This post will help you stay motivated, determine the tactics you need to focus on AND give you direction in your life. No big deal.
How do I stay motivated? I don’t have a direction. I’m lost. I’m unmotivated. I’m depressed. Good things never happen to me. I want a better life. Why can’t I have things like that? I can’t be successful. How do I become more successful? How do I have more money? I’ve got too much debt. I struggle to get out of bed. I can’t improve my business. How do I improve my income?
We all want a 10/10 life. 10/10 partner, 10/10 income, 10/10 job. And yet, we’re hardly ever willing to give 10/10. If you have to give 10/10 for effort, improvement, drive, focus, discipline and motivation, most people’s first question is “for how long?”
You don’t want to think like this. The way to stay motivated is to KNOW what activities are going to get you closer to your goal.
If you KNEW that every activity would get you closer to your goals and vision, you’d give 10 out of 10 every time. The reason people become unmotivated or sluggish, is because they can’t see how the activity they’re doing, is connected to their goal.
If you know your goal and TRUE purpose and you’re seriously ready to commit, then you’ll always give 100% to your activities.
It’s going to be uncomfortable sometimes, maybe even painful. But you have to decide if that temporary uncomfortable-ness, is more important than your long term, life changing goal.
You’ll have clarity on what you need to focus on. You’ll have purpose behind all your actions. Your confidence will improve because you KNOW the actions you take, every day, are the actions of someone who WILL achieve the life-changing goal you’ve set out.
Do the exercises below to give yourself 24 hour, 365 day long motivation fuel.
Also, all 5 of these worksheets are OPTIN FREE. So click away, do the work and watch the clarity spill into your mind like a can of coke on a white carpet.
What’s your vision for your personal life?
Here we start, by making a list of visions for your personal life, in the future.
If you already have a method for this, like a vision board from The Secret or a worksheet from 4 Hour Work Week, then use that.
Otherwise, feel free to download our Personal Vision Worksheet here (no optin) and start understanding what it is that you want from life.
This is what truly matters. What’s genuinely important to your life, soul, relationships, education, health and mental well-being.
Think in terms of places you want to visit, things you want to see. What do you want to experience, what do you want to own or have?
There are no wrong answers here. This is no place for what other people deem “possible”.
I have personally seen an entrepreneur pay off his $300 000 mortgage in under a year, because that’s what his vision was.
Sometimes, your visions means clarity. Other times it can be frightening. For all our moaning about being held back, most people don’t know what they’d do if they had a choice.
“For all their bitching about what’s holding them back, most people have a lot of trouble coming up with the defined dreams they’re being held from.”
-Timothy Ferriss, 4 Hour Work Week
Don’t use “world peace” or “cure cancer” if that’s genuinely not your vision. It won’t motivate you. It also can’t just be money. Money is a tool, not the end. You want things, places, people, experiences and time. Money might be a way to get there, but it isn’t the end goal.
For example, my vision is to work 4 days a week, for 9 months a year. The other 3 months I travel with my partner, Liv, and learn to cook foods in foreign countries. I want to own a VW Scirrocco, be mortgage free, have an income over £1 million a year and shortly – pick up a GTX1080 graphics card.
Notice there are a range of timescales, price points and goals here. But these things here – these are what are important to me. The graphics card will probably happen this month sometime. The mortgage, within a year. Travelling 3 months a year? Kind of already happening.
If you’re struggling for ideas, use our Personal Vision Worksheet here (no optin) to give you some guidelines and inspiration.
This is the hardest part of the exercise. Finding purpose. This purpose will be WHY you get out of bed at 5am (some of us do that) and work your ass off. When other people tell you it can’t be done, or you’re doing the wrong things, you’ll know you have a purpose and you’re following that purpose.
What’s your vision for your business?
Now we need a vehicle for that change. We need a method of building an audience, customers and revenue. The revenue is going to change into profit and it’s what is going to enable your goals.
Purpose is the fuel for motivation. Energy is the fuel for purpose.
Money is NOT the fuel. Money is a time saver. That’s all. Your business needs to do more than just make money. It needs to help people. It needs to have a higher purpose than “make money”. There are some extremely profitable markets and niches in the world, but if you have no interest in helping people in that industry, you might make money, but you’ll be miserable.
So what’s your vision for your business? How many customers? What do you sell? If you need to, use our Business Vision Worksheet here (no optin) to guide your vision for your business.
How much revenue do you attract? How many products do you have? What other qualifiers do you have i.e no start-ups, no gambling businesses, only customers of £100 000+ a year in revenue.
This business vision, is going to provide you with the activities and tactics needed to create your personal vision.
If you want 12 customers a year, building marketing funnels for them, why are you learning app development?
This might sound black and white, but you need to prioritise. Simple as that. Cut back the fat and bullshit that DOESN’T drive your business vision. Simple as that.
For example, the vision for our agency, is 12 customers a year. Over $30 000 per project budget and £5000 per month in recurring revenue. No client work for me and 3 – 5 core products and services.
So when I’m writing blog content, who am I aiming for? Businesses with over $30 000 a year in budget. So is there much point in writing about the cheapest email service providers? No.
What about my core products and services. Membership marketing funnels, membership websites, Relationship Pathfinding consulting, email list growth. That’s 4 and that’s all we really want to do. So when people ask if we do app development – no. Because it’s not in our vision.
If you’re struggling to think of a vision for your business, use our free Business Vision Worksheet here (no optin).
What is your businesses purpose?
So what’s the point of your business? What does it do to make life easier, or help your customers?
You should be able to complete this sentence-
I help [type of customers] get [result].
That’s all. Who do you help and what do you get them?
Use our Business Purpose Cheatsheet here (no optin) to figure out your businesses purpose.
Simple as that. You should be able to do SOMETHING for this customer, or for that result, better than anyone else in your marketplace.
WARNING: HARSH TRUTH AHEAD
If you can’t do something better, or different, within your marketplace. What business do you have being in that market?
Can you imagine saying “yeah we do burgers, but they’re not better or different than anything else out there”?
What? Then what the fuck are you doing here? You should be able to say, with confidence and conviction that you do SOMETHING better than everyone else competing within this marketplace.
It sounds harsh and it is. But if you can’t do that, you’ll never get a foothold.
For example, MeBox, our agency, helps membership businesses find and keep more members.
We do this better than anyone, because we are the #1 Relationship Pathfinding consultancy in the world. Relationship Pathfinding is the most effective and efficient method of building and audience and converting them into customers.
So what’s your businesses purpose? What do you do? How do you help? Who do you help? Why does your business exist and what does it do better than anyone else?
Use our Business Purpose Cheatsheet here (no optin) to get real clarity on what your business purpose is.
How are you going to change the world?
Here’s the big question. How are you going to change the world?
You have a purpose, your business has a purpose. But what are you impacting?
When we say change the world, it can put a lot of people off. For whatever reason, they’re just not that interested in making a difference in the world. Maybe you feel that you’re just one person, or there’s no way you can compete against Bill Gates or Elon Musk.
SHUT. UP.
I’m not asking you to invent PayPal or cure malaria. I’m asking you what change YOU want to see in the world, that your business and you can achieve, which you’d be proud of.
How am I going to change the world? Easy. I’m going to help 100 businesses attract over £1 million a year, in sales.
That’s a combined wealth generation of £100 million. I’m going to help 100 businesses generate over £1 million in sales.
If I could help create £100 million, I’d have changed the world. And yet, on the scale of the world, that’s small fry.
Use our World Change Filter here (no optin) to create your plan to change the world. What change do YOU want to see in the world?
I’d love to see 100 small businesses generate £1 million in sales each. I think it’s hard work, not impossible and I can do that.
It requires me to motivate them. Coach them, create products and marketing with them. There’s so much I can do, to help people get to those levels of revenue.
This is what makes me write content, blog posts, videos, books, presentations and talks. Which is our next and final question.
What are you vehicles for changing the world?
Click here to access our Business Vehicle Cheatsheet (no optin).
When you decide what you’re going to change about the world, you’ll need vehicles.
Vehicles are HOW you change the world. The method that you’ll use to make life better for other people. When you’re motivated to get out of bed, work hard, cut out distractions and focus on your purpose and vision. These vehicles are how you’re going to do it.
When Steve Jobs decided to change the world, by making technology more accessible and better designed, he didn’t just randomly start showing people how to do those things. He got Apple to create the iPad and iPhone.
When DuckDuckGo’s founder, Gabriel Weinberg, wanted to change the way people searched online. He didn’t just tell them and look for ways to do it, he created DuckDuckGo. The search engine that doesn’t track you.
You need content, products, services, and outreach. What are the activities and tactics you want to employ, that enable you to change the world. Is it software? Courses? Coaching? Websites? Funnels? Email automation?
Are you using them for yourself, or do you create them for customers? If you’re a website business, you not only need a website yourself, but you have to build them for customers.
Do you want to speak at events? Publish a book? Host a podcast? What are the vehicles that you’re going to power, which will help you change the world?
Write down the vehicles that you’ll use, or use our Business Vehicle Cheatsheet here (no optin).
Wrap up
You should now, have 5 pages of ideas on how you’re going to fuel your motivation. Your life vision and purpose are what fuels your motivation.
Not feeling great? Or you’re unproductive or without direction? Use the worksheets to look at and remind yourself why you’re doing this.
Waking up, calling customers, learning new skills. It takes time and energy and sometimes it feels like you’re not doing the right things. Your answers to the questions above are what will fuel your motivation.
In fact it’s why I created our 12 Week Shakeup Worksheet. I believe that you can radically change your business and life using the questions above.
Download our 12 Week Shakeup below (there’s an optin for this one) and get all your answers on one page. Print it out and stick it next to your desk. Anytime you need direction, focus, motivation or drive – read the sheet and get some fuel.
Optin below to get instant access to the 12 Week Shakeup and the free coaching call that turbo-charges it. Follow along with me and other businesses as we discover exactly how you can change the world with your purpose and vision.