Motivation as Inspiration vs. Motivation as Transformation
I listen to motivational speeches like it’s hip hop. While other people are talking about their top 5 greatest rappers, I’m talking about the top 5 greatest motivators. Bottom line, motivational speakers stay on steady rotation on both my YouTube account and my Amazon Music account.
There is no doubt that a good motivational speech can fire anyone up with a spark of inspiration. They feel good to listen to and they also do a great job to change your emotional state for a few minutes. However, you must be careful not to mistake this inspiration with transformation because ultimately you will be left feeling disappointed in the long run.
The inspiration you get from a motivational speech is temporary. In fact, all inspiration is temporary. On the other hand, transformation is permanent. Furthermore, motivation to go through a transformational process is far more valuable than motivation that just inspires.
Motivation that creates transformation begins and ends with creating an environment for you to consistently motivate yourself. This environment does include a steady stream of motivational speeches to inspire, but puts these speeches in the context of a repeatable process of taking progressive action towards a specific and clear goal.
Finally, I would be remiss to leave out the elephant in the room. Motivation that only inspires is often free or very low cost. That is why so many people default to this as their method to help them take action. But as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. If you want help with a truly transformational type of motivation, it will be relatively expensive. Unquestionably though, if you are pursuing a purpose that is deeply meaningful the cost is almost always well worth it.