Just when you are about to complete the final lap in your goal, or you are inches away from achieving that one big thing you have always wanted to do and set out doing it…

Everything was going fine. Until…

Doubts sets in. Even fear. Fatigue.

Your friends and even your family may tell you that it is “ok. You’ve come this far in your goal,… in that one big thing that you have always wanted to do. This in itself is an achievement.”

You may even start thinking to yourself. “Yeah,… they are right. I have come this far, spent so much of energy, effort and time”. I should consider it a big achievement, pat myself on my back and be happy with it.”

Well, it is not “ok’. Water does not boil at 211 degrees Fahrenheit. It boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit or 100 degrees Celsius.

So, while you should acknowledge all the little or smaller achievements or successes along the way while aiming for the ultimate; you should not give up on the ultimate “prize”.

It is really, really easy to lose focus on your numero uno. If your eyes are not on your numero uno; they are on a distraction. Distractions are a plenty.

Your main strength comes from being mentally prepared. You have to be motivated…at all times. This helps fuel your ambition to reach for your goals. You can attend motivation seminars, read or view motivational speeches on social media. You can have a mentor. All these should be a “must do”, a constant reference or consultation to help motivate you to stay on track. However, there is a secret. A secret so big, yet not many people know about it. Perhaps, that is why it still remains a well kept secret.

Should this secret be revealed? Ok, this won’t be an exception to the rule as the rule usually seems to mean to reveal the secret. I will talk about secrets and exceptions to the rule in another essay.

So, what is this well kept secret? Simply this: Motivation is 1% from the outside and 99% from within.

You can seek motivation from all the seminars and motivational gurus and the many created scenes that place you at the centre of them. All of these and I mean all of these will provide you only 1% motivation. You are at an all time dizzily high when you hear a motivational speech or when you are in a crowd that has euphoria. It lasts for a day or two or for the stubborn people…a week or so. Then you are back again at where you started from…wondering what happened to this all time high that was going to change your life. You are back again…looking for a new fix.

In all reality…motivation comes from within oneself. You will be dreaming it…finding how to get to the goal you want…not letting outside factors derail you from that goal. You will be fixated to it. The 1% motivation that comes from the outside is just a reaffirmation of what you are doing.

The “rah rah rah, yeah…you are doing all right…good job…that’s the spirit…keep it going…never lose focus of your goal…the encouragement from people especially those who are the who’s who in the big league in the field that you are pursuing your goal..”; all these make up that 1%. You realise that you will do it with or without all this. However, it does give you a bit of the “feel good” factor.

So, as you get into the final lap of your goal, what you may think “easy”, can be quite a hindrance. For whatever reason, you may take your foot of the gas pedal…and coast in “overdrive” mode. You may be well ahead of schedule towards this goal.

Remember, the race is not finished until you cross the finish line. The only time you can truly say you have done it is…well…when you have done it.

~ ALAN IAN ATKINSON
Writer, Author, Storyteller

NOTES
1. https://leatherpotato.com/2022/05/14/think-about-it/