You Are Motivated By What You Know

Chapter One

Believe in Yourself

To be motivated you must first have to have something to move you or someone to drive you to do what you are doing or think about doing.  Webster dictionary defines motivate as a means to provide with a motive.  So I would like to ask a question to everyone that reads this book “what is your motivation”? In order to do something you must be motivated first before you act.  For instance, in finding a new job you may want something different or want a change in life.  Sometimes we go back to school to better ourselves.  Something has to motivate you to do this, am I right?   When I told a few people that I was going to write a book, you know what they said? Yeah right! And laughed, saying that will never be.

I want you to know that motivated me.  There’s something you should know about me.  I have started a lot of projects in my life and never finished any of them, but I was determined to make this one happen. 

Let’s talk about my life.  My mother who is now deceased was a big influence in my life.  She would say things like “son you have to believe in yourself even when no one else believes in you”. When people tell you, you can’t, you have got to tell yourself I can.  There is going to be a lot of people saying and speaking negative things about you.  That’s when you have to believe and know yourself.  She would say, “be like the ants”.  Those are the most motivated little creatures you’ve ever seen. I don’t know what exactly drives them or what has been told to them, but those little guys don’t let anything stop them.  They will keep going and going and going until the job is finished.  You have to interrupt them before they stop, in which an ant will detour around the obstacle to get back on track.  Now, that’s motivation.  I sat and watched a group of ants devour a bug.  I wanted to see the process that went into this task, so I killed a bug and watched to see for myself.  It took five minutes for the scouts to find the insect.  Once the scouts identified there was food for consumption, a long line of ants came to help bring the food to the colony.  I thought that if we as a people could work together and motivate each other like these little guys we would get a whole lot accomplished.  What I have learned from them is that no one should rest until the job is done.  Try this for yourself, the next time you see an ant notice what he is doing and how he goes about accomplishing the task. You will be amazed at the teamwork, drive and self-motivation. 

I once heard a preacher say that “anybody can start something and quit, but it takes sheer determination and motivation to finish it to the end”.  My mother would say, “Son what ever you do or become in life be good at what you do.  My mother’s quotes were often similar to those of Dr. Kings when she stated, “Even if you have to dig ditches, be the best you can be so no one will be able to come behind you and do a better job.”  Even if you have to be a liar, not that she condoned this type of behavior, but she wanted to instill in me that whatever I was going to be in life to be the best at it.