Motivation is the Enemy of Purpose

What does it mean to be motivated to do something?

Let’s cut the crap; it means one thing:

To move towards doing something you don’t really want to do.

You either do something or you don’t: Of what relevance is motivation? You may, as a technical point, suggest everything you ultimately do required some level of ‘motivation’ or ‘will’ to do it; else, you wouldn’t have done it.

But this is to make a technical point over semantics.

The word motivation, and how its used in the modern context, doesn’t just mean the technical, subconscious intention you make before every action. If it did, no one would be talking about it. It would be like an instruction manual for some furniture beginning by stating that you must first own the furniture. This is a given.

So, what does it really mean to be motivated to do something? Motivation is the process of struggle involved in doing something you don’t really want to do.

There was a time before the internet, social media, and motivational speakers. You might, then, wonder: How did anything get done? If, back in the day, motivation wasn’t the societal phenomenon it is now, how did people go about doing the things they did?

How was Microsoft built? How did Pele become so good? How were the classical masterpieces written?

How was so much greatness attained in so many fields when motivation wasn’t available at your doorstep? When one could not watch a YouTube video to pump themselves up? When one could not listen to a podcast that keeps them following their good habits? When one could not chain-smoke self-help books?

Mind-boggling, is it not?

Consider the struggles that ancient human civilisations endured. Consider how strenuous the simple act of just physically surviving another day was for early humans. How did they do it without someone screaming in their to “keep going?”

How did Shakespeare forge his works without studying literature at university? How did he produce all his plays without following an online Skill Share course?

In a world without podcasts, courses, or articles on “The 5 Best Hacks to Triple Your Motivation and Discipline,” how did anyone do anything?

They just did.

And you can do the same.

The average person loses themselves in a maze of anxiety and fear trying to figure out how to do things before actually doing anything.

They have to consult 10 YouTube videos, 5 friends, and 3 authors before walking a single step.

The availability of information today is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, if you find yourself struggling with a problem — whether it be related to your business, health, or whatever, it has never been easier to access factual, technical knowledge to aid your pursuits.

But this sort of knowledge only becomes useful as a second step. It presents some value once the individual has begun some sort of journey. If you’re going to transform your health after a discouraging blood test, it is undoubtedly useful that you can access a trove of information on nutrition and exercise in an instant.

But, for the most part, humans don’t pursue the knowledge that is a useful second step.

They spend their time trying get convinced to take a first step.

They look anywhere and everywhere for someone to give them purpose. To tell them they need to wake up early. To tell them they need to work hard. To tell they need to change their beliefs about themselves.

Modern technology will gift you mediums through which you can pursue your purpose. It can give you a keyboard to write with. It can give you software to draw with. But it — and no one — can tell you what to write and draw.

The harsh truth is this: No one can hand your purpose to you.

If you feel like you need to be motivated to do something, you may as well not do it because you are forcing yourself to do something you think is a good idea on paper.

But the activity in question hasn’t touched your soul. When you really want to do something, you almost don’t think about it. You just do. Accquiring knowledge in your field and consulting others may provide value, but such things are secondary to the journey that is unfolding. The journey you are taking because you must take it. Not a journey you have been “motivated” to take or one that society has told you is a good idea.

By chasing motivation to do this and that, you chase a cosmetic means of trying to convince yourself you’re actually going somewhere.

You write because someone told you its good for your mental health. You start a business because someone told you it’s a good idea.

But unless these things truly touch your soul, and move you in ways that cannot truly be captured in mere words, they will only further frustrate you.

No one can write your book for you.

By relying on external sources to give you motivation, you bind yourself to a struggle that is not sincerely your own. You try to put square pegs in round holes, and then sigh over the fact you can’t find purpose or maintain discipline.

The simple fact is this: The only person you can truly please is yourself. When you rely on external sources to form a will to do something, you are trying to reengineer someone else’s system to suit yours. Would you try to fit the engine of a Lamborghini inside a BMW?

Never has it been easier to access information that can serve your purpose. Never before in history has life been so comfortable. Perhaps to keep things interesting, the universe levels this by flooding our eyes and ears with empty chases and nonsense to lose ourselves in.

A life time of thriving becomes bottlenecked by the desire for someone else to tell you where to place the first step.

Do something because it moves you. Motivation is only required for those things that don’t.

And, for such things…

Why do them?