I’ve listened to many of the top motivational speakers over the past 15 years…Tony Robbins, Earl Nightingale, Brian Klemmer, and many others, but my favorite is the great Zig Ziglar.  He has a multitude of different motivational and instructional series’, but in particular, I like the “How to Stay Motivated” series.  Many of his most classic quotes are included in this series, although he also indicates throughout that his quotes may come from other sources.  Over the years, I’ve listened to this series, dozens of times.  Each time is just as effective as the first time.

What is motivation?

There are two types of motivation:  Internal and external.  External motivation is an emotion trigger.  It gives you a giant push in the right direction.  If you have a large and well developed internal motivation, you don’t need external motivations such as this series.  Unfortunately, most don’t have this.  After years of listening to sources of external motivation, I’ve developed the internal.   With external motivation, the key is repetition.  As Zig points out, (non-verbatim) “Motivation is like bathing.  I love a good daily bath, but I need one every day because there is a lot of dirt out there.  I also need daily motivation because there is a lot of stinking-thinking out there!”  With the way the world is out there, it is easy to settle back into negative thinking habits until you’ve developed that shell called internal motivation. 

Another way of looking at it is:  Two ways to get motivated is through inspiration, and through desperation.  Inspiration is internal, Desperation is external.  Inspiration is “I will start this part time business because I want to, and I will continue through the hardest of times”.  Desperation is “I have to start this business because I just got laid off and I have to do something.”

Is motivation all you need?

Another great Zig quote, is: “Motivation without direction is like running in the dark.  You might get to where you want to go, but you might also get killed along the way”.  Motivation is great, but education and goal setting are also critical. 

To summarize, one needs to develop an internal motivation.  Success in anything does not come without difficulty.  It is the internal motivation that pushes you though the hard times.  External motivation can give you a giant push, but it is internal motivation that keeps you moving when it’s time to climb the hill!