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Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy
Welcome to Day 1168 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
Self-Motivation - Ask Gramps


Wisdom - the final frontier to true knowledge.  Welcome to Wisdom-Trek! Where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Hello, my friend, I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase Wisdom and Create a Living Legacy.  Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. This is Day 1168 of our Trek and time for our Philosophy Friday series.  Each Friday, we will ponder some of the basic truths and mysteries of life, and how they can impact us in creating our living legacy.  As we continue on this trek called life, sometimes we have questions about life, so our Friday trek is a time where we can ‘Ask Gramps.’   Gramps will answer questions that you would like to ask your dad or granddad, but for whatever reason, this is not possible.  No matter how old we are, I know that all of us would like the opportunity to ask dad or gramps questions about life in many areas.

We may mix it up a bit on our Friday episodes, but will strive to keep them down to earth and enjoyable.   If you have any questions that you would like to ask Gramps, please email them to guthrie@wisdom-trek.com

So the question for this week is:

“Hey, Gramps, it seems like you don’t have a real problem staying motivated, but staying motivated for me is a real struggle. I am constantly assaulted by negative thoughts and anxiety about the future.  Do you have any wisdom to help me stay motivated more?
Self-Motivation
Staying motivated is a struggle for nearly everyone.  Even though I tend to be highly disciplined, I also have to be constantly vigilant so that I can remain on task.  I have to admit that our drive is constantly assaulted by negative thoughts and anxiety about the future. Nearly everyone faces doubt and depression, but that doesn’t mean we should give up. What separates the highly successful is the ability to keep moving forward.

There is no simple solution for lack of motivation. Even after beating it, the problem reappears at the first sign of failure or discouragement. The key is understanding your thoughts and how they drive your emotions. By learning how to nurture motivating thoughts, neutralize negative ones, and focus on the task at hand, you can pull yourself out of a slump before it gains momentum.

I have boiled it down to three primary reasons we lose motivation.

Lack of confidence– If you don’t believe you can succeed, what’s the point in trying?
Lack of focus– If you don’t know what you want, do you really want anything?
Lack of direction– If you don’t know what to do, how can you be motivated to do it?

First, let’s explore how to boost confidence because the first motivation killer is a lack of confidence. When this happens to me, it’s usually because I’m focusing entirely on what I think I want and neglecting being grateful for what I already have. When you only think about what you want, your mind creates explanations for why you aren’t getting it. This creates negative thoughts. Past failures, bad breaks, and personal weaknesses dominate your mind. You become jealous of others and start making excuses for why you can’t succeed. In this state, you tend to make a bad impression, assume the worst about others, and lose self-confidence.

The way to get out of this thought pattern is to focus on gratitude. Set aside time to focus on everything positive in your life. Make a mental list of your strengths, past successes, and current advantages. We tend to take our strengths for granted and dwell on our failures.