Recently, I had someone ask “Why Don’t I have any Energy or Motivation and feel Depressed all the time?”
One of the biggest obsticles for people that have goals and desires are that we become accustomed to a comfortable life style, which causes us to stop stretching and stop growing!
I caught myself in the same situation when I was living a “comfortable” life.
I had a steady paced job which gave me my ideal financial situation to afford for housing, food, expenses, and entertainment. Although I didn’t particularly enjoy my job, it was an easy one.
After I was kicked out of my house and lost my job, I had no time to be depressed since I became so focused on situating having a roof over my head, and having food in my stomach, I was kicked into gear like any wild animal would when they are trapped into a corner.
“The Opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice. It is conformity”-Earl Nightengale
I am not advocating that you should put yourself in a strenuous situation, but I’m not saying that you shouldn’t either, because it may develope into a great teaching.
But why should it take someone to have to be put into a series of unfortunate event to make us grow?
Let’s take Ken Jeong for example. (You probably know him as The Asian Guy from Hangover “Mr. Chow”)
Not many people know this, but before he became a full time actor, he was a full time Doctor of Internal Medicine at Kaiser Permanente in California. He has always wanted to get into comedy, but wasn’t sure exactly how he was going to do it. But by the time his twin daughters became the age of 1, his wife was diagnosed with a highly aggressive form of breast cancer. As his wife was going through chemotherapy, she encouraged Ken to drop his career as a doctor, and to follow his dream as a comedian. As hard as it was to plunge into the Unknown, he promised her that he would for the sake of his wife, and became the naked Asian gangster we know and love today.
I once knew of a colleague who had to hold down 3 different jobs working none stop.
As we were conversing about our work and about how her boyfriend is a lazy bum who sat at home, she began to unload her frustration towards her life, and how stupid this work was. The curious cat that I am, I began to interogate her situation and asked why she was still working in places she doesn’t like, and live a life she doesn’t enjoy? Her answer to me was “To be honest, although I may hate many things about my life, but every morning when I wake up next to my beautiful new born baby boy, all of my worries and sorrows drifts away because he gives me my sense of fulfillment in life as a mother.”
Do you see the secret?
If I told you that one of your loved ones that you really care about, is on life support and has to pay off the debts that is accumlating over time to keep that person alive, what would you be doing right now?
You see that? You don’t need Motivation at this point, because there are 3 things that is higher than motivation at play here and that is
- Compassion
- Devotion
- and Love
When you stop working towards your own personal interest, and start working towards something that is bigger than yourself, you’ll be working harder than a dog getting his treat out of his treat toy.
Example.
I want to run a business!
I want to run a business!
I want to become a successful blogger!
Turns to…
I want to run a business! So I can feed the starving children and stop world hunger!
I want to become a successful blogger! So I can take care of my mother when she is grey and old and give her the finer things in life, because she deserves it!
“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”-Lao Tzu
So instead of working for your self interest, what can you work for that is greater than yourself?
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