I am a motivational speaker.

I am proud to be a motivational speaker.

When I first started out, friends in the business implored me not to call myself a motivational speaker.

I was intrigued by their adamant pleas.

“Why,” I asked.

The answer was the same each and every time.

“People don’t like motivational speakers. They don’t want all that rah, rah stuff. They want substance that will last when the inspiration wears off.”

Well, I AM A MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER!

And today I want to set the record straight about what motivation is and why we need it.

Most people shy away from the word motivation. It feels soft, squishy, and lacking in content. They associate motivational speakers with the stereotypic purveyors of platitudes and positivity. Some conger up images of “a van down by the river” made famous by the late comedian Chris Farley.

The truth is, regardless of your perception of motivation, we need it. In sales, we have a saying that nothing happens until somebody sells something. Absolutely right.! The same can be said for motivation.

Nothing happens until someone is moved to take action. That’s what motivation is. A motive for action. That’s it.

Nothing more. Nothing less.

I recently heard someone talking about a social media post from one of their favorite gurus who said “Motivation is bullshit. Sometimes you just have to do it even when you don’t feel like it.”

But isn’t that the essence of motivation?

If we always felt like it, we wouldn’t need motivation in the first place.

Anything that moves you to take action is motivation.

People who don’t understand motivation think you need to be “pumped up” in order to do something.

Anger can move you to take action. Some of the most significant successes in my life were born out of frustration, anger, and discontentment with what was happening or not happening in my life. People don’t decide to lose weight, quit smoking, or eat healthy because they’re happy. They do it because they’re fed up with what’s happening in their life and they are moved to do something about it.

Tragedy can move you to take action. My mother was killed by a drunk driver when I was 26 years old. At the time, my life was a mess. I was estranged from my family. I was in relationships that weren’t healthy and didn’t work. My career was a disaster. But losing my mother jerked me into reality, changed my perspective, and moved me to take action to get better.

Victory can move you to take action. Success breeds success. Tiny wins stacked up become big wins. Success becomes a habit that creates more success. We like the feeling associated with winning and it moves us to take action to acquire more wins.

Anything that moves you is motivation. Period. Fear, pleasure, success, failure. You name it, if there is emotion attached to it, it has the power to move us. And it’s different based on how we are wired and our past conditioning.

Motivation can propel you to greatness or sentence you to a life of pain and dysfunction. That’s where the power of free will and momentum come into play.

Motivation creates momentum. Momentum is neither positive nor negative. It is simply equal parts velocity and direction.

Momentum is created when tiny ripples of action become a tsunami of activity that produce outcomes. If those actions and activities are negative, the results will be too. If they are positive then the eventual outcomes will be positive.

Jim Rohn used to say “if you’re headed down the wrong path, speed will not help you.”

Here’s how I see the concept of momentum. If we break the word into three parts, we can see it’s actually a formula.

MOMENT-U-M.

THE MOMENT-U-MOVE there are forces that begin to work for you or against you. The only determining factor in where you end up is whether you are moving in a positive direction or a negative one. Are you taking steps that are positive or negative? Are you developing good habits or destructive ones?

The choices we make create the momentum that determines the direction we go and the speed with which we arrive.

So, motivation creates momentum that drives us toward a specific target.

But isn’t motivation temporary?

Everything in this life is temporary. Isn’t it?

Wealth will evaporate if we are not good stewards of it. It requires focus and attention.

Love will die if it is ignored or taken for granted. It requires care and intention.

Health will erode if we don’t take care of ourselves. It requires discipline and work.

The truth is, everything is temporary if we don’t work at it daily.

Motivation is no different.

Zig Ziglar used to say “bathing is temporary, that’s why it’s recommended daily.”

The truth about motivation is we have to find the spark every day that moves us to take action toward our most dominant goals and dreams. And it will be different things on different days. If motivation was the same for all of us we’d all be living our best life, right?

Discover what moves you. Take action toward your target. Let those tiny wins stack up into big victories. Let momentum take you places you never imagined.

But remember this above all else…

Nothing moves until you do.