Motivation clears obstacles from your way

As a young boy growing up, I did not have the privilege of owning a PlayStation and neither did my neighbours. Our games were, therefore, a bit unconventional.

We would go to buildings under construction and stick our heads into the glassless window grills and shout into the empty rooms.

We had the time of our lives listening to the echo of our voices. With my particularly small head, I had the most fun because it went in every time.

However, one day I met this dude called Murphy, who has a law called Murphy’s Law which says that whatever can go wrong will go wrong.

I put my head through the grills and it refused to come out. I was stuck. My playmates tried everything they could to get me out, including almost separating my head from my body as they pulled, but all in vain.

After they had run out of ideas, in their wisdom, or in my opinion rather lack of it, they fetched my father, whose favourite proverb was “spare the rod, spoil the child” and scripture verse, “for the son that he loveth he chastises”.

When my father arrived, he found his beloved son helplessly stuck. Can you guess what he did? He removed his belt and, as you can imagine, I was in the perfect position for caning. I imagine the temptation was overwhelming.

I was so thoroughly thrashed that my head came unstuck as I tried to escape the lash of that belt.

Sometimes, for us to do extraordinary and seemingly impossible things, we need the right motivation. My father, in his own way, gave me all the motivation that I needed to get my head out of the grills. And it worked.

Have you ever asked yourself what is it that motivates you to do what you do? What makes you wake up in the morning? Is it the alarm or a particular purpose?

STRONG MOTIVATION

People wake up for different reasons. For some it is stress, for others it is deadlines, landlords, or mosquitoes. What really makes you get up in the morning?

If your motivation is strong enough, there is no obstacle that you will find to be insurmountable.

I was at a seminar where the facilitator asked the participants who among them could run in a 100 metre race. There was not a single hand raised.

He said that everyone in the room could run 100 metres depending on what was chasing them. If a lion showed up at the door, you would see sprinting talent of unprecedented magnitude. Only then would you realise that the problem is not lack of speed; it is lack of motivation.

Newton’s second law of motion states that the acceleration of an object depends on two variables: the mass of the object and the net force acting on the object. The latter (net force) is, in this case, the motivation.

Ever wondered why a deer outruns a lion? It is running for its life, therefore it has the right motivation. Its speed often means the difference between life and death.

A few months ago, Strathmore University carried out a terror drill that, unfortunately left scores injured as petrified students frantically scampered for safety.

It was reported that some students jumped through windows on the third floor of a building when they heard the sound of gunshots. Ordinarily, I bet no one would dare to jump from that height but in this case, there was sufficient motivation.

The human will is powerful. It is a force unseen and can achieve any goal when backed by strong enough motivation. Nothing can stand the power of the human will when a person is willing to stake their very existence on a purpose.

When the motivation is right, there is initiative, direction, courage, energy, and persistence to follow one’s goals. When there is no motivation, lethargy and mediocrity reigns.
Obstacles shrink in the face of strong motivation. So, what is your motivation?

Mr Mureithi is a personal development consultant and public speaker. [email protected].