I just got back from an awesome trip to Las Vegas for Blog World New Media Expo 2009.  I learned a lot and enjoyed connecting with many of my online buddies that I had never met in person (eg. Sean Platt, Maya, Michael Martine, and a few others who I hadn’t connected with until this trip like Charlie Gilkey, Naomi and Jamie Dunford, and Chris Brogan).  There were certainly more awesome bloggers and online entrepreneurs that I connected with, beyond the few mentioned above.

My point for this post…

OK, so I’m crazy busy right now, trying to catch up from being gone for the past 5 days, so here’s my point.  Changing our location and scenery for even a short amount of time is often all we need to spark new ideas and think outside the box.

I was on the plane from Charlotte, NC to Las Vegas, staring out the window, thinking about how easy it is to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world.  Even when we go on vacation it’s usually to a destination that we see each and every year.  But it’s only when we try new places and meet new people that certain parts of our personalities come out to play.

Everything from the flights and the people on them, to the new climate in Las Vegas (sunny and 85 to 90 the whole time…NICE!!) to the totally unique feel of the city to the many great people I met at the conference to the hotel, etc…  All these things played a part in resetting my thought process a bit and giving me a fresh perspective.

When we go to a conference and return with new ideas we usually credit the speakers and the ideas being passed around the stage for these fresh thoughts in our minds.  Yet we miss the fact that much of these ideas were already stirring around our heads, only waiting for the right kind of stimulation to bring them out.  And often, it’s everything ELSE that does this, not necessarily the scheduled event.

Think about it.  Think about an event you went to that took you away from your home and usual routine that had a noticeable impact on your ideas.  Now imagine if that event had been held in your hometown.  Would it have had the same effect on you?  Probably not.  And why?  Because you wouldn’t have been forced out of your comfort zone and your usual routine.

So in short, if you want to spark some new ideas and truly stimulate your thought process, take some time away from your normal habits and location.  While your mind is coping with the new situation, being forced to strain where it’s used to being on auto-pilot, you’ll free the intelligence that has been waiting to escape your sub-conscious.

So what were my thoughts?

I’m not going to get into specifics right now, but I can say that I had many new ideas, stemming from business to family to technology and even our society.  No new inventions came out of the experience, but improvements on what I’ve been working so hard on (both business and personal) certainly took place.

Finally…

I just HAD to share this latest picture of Tyson with you all.  It really shows his character and his increasing cuteness.  I’m mean come on!  Who pulls off red tipped socks better than this guy?!

Eric Hamm

This has been a recurring question for Liz and I over the past few years.  Both being native to our current location, we wonder what our lives would be like were we to pack up and move to the unfamiliar.  Would we find a new adventure just waiting for us to tackle or would we crumble under the weight of home sickness?

First, a flashback…

Ever since I can remember, I’ve been passionate about the big blue sky.  From watching the birds soar up a large, rising thermal, to flying my radio control gliders up that very same thermal.  From biking up to the top of a mountain and feeling even closer to the clouds, to barreling down that very same mountain, pretending I was flying as I descended.

And not just the sky, but every natural thing under it.  From the mountains to the water to the trees and the trails that lead to more beauty, I enjoy God’s wonderful creation as much as I think humanly possible.  And with this passion comes the desire to enjoy it year round.  And this is one of the downfalls of our current location.

We live in a small to medium sized town in Central Virginia called Charlottesville.  Being ranked the #1 place to live the US in 2004 tells you it’s not a bad spot on the map.  Home of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville is a wonderful, culture rich college town with everything from historical landmarks like Monticello to the latest chains like Best Buy and Chili’s.  C’ville, as it’s called by anyone who’s lived here for more than a few years, has a wonderful balance of a small town feel and a city that’s ‘up-to-code’ with technology and all things 21st century.

The climate is the double edge sword that I was mentioning above.  We get all the seasons and for the most part, a nice taste of each.  Fall is by far the best time, with the dry sunny weather that sits right around 65 degrees.  Long pants and a t-shirt will get you through most Charlottesville Fall afternoons.  Oh, and the leaves change and present the landscape with a wide array of beautiful colors that is unmatched by much of the rest of the Country.

But there’s a dark spot in this 4 season scenario.  It’s a 3 month time period from February through April where it’s just plain depressing.  Many cloudy, rainy days, with temperatures often too warm for snow, yet way too cold for comfort.  It’s during this time period that I’m stuck inside and where my cabin fever often gets the best of me.

Why am I telling you all this?  I guess I just want to let you know where I’m coming from when I tell you that I long to live in a place with mild, dry, sunny whether, where I can enjoy my big blue sky year round.  Where I can rely on bike riding weather from January to December.  And my first question to myself is, “Is this even a good reason to move?”

Back to the present…

OK, so now that that’s out of my system let me get to the main point/question.  As Liz and I keep coming to the front end of this seemingly tired conversation, we keep asking ourselves, “Are we being held back by our own comfort zones?”  “Does living in your home town keep you from pushing the limits because you are constantly met by a comfort that comes from knowing nothing else?”

Liz went to college for a year and a half and therefore lived a few hours from home for a time and I lived in London, England for 7 months in ‘99, but we’ve known nothing else.  Could we be leaning a little too hard on the crutch of comfort by not wanting to move away from family and friends?  Or is this just our better judgment keeping us from making a big mistake?

I’m sorry if you came to this blog today looking for some good advice or some delicious food for thought.  This post is more a question mark that has been in the making for the last few years of our lives.  So I’m just sharing it with you with great interest in your own personal thoughts and/or experiences with the subject.

So what do you think?

Can our physical location in the world play a big role in our personal growth?  Does the climate, community and comfort level have it’s hand in our ability to mature and make our own waves in the World? Let us know your thoughts and help Liz in I as we continue to chew on the question, “To move or not to move?”

Eric Hamm

I was walking the dogs this evening, thinking about my wife, Liz, and my son, Tyson, both of whom are visiting my mother-in-law for the weekend.  As I walked I was picturing Tyson, who is just a hair over 4 months of age, wearing his blue pajamas, hat and slippers.  This was the outfit I saw him in this morning, just before heading to the office.  He looked so cute, baby pimples and all.  He gave me a big smile and made both Liz and I smile with a joy that never seems to lose its luster, no matter how many times he cracks the same silly grin.

So I’m walking my dogs, picturing my cute little son, my beautiful wife and the tangible happiness that they bring to my life.  I guess you could say that I had found a moment of true appreciation for what I’d been blessed with.  Yet the funny thing is that in those moments (and I’m sure you can relate to this) I had not a single thought of a purchased item.  Not my Macbook Pro or iPhone, not my car or house or my TV or bike or…you get the point.  OK, maybe I thought about my Macbook, but only for a second and then it was back to my wife and son.

It’s just that in these moments we seem to recognize what truly matters in life.  The rest of the time we find ourselves worrying about money, obsessing over something we want to purchase or trying to convince ourselves and/or those around us that our lives would be much better off if we could just have that one item that’s missing from our ‘collection’.

Our Return Is Always Equal To Our Investment

When you invest your time, money and/or attention into something you will inevitably receive a return that is equal to that investment (this is not always entirely true, but just work with me here).  So let’s say you spend $50 on a nice dinner out.  You’ll receive an enjoyable, short lived bit of satisfaction and then you’ll forget all about it.  Now let’s say you spend $500 on a new grill.  This item has the capacity to provide you with many occasions of enjoyment and satisfying cuisine.  It cost you more money and took you more time to save up for, but you knew this was an investment into your grilling enjoyment.

OK, so forget about the horrible analogy above and think about this.  What has the greatest value in your life?  Got it?  OK, now what area of your life takes the most work to maintain?  I don’t know about you, but my family means the world to me and yet my marriage, for example, has required more effort to maintain than most anything else.

You know the saying, “You get what you pay for.”?  Well, when it comes to having true joy in your life you find that hard work is most certainly involved.  My point is that trying to buy our happiness is the easy way out and yet the least satisfying option.  We are so easily convinced that somehow there is a price tag dangling from happiness and it’s just a matter of making enough money to purchase it.  But the fact is, this is a BIG FAT LIE!

The last 7 years of marriage to Liz have been a roller coaster ride, to say the least, but it’s only in that effort that I’ve gained a priceless friendship that will last a lifetime.  And now we get to share that love with our son and enjoy even more value for our efforts.

Let me end with this…

If you have a spouse, or a sibling or a parent or a friend or anyone in your life who brings you joy, always see the true value of that investment.  These are the things that matter, not the ’stuff’ in your life.

The secret to spending less and having more is to take the time and energy that you would have spent on:

• …working to make the money for a purchase
• …making the purchase
• …making space for the product
• …and then maintaining it…

and put that effort into nurturing your relationships.  Do this and I promise you’ll find your greater efforts will always be matched with MUCH greater reward.

Eric Hamm

After recently launching our ebook on motivation, Leo and I have just put the finishing touches on our latest website (TheMotivationHandbook.com) that houses the information on the book, bonuses and generous affiliate program.  We’re excited to share it with you now and would love it if you’d go check it out for yourselves.  (Thanks to Daniel Richard we got a great head start on the site content.)

A Brief Back-story

This project (the ebook itself) was an inevitable outcome for Leo and myself.  Both passionately pursuing our best possible life, we’ve had a lot of experience with this sometimes elusive subject.  Motivation is something that is hard to nail down.  It’s one of those subjects that can be difficult to turn into a tangible topic.  Yet we feel confident that we’ve done just that, both on our blogs and the new ebook.

The Main Purpose of The Essential Motivation Handbook

The obvious reason for devising such a point of reference is to give people a powerful tool to push past those bumps in the road of life so that they may achieve the goals they’ve set to accomplish.  Yet another purpose of this ebook that many may miss is its ability to save you mass amounts of time and energy.

No longer will you have to search through countless blog posts and search results on Google to find the absolute best content on the subject of motivation.  We feel if this book can save you just ONE HOUR of your precious time, from searching and separating the wheat for the chaff, the price of purchase is paid for.  And as a bonus, you have all this great content wrapped up in a nice, neat, portable PDF package.  You just can’t beat that!

Speaking of Bonuses…

Another new aspect of this great product is the new bonus material we’re offering with each purchase (if you’ve already purchased The Essential Motivation Handbook you will be receiving these bonuses).  Leo and I created a 3 part bonus video where we answer reader questions regarding the topic of motivation.  We cover many aspects of the topic and dive into the depths of what gives a person the power to push past the mundane.

Become An Affiliate Today!

Last, but not least, we’re offering a 50% affiliate payout and would love for you to make money while helping us spread the news of this great new motivational resource.  So be sure to sign up for an affiliate account today! You’ll find some newly created banner images of differing sizes to help you effectively promote the product.

Final Thoughts

Thanks for taking the time to read through this rehash of our recent launch.  As mentioned above, be sure to check out the new site and enjoy The Essential Motivation Handbook if you’ve already made the purchase.

If you have any questions about any of the things mentioned you can feel free to contact me or find me on Twitter, otherwise, you may purchase The Essential Motivation Handbook here.

Eric

The more we hone our productivity skills the more rigid we often become.  We determine which routines work the best and allow maximum results with minimum effort.  Yet we are always going to be faced with unforeseen circumstances that keep us from sticking to our daily plan for success and this is when we need to regroup and make the most of what we have to work with.

As a little bump in the road, I had to stay home for the morning to take care of Tyson while Liz got back some of the sleep she was unable to receive after an unusually active night.  At first I was a little thrown off, but I quickly saw the silver lining as I was able to spend this time with one of my most favoritest dudes.

So I just wanted to use this as an opportunity to remind myself as well as the Motivate Thyself readers that there’s always lemonade to be made with the often abundant lemons that life deals us.  Don’t let these unforeseen circumstances throw you off or keep you from reaching your goals.  Just accept the situation, make the proper adjustments and appreciate what you’ve been given to work with.  Then, at the end of the day, you can look back and see the strides you made in spite of, as well as because of, these unique events.

Eric Hamm

Peter woke up early that morning, the freshly baked sun beaming its way into his bedroom window.  As he slid out of bed he looked over at his wife Sarah, peacefully resting, unaffected by the incoming rays.

“Today was going to be another scorcher”, he thought to himself as he laced up his semi-casual work shoes.  “At least I get to sit in an air conditioned office.”  Peter was once again trying to convince himself that his lackluster position as assistant manager at the local office supply store was really not that bad.  He was always looking for ways to ’see the bright side’, but his feelings never took the bait.

Like any other day, Peter was off to open the store, reign in the morning employees and spend his 10 hours of daily dues pretending to care about sales numbers and monthly goals that the ‘higher ups’ had set before him.  As he neared the sliding glass doors of the Office Emporium, Peter lifted his head, put on his fake smile and somberly drudged into his daily domain.

The Other Half

As Peter pushed through his morning routine, Sarah was at home packing brown bags with PBJ’s and potato chips.  One of the few things that Peter and Sarah remained passionate about was their two little boys, John and Peter Jr (who they jokingly referred to as 2nd Peter, in reference to the book in the Bible.)

Sarah was a pretty young woman with lots of life in her.  She loved her husband and cared dearly for her two children.  Choosing to be a stay-at-home mother, Sarah was prepared to live on a bit less as she had quit her job weeks after finding out that her and Peter were going to enjoy parenthood within the year.

Sarah smiled a lot, much more than Peter, yet you could still see her inner flame was constantly having to be re-ignited.  She was a half-full kind of person, yet she was always affected when she saw Peter’s daily frustration as he drudged through his so called career.  It pained her to see him knowingly disregard his God given talents to pay the bills.  She saw so much passion and potential in her hard working husband, but that flame dimmed a bit more each day as his possibilities for change seemed to dwindle.

Off To School

The School bus pulled up to the neighborhood stop and Sarah watched as little John and Peter Jr walked up the steps that led them into the big yellow bus.  Sarah giggled as she does every day, finding humor in the over sized backpacks that practically swallowed her two boys whole.  Then the bus grumbled up to speed and drove off to the next stop on its list.

Dinner Conversation

As Peter walked in the door, the last dinner plate was being set in its proper place.

“Mmmmmm…that smells heavenly…”  Sarah heard her husband compliment her food every time he smelled or tasted it, but she knew his praise was genuine each and every time and that meant the world to her.

“How was work?”  Sarah liked to ask as she never wanted Peter to think she didn’t care to know about his day-to-day life spent away from home.

“It was work and it pays the bills.”  This was Peter’s coined phrase, something he’d say when his honest answer was too depressing to consider entertaining.

“Well, you’re home and we’re happy to see you.  Now let’s get some food in you.”

The boys came running in to greet their dad.  “DAAAAAD!!!”

“Hey guys!  How was school?  Did you learn anything fun and exciting?!”  Peter, though dying inside when future was tagged with his own name, the possibilities he saw in his two boys were tremendous and would inspire anyone to make the most of their days.

“We did, we did!!”  2nd Peter, being just a year and half younger than John and equipped with a talkative spirit, piped up in response to daddy’s question.  “We learned about all the cool stuff we can do when we get older.  The teacher asked us what we wanted to be, what stuff we got excited about”

“And I’m going to fly airplanes!!”  John finally actively joined the conversation.  Passionate about everything that has the ability to defy gravity, John has dreamed of nothing but manning the many machines that soar through the air.

By the time the boys had finished their outburst of excitement, Peter was sporting a smile from ear to ear.  His eyes were beaming with a boyish glow and he couldn’t wait to hear more.  He enjoyed nothing more than to hear that his sons were going to take the World by the horns and ride each day like it was their last.

Sarah also enjoyed these kinds of conversations, but not just because her boys were full of life, but because it was one of the few times she saw hope for something better in Peter’s normally placid pupils.  She smiled and then piped up, “Alright boys!” (grinning at her husband as she had purposefully phrased her statement as if she were the mother of three) “Let’s sit down and eat.  The food’s getting cold.”

For the rest of the evening Sarah’s three ‘boys’ talked about this exciting subject.  Peter was just as active in the back and forth as they hashed out their plans to do this and do that and how they were going to invent cool stuff and enjoy the future that was waiting to be embraced.

But as the conversation came to a close, Peter’s enthusiasm began to cool off as he glanced at the clock and remembered his morning meeting that was only hours away.

“Off to bed you two.  You’re going to need your rest if you plan on starting your new adventures.”  Peter knew this would get his sons in gear and it worked like a charm.  It was a smart parenting tactic, but it was genuinely stated none the less.

The Conversation

Sarah sat down with Peter when she had put away the last of the dessert leftovers.  “Honey, do you realize that you were talking to yourself during much of your conversation with the boys?”

“You think?”  Peter’s tone was questioning, but with no sense of surprise.  “Which part?”

“The WHOLE part.  The entire conversation.  From the second you realized the topic was about living the life that you wanted and not one that was chosen for you, the light turned on and your normally stress filled tone was like it was when I first met you.”  Sarah was hoping that Peter would take her observations as pictures of possibility and not just a reminder of what could have been.

“You know how it is.  You remember the days when tomorrow seemed filled with limitless possibility.  When your list of what ifs far outweighed the fact of what is.  I just let myself get a bit caught up in the moment and dreamed of much different circumstances.  I started to think about a life that involved more time and freedom and work that filled me with enthusiasm, not frustration.  But don’t worry, I’m not planning on quitting my job or anything.  I was just playing along.”  Then Peter got up from the couch and made his way up to the bedroom, sensing the days end and coming sunrise.

Sarah stayed seated for quite some time.  She just couldn’t get Peter’s final comments out of her head.  When he assured her that he wasn’t going to leave his job, her emotions had taken on a stance that was completely different from her past concerns.  She found herself screaming inside, “Quite the damn thing!  QUIT!!!”

An Unfinished Story

I could continue to play out this scene, but I believe it’s a story that is all too common, yet has many different endings.  I wrote it as a kind of fictional story of my factual past, yet I have a feeling some others who read it will be able to relate.

I’m not in any way advocating the mass exodus from our current lines of work, but I am encouraging all of us to be honest with ourselves when assessing our work life and the lifestyle that goes along with it.  I truly believe that there is a form of income producing activity that is actually appealing to each individual and not completely out of reach.

If you are someone who is not happy with your job or business or so far from your childhood aspirations to achieve great things, you need to take a long look at your life and how you’re living it.  And when I say ‘great things’ I mean whatever you believe is worth your time,  effort and focus. We have powerful minds and amazing hearts that are capable of producing something that no other individual can muster.  So by falling in line with the masses and doing ‘what you’re supposed to do’ you are snuffing out the flame inside you.

So whether you’re stuck or just struggling to make your way to a better space, I encourage you to open your eyes to the possibilities and never settle for anything less than amazing, whatever your amazing happens to be.

Eric

I’ve had my hands full over the last 3 months with a new baby boy, a new business and less sleep than I’d prefer.  I’ve been trying to keep up with all my ‘to-dos’ and not neglect any of the many avenues of online communication that I’ve been able to enjoy over the past year.  Unfortunately I’ve had to let my personal posts on this blog slip as well as my voice on Twitter and in the comments of my favorite blogs.  I call myself a blogger and yet I’ve done very little in the way of actual blogging.

About a week ago Liz and I began to talk about the fact that my home office had served its purpose to allow me to help out while Tyson was getting past those first few months of infancy, but that it was no longer a benefit, but a hindrance to both of us.  For me, dealing with two hyperactive dogs and a baby while trying to run multiple businesses was not working out.  My focus was constantly in a diluted state and seemed to be stuck on a reboot loop.

For Liz, it was the fact that my constant presence in our home hindered her ability to get into a solid routine.  She felt that if I wasn’t there she would be forced to get things done instead of asking for my assistance throughout the day.  She wanted to have the house to herself during the day so she could take care of her responsibilities with zero distraction from my comings and goings.

Basically, we needed to have our own space and time apart.  So renting some office space seemed to be the logical next step.

Natural Light

So I popped online and found a few vacancies in an office building just 2 minutes from our house.  It was a building I was familiar with as I had setup some computer equipment in one of the very offices I was going to possibly rent.  So I popped over there for a tour and found two possibilities.  Both were about 100 square feet but one had a window and the other did not.  Though a bit cheaper, the one without the window felt like a fluorescently lit cave, while the other required no light other than the natural sunlight that came through the large window.  The latter option was a no-brainer.

So I quickly signed the lease and started moving in ASAP.  It was quite obvious to me that this was going to be one of the best business moves I’ve made in quite some time.

Uninterrupted BLISS!!

It’s amazing to me how much more clear your thoughts are and how much more you can get done when uninterrupted space is provided.  For someone who is riddled with ADHD I found my productivity at home to be atrocious.  Even when I did have some quiet time I could never quite shake that largely distracting anticipation that Tyson may pipe up at any moment or the dogs may decide to alert us that a squirrel was making its way across our back yard.  It’s only now that I sit in my new office space, disconnected from any and all unforeseen distractions, that I can calmly type out this post, knowing it will get done and be checked off my list.

I can’t stress enough how important this move has been, even after only a few hours of test drive.  Kind of like love at first sight, you need nothing more than the first wiff to understand the future affect of its presence in your life.  I have no doubt that my future days will be filled with greater strides and an overall more effective focus.  Now it’s just a matter of learning how Liz’s day went.

Eric

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a guest post by Ali Hale of Aliventures.com.

You’re right at the start of a new project, or you’ve just set yourself a particular goal. You’re feeling energized and fired up. You get going, and it’s great: you’re in the flow, you’re enjoying yourself, and you’re certain you’re going to succeed.

The problem is, that level of motivation isn’t permanent. Pretty soon, you find that your motivation’s clocked out and gone home. Your project or goal doesn’t seem quite so thrilling any more. In fact, it’s beginning to feel like a bit of a drag.

All too often, this is the point at which people give up. They start smoking again. They ditch the diet. They skip the gym. They abandon their book, two chapters in. They stop blogging.

Which is a shame, because motivation isn’t a one-shot deal. It might feel like it’s gone, but it’s not irrecoverable. You can get it back.

Why Does Motivation Go?

Have you ever woken up in the morning and realized that your initial enthusiasm for your new diet, your meditation routine or your small business has simply … gone?

I think that motivation is a bit like heat energy: it dissipates over time. You boil the kettle and make a coffee – the water’s nice and hot. Boil the kettle and leave it for five hours, though … and it’s going to go cold.

If you took that just-boiled kettle and dunked it in a bathtub of ice, it’d go cold a lot faster. Motivation’s a bit like that too: you can be feeling really keen on something, then a friend or relative scoffs about it, laughs as you, or just doesn’t get it … and wham. Your motivation’s gone.

To get yourself re-motivated, you need to do things to maintain or ramp up the heat.

Get Fired Up Again

We’re all unique. What works to motivate one person won’t necessarily work for you. But these are some general ways of rekindling that motivating fire inside: in each, you’ll need to figure out what tone or style works best for you. (A good place to start might be learning how to motivate yourself.)

It’s not quite as easy as switching a kettle back on … but there are some specific things you can do:

1. Daydream and Visualize

Our motivation can start to ebb fast when we feel that there’s a long hard slog ahead with no end in sight. A great way to turn that around is to focus on what you’re going to get at the end of the journey. Is it:

• A healthy, fit body that you’re proud of?
• A completed book?
• A successful business – which will allow you to quit your day job?
• A degree or qualification?

Imagine how you’ll feel when you’ve accomplished your goal. Think about how you’ll look and stand and walk. Will you have more confidence? Will you be proud of yourself?

2. Read Motivating Materials

When I’m feeling low, discouraged or apathetic, I find that reading something inspiring and encouraging is a great pick-me-up. Find a few blogs, magazines or books which never fail to put a smile on your face, or which make you want to take action towards your goals.

It’s not necessarily the content that matters, but the tone. Reading something that’s written by someone who’s impassioned, enthusiastic and generous will help you to get into that mindset too – even if the actual material isn’t directly related to your project or goal.

Some of the motivating blogs on my list (for their style more than their content) are:

• ProBlogger (Darren Rowse)
• The Simple Dollar (Trent Hamm)
• IttyBiz (Naomi Dunford)

The current books I dip into when I’m feeling demotivated are:

• Career Renegade (Jonathan Fields)
• 4 Hour Workweek (Timothy Ferriss)
• Personal Development for Smart People (Steve Pavlina)
• The Success Principles (Jack Canfield)

Try out some of my recommendations – or ask others for theirs – and figure out a few blogs and books which work for you.

3. Talk to Someone Energizing

Have you ever talked to someone about your big goal or project, and found that they lit up with enthusiasm? Did they eagerly ask you for details, offer their encouragement, or simply convey an infectious sense of enthusiasm?

Just as there are “energy vampires” out there who seem to suck out your motivation, leaving you cold, there are also “energy donors” who get you fired up and ready to go.

Some great sources of these folk are:

• Seminars and conferences in your field
• Clubs or groups of people who share your interest or goal (make sure the feeling is one of enthusiasm and encouragement; some groups are full of people who’re just there to complain…)
• Friends and family who are always supportive of your plans
• Life coaches – it’s their job to keep you motivated, and accountable!

Motivation comes and goes – but you’re the one in control. Just like putting the kettle back on when it’s cooled, you can take action to get your motivation levels up again.

Has your motivation gone cold recently? What’re you going to do to get the temperature back up?

Ali Hale blogs about getting more from life at Aliventures. (Click here to grab the RSS feed.) She’s a freelance writer, a part-time student of creative writing, and – being English – isn’t a big coffee drinker but is very partial to a nice warm mug of tea.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a guest post from Celestine Chua of celestinechua.com.

How would you gauge your motivational level? Are you constantly motivated, or do you need to keep doing self-talk in order to motivate yourself to get on with things?

What if I tell you that there’s a way to be endlessly motivated? What if I tell you that this is something everyone can do?

I’m a highly energetic and motivated person. Many of the people who have interacted with me before would comment on my incredibly high energy level. They usually remark with some tinge of amazement on how I can always remain so hyperactive and happy. One of my coaches even compared me with the Duracell bunny as a way of expressing how he felt about my high, endless energy levels. I have yet to decide on whether I like that particular analogy, but you get his point.

However, I was never always like this. Just last year, there was a period of time when I felt constantly tired, drained and vacant. At that time, I was working in a brand management role in my ex-company, which was among the Fortune 100. During the weekdays, I would wake up in the morning and feel a sense of drudgery from having to go to work. Throughout the week, I would subconsciously count down the days toward the weekend because that was when I get to do things I liked. When the weekend finally arrived, I would be spending it by watching TV shows, online videos, shopping, or sleeping (which I later found out to be escapist behaviors). Before I knew it, the weekend would be over and a new week had begun.

Honestly? It was an empty period of my life. I was always one to enjoy living and to see the upside of life. Having to go through life in this manner was just eating away inside of me. It felt terrible. It didn’t even feel like I was living life at all. Deep down, something didn’t feel right inside of me. Somehow, I knew that life shouldn’t be about living in emptiness.

When I delved into the situation, I realized the issue. I had lost my passion for my job. In place of that, my deep-seated passion towards helping others achieve personal excellence was calling out to me. It was a passion which had been present since a few years ago. A passion which I chose to set aside at that time as I didn’t want to miss the rare opportunity of working in a Fortune 100 to gain exposure and experience.

When I came to the realization, it was clear that I had to break away from a job I wasn’t passionate about to pursue my real passion. It was then that I made the decision to resign from my Fortune 100 career. It didn’t matter that the job with a high level of prestige factor, gratuitous paycheck, great career developments or attractive ancillary benefits such as travel. What mattered was I needed to do what I truly loved. The rest of the factors were secondary. What’s more, they were not exclusive to my corporate job and I knew I could always reattain them from new endeavors.

This decision to resign was the single most impactful decision I’ve made in my life.

Today, I really, really love life . I’m continuously motivated to drive onward and forward. I’m living every moment in joy and I can’t wait to see what’s next. And the reason why that’s the case is because I’m living my passion. I’m doing what I love – to help others be their best self and live their best life. While I’m busy every day writing at my blog, doing my coaching and conducting speeches, it’s a kind of busyness which I relish in. In fact, I simply can’t get enough of it – I just want to do more and more, because I love all of this so much!

So how do you become endlessly motivated? Follow your passion. This is my single one answer to you. I can list to you some laundry list of 40-50 motivational hacks you can use to boost your motivation levels, but these are just going to be short-term measures. If you aren’t fundamentally following your passion to begin with, no amount of external motivational stimuli can help to perk you up. Following your passion is the only sustainable, long-term path towards being motivated.

What is your passion? What is it that you love to do? What is it that gets you going? What do you want to be doing if you will definitely not fail?

Find it. Connect with it. Then start pursuing it. This pursuit can be in small tiny steps if you are someone who is afraid of big changes, or big strides if you are all about speed and action. Whatever it is, just make sure you are acting in increasing alignment to your heart’s desire. When you do that, you will find yourself more and more connected to your inner motivational source. You will find that you start feeling more and more alive each day, to the point where one day, you are finally fully pursuing your passion and experiencing the state of endless motivation.

Celestine Chua is a personal excellence coach who writes at her popular The Personal Excellence Blog to help others like you achieve excellence. Some of her top articles include: 50 Ways to Boost Your Productivity and Cultivate Good Habits in 21 Days.

Motivation can be such a vague topic when it comes to those in need of a boost.  What in the world is motivation anyway?  I often see individuals who are stuck in a rut, trying to find the drive to reach their goals, finding it hard to define this often elusive fuel for life.  But now your energy can be fully harnessed for the task at hand, without the distraction of finding the how and why.  With ‘The Essential Motivation Handbook‘ you’ll have all the tools you need to push past any obstacle that might be holding you back.

A Pair of Passionate Writers

Leo Babauta of zenhabits and myself have brought together our best efforts to write, what we believe to be, one of the best books on motivation you’ll find anywhere! After much collaboration and pulling together our best work on the subject, we put together a powerful tool for anyone in need of more drive, efficiency and effective habits.  ‘The Essential Motivation Handbook’ is your ticket to finally getting things done and moving past the mundane!

A Perfect Companion To A Best-Seller

You may or may not know this, but Leo is the author of a best-selling ebook on productivity called Zen To Done.  The reason it has done so well is because it actually does what it says it will.  People who read it actually become more productive.  Much of the time we purchase a product that says it will meet a need, but after we’re through, we fail to see the results advertised.  Well, Zen To Done does deliver and so does ‘The Essential Motivation Handbook’.

Now, for the companion part.  When putting this work together, Leo and I wanted to not only create a stand alone solution to your motivational needs, but a perfect companion to one of the best books on productivity out there.  The fact is, learning how to be productive is only half the battle.  You need the ability to harness your internal fire to actually make things happen.  That’s where ‘The Essential Motivation Handbook’ comes in, and it’s the combination of these two awesome books that will help anyone actually reach their goals and stop just dreaming of that elusive day that may never arrive.

The Book…

Here is the table of contents, listing the powerful insight you’ll find in this book:

1. How To Motivate Yourself

2. The Only Two Secrets to Motivating Yourself You’ll Ever Need

3. A Guide to Beating the Fears That Are Holding You Back

4. Task Ninja: Form the Action Habit

5. Top 20 Motivation Hacks

6. The Ultimate Guide to Motivation – How to Achieve Any Goal

7. Progress, Progress, Progress! 5 Tips To Keep You Moving Forward

8. 7 Steps to Turn Your Self-Improvement Desires Into Reality

9. 25 Killer Actions to Boost Your Self-Confidence

10. 6 Small Things You Can Do When You Lack Discipline

11. 16 Ways to Motivate Yourself When You’re in a Slump

12. 5 Tips For Motivational Recovery

13. The Magical Power of Focus

14. 10 Ways to Beat the “Can’t Get No Satisfaction” Syndrome

15. 30 Incredible Places to Turn When You Need Inspiration

16. How To Deal With Negative Feedback

17. How to Doggedly Pursue Your Dreams in the Face of Naysayers

18. Achieve Your Dreams Despite Pressures of Work and Family

19. Why You Should Celebrate Your Mistakes

20. How to Actually Execute Your To-do List

21. The Yin And Yang Of Persistence

22. Enduring the Valley to Get to Success

23. How To Relax And Why It’s So Important

24. The Simple Guide To Single-Tasking Success

25. Stop Reading About It and Do It

How Much?

The book is packed full of over 100 pages of powerful content and yet you can get your own copy for only $14.95!  And not only that, but if for any reason you believe this book doesn’t deliver, we offer a full 100% money-back guarantee, so you can buy with confidence!

This is a must-have for anyone in need of drive, inspiration and the tools to achieve any goal!  Get your copy here:  The Essential Motivation Handbook.

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