy their large fan base, their seemingly perfect lifestyle, and their ability to always be happy and always take selfies at the perfect angle.

But that is not the whole picture. Believe it or not, there is more to the picture than the square-cropped one they had posted on Instagram.

Being successful does not start with the amount of viewers you have, how nice the lighting in your photos is, or how fancy your camera is.

Being successful starts with an idea: it starts with coming up with something great, being consistent with it, and constantly developing, expanding and improving it as you go.

If you are not actively working towards something, and picking apart the steps necessary to obtain said goal, you will not have it.

You get what you give.

If you want to start your own business, you'd better know the steps backwards and forwards, start reading books by the tons, and save money by the thousands. As time goes on, you can begin small production of different product/services by providing local services for people in your social circle, start selling goods on eBay or Etsy, and purchasing a small amount of business cards.

You can literally start anything, if only you take the first step, and start.

The first step is always the hardest.

But don't be overwhelmed. The next five years of your life will go on whether you spend it busy, working hard and learning about different tricks and trades that will get you to the top, or if you spend it lounging comfortably in your own incompetence.

Sometimes it feels like something's impossible to do when it requires so much consistency and maintenance of motivation. Sometimes when I feel this way, I want to give up.

But then I remember that anything of any value, anything that I really want in life, should be worth all the time, effort and repetition necessary to obtain it.

And then I try one more time.

And then I fail one more time.

And one day, I will try one more time but I will not fail.

And that is why I do not listen to the voices in my head telling me I don't have to keep trying, because it's too hard.

The more you try, the less hard it will become.

Just don't stop.