Breaking the Rules to Motivation

Stephen Covey’s death early this week came as a surprise to many people around the globe. Educators, speakers and life coaches were not the only ones saddened by the incident, individuals who have read and benefited from this wise man’s words were also left with a scar.

I am one of those who were left with a fresh wound. I ended up reading the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People as an academic requirement back the university. My professor for the Organizational Behavior class made us read Covey. My first guess was that my professor is a big fan, but after reading the entire book – from cover to cover, I realized that he was just paying it forward. He was passing on Covey’s good message in the hopes of helping people become better versions of themselves.

The book is such an eye opener. I learned invaluable lessons from the pages of that book which I already integrate in my daily life. Through my practice of Covey’s words, I was able to find myself and a couple of personal principles that has been guiding me for awhile now. And these are the things that I’d be sharing with you in this post.

Human resource books that focus on developing individuals would probably preach that motivation can be obtained by following certain steps, rules or even maxims that have been tested and proven over the years. And this will always be very unacceptable for me. I have come to realize over the years that motivation rarely comes by easily. Despite its snobbish nature, motivation will always be something personal.

Here are 3 things that I learned about motivation from Stephen Covey and my life experiences:

1.Motivation is never permanent. It will come and go as it pleases. You can’t control when you’ll be inspired or not, so the best thing you can do is know what things make you tick. Take note of what inspires you or how you get all fired up. Though they won’t work 100 percent of the time, this is better than being idle and unproductive because you’re feeling lost.

2.Sleeping will always be a good idea. This is most helpful when making big decisions. Never rush things if you can afford to do so. Sleep on your options or the outputs that you’ve made. Revisit them at a later time to bring in a fresh take on things. A rested mind is the best mind.

And lastly,

3.Find it from within. Introspection is the way to go if you want to live a fruitful life. Search for the truth and the goodness in you and share with the world. Never equate your happiness, dreams and hopes to everything that may be fleeting around you.

Remember that rules are only guidelines that point you to the right direction. These are not absolutes that you should cling upon and venerate.