The Real Killer of Motivation
by Jason Gracia
Routine is a murderer.
Years ago, before starting the Motivation123 Web site,
I had pockets full of plans and ideas. My mind was in a
constant state of activity.
As for my reality, nothing ever changed. Nothing in my
life went in the directions I had hoped for. It got to
the point that I began to doubt whether or not a better
life was even possible. Could I change?
Then, while paging through a magazine at the doctor's
office, I came across a question, just a short team of
words that gripped my attention.
It was simple--as most powerful truths are--but it made
an immediate impact. And from that day I possessed a
key to progress that has served me ever since.
Before we get to that answer, however, we need to pin
down the problem.
The Killer
In a word, it's routine.
It's the pattern of living that, like molten lava,
slowly crawls into adulthood, covering and consuming
our hopes, dreams, and ambitions.
It's doing the same thing every day because that's what
you've always done. It's a vicious circle of repeating
actions and events that leads to nowhere.
The reason nothing was changing in my life was because
I was stuck in a routine. Every day I followed the same
basic outline of living: wake, work, sleep, repeat.
I had new ideas, to be sure, but my actions were old.
Then I was hit with the truth while waiting - for what
seemed like weeks - in my doctor's waiting room.
The Question I Took with Me
The sad reality is that most people never realize what
is happening until it's too late. That is the skill and
cunning of habit and routine.
It wraps its arms around the minutes and hours of your
life, distracting and luring you into autopilot, into a
dazed mode of living.
All the while, the little time you have to construct
your ideal experiences is being sucked away, stolen.
Routine is a murderer. It kills hope and the chance for
change. It blinds us to the truth and with a scalpel
cuts away our goals and ideas. Routine puts a hand in
the face of growth and improvement, leaving room for
nothing but the same.
You need a way out of the routine. And for me, the way
out came in the form of a question:
'If you continue to follow the same patterns, what are
the chances you'll ever experience the things you want
to do and ever become the person you hope to be?'
I read the sentence again. What would my chances be?
Things hadn't worked out so far, so why would doing the
same thing result in anything different?
My Realization
I had my answer. My chances were none.
I would never do the things I had always thought about,
never grow into the character I hoped for. If I
followed the same routines, the same patterns, I could
expect pretty much what I had been getting.
For some, this is the perfect scenario. But for me, I
wanted more. I knew how much life had to offer and I
wanted to dive in head first. I wanted to experience it
all and live a life worth living again.
I looked around the office, looked at the people next
to me. None of us would reach that place without a
change in pattern. We were all trapped in a circle of
habit.
This brings us face to face with a truth that most men
and women would rather avoid.
It's relieving to let our goals live in 'someday.' We
don't have to worry about never attaining them.
Instead, we can put them off and fool ourselves.
'It will happen someday.' No, it won't.
The truth is, if you don't change your routine now, you
will never reach those goals. You will never wake up to
a life that matches the one in your mind. Never.
Don't hide from this. Accept it. Embrace it. Use it to
smash through the chains of routine and drive you into
a new way of life, into a new pattern of progress.
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