Have you been in a situation where you started a goal with high zeal and excitement, but along the way, you lose interest and quit? I remember when a friend got excited about starting a gym, because you could tell it from his face. But after a few weeks, the excitement wore off, and he stopped the gym. When I asked him what happened, he told me that he was not interested again. One of the things that I discovered from his case, and from a lot of others, is that the secret to staying motivated for a long time is not about willpower, neither is it about zeal, but it is about finding the "why." If you do not know the reason why you started something in the first place, there will be nothing to sustain you when things get rough.
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It is when you know why you are doing something and the reason why you started, that you will keep going even when life presents you reasons to quit. For example; as a student, your goal may be to graduate with a very good grade, with honours. So you map out your reading plans and decide to be reading 2 hours every night. The "why" behind the studies is to make good grades. So even when you come home feeling very tired, or when you do not feel like reading, you will simply remember that you have a reason to read. This will reignite the zeal to read. But if you study simply because others are studying, there will be nothing to sustain you when you do not feel like studying. And you can easily lose interest.
Your "why" is the deep personal reason behind the actions or things you do. That is, it is your purpose. The truth is that if you do not know why you are doing something, you can become distracted or demotivated by anything. When you set out to do something, there should be a driving force behind it, otherwise you may lose motivation along the way. When you have not clearly stated the true purpose for an action, it may become easy to give up if things become tough or rough. When your purpose is stronger than the force of distraction, then you will keep going. This is why you have to clearly define your goal, dream, and aspirations, so as to know what you are running with.
One of the major undoings of many is that they choose goals based on what others want. You may see something on social media, or your friends may tell you what they are doing, and you may think that it is the right thing for you to do. When you start to do it, there is not really a sincere purpose of doing it apart from trying to copy what someone else is doing. When the road gets tough, there will not be any motivation to sustain you because you do not even know the "why" behind what you are doing. The truth is that in life, challenges will come your way even in ways you may never expect. No one will guarantee you a challenge-free life. But when challenges come, what will keep you going through the journey of life is the reason why you were in the journey in the first place.
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Imagine someone saying that his goal of going to school is to work and make money. Not even to improve himself, become better, and solve real life problems. Now tell me, when the person does not get an immediate job or maybe the job he gets does not pay him what he expected at the initial, what will fuel his motivation to keep going? But if his goal is to grow and become better, he will see the current job as a passage and keep going without losing hope. Even when the work seemed boring or tiring, he will keep going. He will remember why he started, and it will also be the reason to continue.
In the journey of life, when you feel tired or when you feel like your efforts are not producing the way you expected and you feel like quitting, just pause for a while to remind yourself of your purpose. When your purpose is clear, even what would have been a stumbling-block will become a stepping-stone. At that point, motivation will no longer be what you force, it will flow naturally.
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