Relying on motivation leads to failure

For the longest time I thought that motivation was the key to success, I was so wrong.

I want to share a story with you from when I first started my business. It was more than 10 years ago. I was really excited. I started networking and I started using LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to grow my business.

But there was one problem. I wasn’t consistent. I was showing up only when I felt motivated. That didn’t bother me a lot because I believed that was enough.

Fast forward a couple of years later, I still wasn’t earning enough. I was doing marketing copywriting and I was mostly working for restaurants. I struggled for a while but I couldn’t figure out what was my problem.

I knew that I had to change something. So I started watching motivational videos in the morning to help me get out of bed. I tried all sort of things to motivate myself, including writing affirmations and all that stuff.

Motivational videos did help me, but it was a quick-fix. Nothing really changed. I still wasn’t getting the results I wanted.

It wasn’t until four years ago that I realised I had been doing it all wrong. It took me a couple of years to realise it, but it was a game-changer for me. From that day on, my business changed and started to grow faster.

I realised that it was wrong to rely on motivation to do things. It’s the wrong approach. When you rely on motivation, it’s so easy to say no to things when you don’t feel like doing them.

I realised that I had to change my approach completely. And that’s when I came up with a system that’s been working for me since then.

And now, you can discover for yourself what helped me to transform my business and how you can do the same.

DISCIPLINE IS KEY

When I realised that motivation wasn’t enough, I had to work out a formula that would enable me to grow my business. I needed something to help me stick to the things that I have to do like clockwork.

Not do them one or two days a week only when I feel like it. Or doing it consistently for a week and then give up and return only after a month or two. That wasn’t giving the results that I wanted.

It was then that I realised that discipline was key! If you want to grow your business, you can’t rely on motivation. You need to do things even when you don’t feel like doing them.

It’s the same as going to the gym and losing weight. You’re not motivated to go to the gym every single day, but you can have the discipline to go to the gym. The same was true for my business.

It wasn’t motivation that made me write blog posts and send out a newsletter every week. It was my discipline that enabled me to do that and finally got the results I wanted.

Today, I show up online every morning at eight o’clock to talk to my followers. My assistant helped me establish that routine. When I told her that I wanted to do more live videos, she told me: “Ok, let’s schedule them in your diary.”

I was like: “What?” I didn’t know if I was ready for it. I didn’t know if I’d have something new to say every day. But she made me do it.

So it happened. And I haven’t missed one day since we first scheduled it.

Was it easy for me? No. Do I always feel like showing up every morning at eight o’clock? Absolutely not! There were days when all I wanted to do was to stay in bed. But I showed up because I knew that I had made a commitment to those people waiting for me to show up.

For me, discipline was a game-changer. It enabled me to grow my business and do amazing things just because I stuck to it.

You can do the same. I’ll show you the strategies that I used to discipline myself so you can try them too.

HOW TO BECOME MORE DISCIPLINED

Here are the strategies you can use to discipline yourself. I guarantee that the results will amaze you.

DIARISE EVERYTHING

If you don’t know where to start, I’d suggest you start by diarising the things you want to do. I believe that the only way to be more disciplined is to actually diarise everything.

One of my favourite strategies is time mapping. I use it personally and I share it with my clients. I like to map out my days.

I diarise everything – when I do sales calls, when I do marketing, when I work with my clients. I like to have client days that I dedicate exclusively to calls with my clients. That helps me block out all distractions.

You can use this strategy both for your business and personal life. Diarise everything – when you exercise, when you go for a walk, when you post on social media, and everything else.

DO WHAT DOESN’T FEEL COMFORTABLE

Success isn’t about doing things you like and working only when you feel like it. You need a lot more than that to succeed, and that’s where discipline can help you.

Discipline can help you get out of your comfort zone and do the things that you don’t feel comfortable doing. Whether it’s getting up early, exercising three times a week, or reaching out to prospects.

A lot of people don’t feel comfortable with sales calls and reaching out to new clients. But that’s the only way to grow. You have to do things that you don’t feel comfortable doing if you want to reach your full potential.

Instead of waiting for motivation to make those sales call, make a habit of making sales calls first thing in the morning. Do what doesn’t feel comfortable, push yourself, and you’ll soon have results beyond what you could imagine.

VISUALISE YOUR OUTCOME

It’s hard to stick to new habits if we don’t see the bigger picture. That’s why you have to constantly remind yourself why you’re doing something in the first place.

You have to shift your focus from those boring sales calls to the results. Can you visualise where it would take you if you’d just stick with that new habit for a few months?

Spend at least a few minutes every morning or before you go to bed visualising your ideal outcome. When you understand you have to do all of these things to get what you really want, everything will make more sense to you.

SET ACTIVE GOALS

We’re much more likely to do something if we set it as a goal for ourselves. There’s something magical about writing things down. It activates certain chemicals in our brain and makes us want to work even harder to achieve it.

You have to be very careful when defining your goal. It has to be something measurable and achievable. I love big goals, but they can be scary in the beginning. If you don’t believe you can do it, you often won’t even bother trying.

The best way to set goals is to set active goals. For each goal, you should come up with a set of actions that you have to do to achieve it. You should break your goal into smaller steps and then start working towards it.

RESIST (OR REMOVE) TEMPTATIONS

I didn’t say that it’s going to be easy. There will be a lot of distractions along the way, which you can use to exercise your willpower.

On the other hand, if you don’t have strong willpower I believe that the best solution is to remove all the temptations. Make it easier for yourself to resist and set yourself up for success.

For example, let’s say you want to work in the morning. You want to have a few hours of deep, focused work. But you know that you can’t resist the notifications on your phone. You’re always checking if someone sent you a message or commented on your post.

I’d simply tell you to put your phone in another room until you finish the work. Remove temptations and make it easier for you to focus on what’s really important.

TAKE GOOD CARE OF YOURSELF

I can’t stress enough the importance of taking care of yourself and having a healthy lifestyle. Some people may ask: “What does it have to do with business?” But I believe that it has a lot to do with business.

Make sure you get enough sleep and all the nutrients you need. Make sure to energise your body and mind.

Because when you’re tired or stressed, it’s harder to focus on what you have to do and avoid temptations.

So, take good care of yourself and don’t forget to treat yourself when you achieve your goal. Even the smallest wins matter. Reward yourself for your consistency and for showing up even when you don’t feel like it.

DO WHAT’S IMPORTANT, NOT WHAT’S EASY

It’s easy to do things when you feel like doing them. It’s easy to show up from time to time, do the work, and then disappear for weeks. But that doesn’t guarantee success or the growth of your business.

If you want to build a vital accounting firm, you need to build discipline. Motivation isn’t enough. Your clients want someone they can always rely on, and you need to become that kind of person.

I like to say that discipline is a muscle. Like any muscle in our body, you can exercise it and build it up. When you get that muscle nice and strong, you can achieve anything you put yourself up to.

PS I specialise in helping accountants and financial coaches innovate their business model and uplevel the entire profession. When you are ready to find out more, here are 3 ways you can:

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Thanks for reading!

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