Manifesto: On Motivation

Hey friends, it's Brandon. And this episode is part of a special 10 part series that I'm doing right here on the podcast exclusively where I'm going to release the major parts of my audiobook of my book, the Motivation Manifesto. Yes, I'm releasing 10 full chapters of the audiobook right here on the podcast. So make sure that you're subscribed to the podcast and you download these episodes. You'll see these episodes designated as Motivation Manifesto and then the chapter name. And here's the deal, these are only going to be posted until June 3rd. So I'm giving you 10 days to go through the entire Motivation Manifesto audiobook of the major declaration of the book. Anyway, I don't, I won't include like the introduction or forward or stuff like that. So just jumping right into the declarations that made the Motivation Manifesto so famous. The book spent 36 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list when it came out a decade ago. Why am I releasing such a huge.

Part of the audiobook right now?

Well, literally was a decade ago. So this is the 10 year anniversary and I just wanted to say thank you and celebrate it with, celebrate all your support. Frankly, you guys have been amazing to me in this last decade and that book kicked off such a magnificent part of my life. And I'll never forget the support you gave me, not only making it a major New York Times bestselling book, but just the love of that book around the world. It led to, you know, an interview with Oprah and doing courses with Oprah Winfrey Network. It led to some coaching, some of the best, best teams in the world. It was an extraordinary experience of my own and many. You know the story that initially the publisher turned down the book. I'd go find another publisher. And that journey alone was a reason to always fight for your art. With no further ado, we'll play this audiobook section of the Motivation Manifesto. If you'd like to get the book, you can still find it on Amazon and I encourage you to go there and get it as well because nothing like reading that book. But you'll hear me and my voice from 10 years ago reading this book. Please enjoy.

Chapter three on motivation. If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea. Antoine de Saint Exuperry the dominant motives of humankind involve either freedom or fear. There are no other pathways in our psychology. One demands engagement with our true self and ambitions, and inevitably leads to independence, growth, happiness, and transcendence. The other causes us to skirt around challenges, Avoiding struggle as much as possible. Despite struggle often being the very thing required for growth. This path leads to weakness, conformity, and frequently regret. Through the pursuit of personal freedom, we discover our destiny. Through fear, we look at our demise. Our reasons for tapping into these motives Are often called our motivation. We can feel motivated to move toward or to halt, to grow or to shrink, to settle or to chase greatness. The actions we take in life Are often based on whether our internal logic and impulses Lean toward fear or freedom. If we lack compelling reasons to take action, or if our impulses are fearful or protective, Then we tend to stay put. But if we have a strong list of reasons to move forward and we've conditioned our impulses to support freedom, we are more likely to consistently advance our lives. With freedom on the line, we would expect that most of us Would understand How motivation works in our lives. But many remain clueless, Reacting to each day of life without reason or power. Thus, they are not free. They are slaves to impulse. And that is why we have so many people trapped in aimlessness, apathy, and fear. Motivation remains a mystery to the masses. Yet the first virtue of the great among us Is a remarkable level of sustained motivation. Success and fulfillment in life Rests on the unflagging ability to get up, to be ourselves, to chase our dreams with fire each day, to keep willing ourselves to the next level of presence and performance and potential. More broadly, our. Our entire human value system Rests on motivation. None of the great human values that keep us and society in check. Kindness, love, honesty, fairness, unity, tolerance, respect, responsibility Would flourish if we were not motivated to bring them to life. And so, if we fail to master our motivation at an individual level, we cannot be happy. If we fail to maintain our motives for goodness at a societal level, all would be lost. What great heights could we reach if we truly activated our human motivation? Imagine how the world would change almost immediately if its citizens could turn on their motivation whenever desired for as long as desired. Would more people become free and happy? Would we have the stamina to end poverty? Would we build more schools? Might we end famine, eliminate disease, free those wrongly imprisoned, Stop global warming, and achieve remarkable progress in every corner of the globe? Would billions more see their dreams come true? How different our society could be if true motivation ran deep. If all that apathy and aimlessness to drifted away and our people were fired by a conscious mind and a consistently committed heart. Imagine how the world would prosper. Imagine the freedom. This is a reachable possibility because motivation is stunningly simple to figure out and act upon. And so let us begin that path by demystifying why we do what we do. The Mother of Motivation Our first step is to understand motivation's root motive, which means a reason for action. It's the why we do something to develop a motive for action. Our mind, with or without conscious guidance, filters through various thoughts, feelings, and experiences and chooses from them a set of reasons to do or not do something. Our mind's clarity on and commitment to that choice dictates our level of motivation. If we are clear and committed, we will feel high levels of motivation. If we are unclear or uncommitted, motivation will be low. From this process comes a simple axiom. The mother of motivation is choice. Our mind chose a reason for action, and it either committed to that choice or it did not. And thus we experience a high level of motivation or a low one. In this truth, we find our greatest personal power, the ability to take over our impulses and direct our minds to choices and commitments that will serve us simply. We can choose our aim and our reasons for that aim. And a continued focus on the aim will arouse a desire for action which we sense as energy, a motivating power within. A hallmark of those who achieve greatness is the discovery that they control the level of motivation they feel by better directing their own minds. This is true for other emotional breakthroughs as well. Enlightenment comes when we realize happiness is a choice. Sadness is a choice, anger is a choice, love is a choice. Every state, emotion, and mood available to man can be generated at will in our mind. This realization is one of the most obvious guideposts on the path from adolescence to adulthood, from immaturity to maturity, from terror in life to transcendence. This is not to say that all people can or will choose their thoughts or emotions. A small percentage of the public does not have the faculties of a healthy mind. Clinical mood and mental disorders can prevent people from consciously directing their own thoughts and feelings on a consistent basis. Therapy and medication can help in such cases and should be sought. We must not discount the challenges faced by those with real disorders and biological issues that prevent their progress in life. Though the vast swath of the population does not suffer from such clinical disorders, they may show a lack of self awareness and as well as poor mental habits. Most people have simply not yet chosen to prize self mastery or to work toward it. They do not need drugs. They need desire and discipline. They do not need a prescription. They need a new life philosophy. Even in those cases where a person needs medication and therapy over the long term, their treatment will almost always include efforts to help them choose thoughts and behaviors better support their well being. Even in mental illness or traumatic brain injury, all roads of recovery lead to better understanding and directing our own minds. If we become cynics and decide it is too difficult for us or anyone to control our mind, then we are destined to forever drift in a sea of impulses and social cues, a life of reaction and distraction rather than one of conscious design. The long evolutions of philosophy, psychology and neuroscience share a common theme of unlocking human potential by leveraging reason and the full power of the mind. Reason is the secret to developing a motivated and independent identity. I think, therefore I am, and I do. Motivated people seize this truth. The great artists, leaders and innovators use the entire force of their reasoning faculties and to become their highest selves and do their highest good. They express who they truly are and pursue goals they find meaningful. They strategically contemplate their direction and values. They weigh what will give them the greatest sense of vibrancy and fulfillment in every major decision. They select from life's abundant array only the courses that suit their nature and their intention to be free and to serve. They are resolute in calling forth their greatest character traits and wrestling their lowest impulses into submission. They appear in the eyes of the mindless masses to be the lucky ones, the chosen. In fact, they decided to choose. People who are motivated are not lucky. They are conscientious. They choose to use their minds in a more purposeful way in order to energize and lift their lives, and for that they tend to achieve more and gain more respect. The thoughtful woman who is in charge of her own mind and emotions has extraordinary power and earns high regard. But the man not in charge of his own mind is lost in a swirl of unpredictable and often unwanted thoughts and impulses. He is seen as immature or unreliable, and as the vacuum of his unconscious fills with fear, he inevitably drowns in self doubt or suffers social despair. When we understand that thoughts and emotions can be chosen, then we finally realize that we err in saying, I don't feel happy or I feel sad and there is nothing I can do about it. Since we have some choice in how we feel at any given moment, the more accurate statements would be, I am not using my mind right now to generate a feeling of happiness or I I have been choosing to focus on sad things for a while and that has created this Feeling of sadness. Or I am allowing my unconscious impulses to direct me now, rather than using my consciousness to feel positive and design my ideal reality. One does not suddenly feel motivated any more than one suddenly and without cause feels happy. Happiness is a result of thought, not impulse. It is our mind's reasoning that what we are experiencing in the moment, or in life in general, is pleasurable, positive and appreciated. An enduring sense of happiness is a prolonged intellectual high that comes from positive memory and choice, not a temporary physical pleasure. And so mature adults realize that motivation is not an accident, not so much a feeling, as it is a conscious commitment to a motive. A choice towards something, a deeply held reason to act. It is an energy that results from thought. We feel motivated because we choose to, not because the sun happens to shine on our side of the street. So if we want more motivation in our lives, we must make clearer choices and more deeply commit to them. Can it be so simple? All we do is make clear choices and deeply commit to making them happen. And we feel motivated. Yes, to some degree. But mastery comes in understanding the nuances of this effort. There is a process that we can follow to more consciously activate and amplify motivation. Gaining command of this process gives us the intellectual and emotional ability to summon motivation to any degree we desire, for any length and at any time we choose. Sparking motivation. Psychologically, motivation is sparked by the energy created by ambition and expectancy. Ambition is the choice to be, have, do or experience something greater in our lives. As soon as we want something greater for ourselves, our motivation is sparked. Do we want a better job? A better home? A better marriage? A better body? A better life? From such desires, our energies are aroused. The higher the desire, the higher the initial sense of motivation. We feel. So we must go within and ask, what do I want for myself? What new goal would be meaningful to me? What am I excited about learning or giving? What great new adventure do I dream of? What grand pursuit or act of service will be satisfying to me and get me out of bed each morning? Such questions are the secret to stoking ambition and thus motivation. It's simple. By deeply contemplating higher aims, we energize ourselves to pursue them. There's more. Many people want something better for themselves. Their ambition is alive and well, but they still do not feel motivated. Why? Because despite the hope for something more, they don't believe it can happen or that they can make it happen. They lack expectancy, a choice to believe that their dreams are possible and that they can achieve them. Imagine the aspiring actor who never Auditions. She wants to be an actor, but does not believe in her ability to make it happen. Consider the the would be entrepreneur who wants to start a business but never leaves his job because he doesn't believe he can make it on his own. These people learn a tough life. Truth desire without belief in self is ultimately deflating. Often when motivation is lacking, we don't truly expect that we will realize our aim. And if we don't believe it, we know we cannot achieve it, so we won't even try. In this way, expectancy is the great differentiator between mere hope and motivation. When we find ourselves hopeful but not motivated, we need to add a little more faith to the mix, to tell ourselves I expect that it will happen no matter what because I have faith in myself to learn and grow and day by day make things happen. I will make my dreams a reality over time because I trust my ability to learn, to work, to ask for help, to persist. With these expectations, our minds began to form the beliefs and behaviors needed to make our ambitions a reality. So let us focus our minds on seeing our dreams come true and on seeing ourselves make it happen. Let us sit down tonight and think of what more would bring joy and fulfillment into our lives. Let us journal about it and and dream about it. Let us imagine ourselves doing great things with boldness and fire and commitment. This is visualization and internalization, a process of weaving expectancy deep into our psyche and the fabric of our being. This is the process of sparking our own motivation. Consider the man who wants to compete in a triathlon in order to succeed. He knows he cannot say to himself, I I hope one day that I get in good enough shape to maybe do a triathlon. Instead, he clarifies why he has this ambition and he tells himself that he will race to the best of his ability and succeed. He visualizes himself in the water, on the bike, on the run, crossing the finish line. He summons up his motivation and makes the choice to begin, to train, to succeed because he believes he must and he believes he can. So to those who say I wish I were motivated, we reply, do not hope for motivation. Choose an ambition to become motivated for fix on a dream and believe that it will see daylight and soon a great swell of enthusiasm will enliven you.

Hey, it's Brendan. Sorry to interrupt the audiobook here for you, but quick reminder. Make sure you subscribe to the show and you download this episode or all the episodes in this 10 part series, or frankly just set it so that all of my episodes always download to your phone because this series goes away on June 3rd. Okay. Other than that, in this little mid roll spot, I'd love to tell you about our Ultra group. I'd love to see if maybe this is the time for you to become.

More ultra successful in your own life, in every area of your life.

And I always believe that to do that you've got to have a new level of performance edge. You've got to optimize your health, you've got to adopt some wealthy habits and you've got to get around a higher caliber of network people who are striving and working really hard to achieve great things. If that sounds like something you're interested in, I'd love to invite you into Ultra. Just go to Ultra vip. That's literally the website. Just Ultra, Ultra vip. There's no other part of that website. Just go to Ultra VIP for the invitation to see if you're right. For my private networking group, Ultra vip.

Sustaining motivation, ambition and expectation are just the beginning of the process. They are the spark of motivation. Unfortunately, many people never fan the flames of motivation. But by keeping their focus on their dreams. The triathlete must do more than simply believe in his dream. Once in a while, he must continue making choices that sustain the desire. He must schedule his routines. He must get a coach. He must run and sweat and fight for growth. And he must do this over and over again. The sustaining choices of motivation are attention, effort. Motivation feels fickle only to those who have been inattentive to their ambitions. An undirected mind has little drive other than the baseline human impulses. Sustained motivation not being among them. We must refocus. Giving our ambitions consistent mental attention keeps the drive alive, our energies swirling in anticipation. This can be as easy as reviewing our goals each day, journaling about our desires each night, regularly setting aside moments to visualize what we want and schedule our next steps. This is where so many people fail. The distractions of the day steal their mental focus and thus their motivation. The real downfall for many people isn't that they are unmotivated people, but that they are simply distracted, too absent minded to sustain motivation. It may be that the world isn't giving us what we want simply because our own lack of focus makes it unclear what we are asking for. We mustn't let our dreams die in the daylight because we lose focus while responding to the world's lame interests or false emergencies. We mustn't take our eyes off our own goals as we dispatch mundane tasks of the day or await the right time to begin what we truly want to do. When we allow our attention to drift from our dreams and into the vast sea of unawareness, our motivation is dragged along behind it. So let us keep our minds on our motives. Let us hold our grand visions in view with dreams popping with color across the conscious dashboard of our minds. Every single day. Let us sit and meditate on on what we want and see those desires come into fruition over and over again. Some might fear that we are cultivating an obsession. We are. We are becoming obsessed with a mighty aim. Putting our full attention and zeal, perhaps for the first time, into something that truly matters to us. We should not fear an obsession for building a great and free life. Without such willed attention, our motivation would descend into half hearted hopes, flirty arousals of the heart that have no staying power. It is the obvious equation and the ultimate secret. The deeper and longer I give attention to my ambitions and passions, the more motivation I feel. But we cannot merely think our way to sustained motivation. We must work our way toward it. We must put real effort into reaching our ambitions. And we cannot attract or have that which we do not act toward. Is it not true that we can easily discern the depth of a person's motivation by observing how consistently they have been taking action toward their dreams? The less consistent someone's effort, the more obvious it is that they lack motivation. The irony is that if they gave more effort, they would have more motivation. We cannot feel sustained energy or commitment for completing a journey if we have never taken the first step. The triathlete must have ambition, but he must also begin to train. He must sign up for the race, begin running farther, train harder, stretch his comfort zones, work for his dream of crossing that finish line. From those efforts, his motivation will be sustained and enlarged. When motivation dies, then it's not because our dreams died. It's because we never began or didn't sustain any real effort without taking steps forward. We never sense the highs of progress and soon the energy is gone. And almost predictably, we quit. We often forget that it is sweat and toil toward meaningful pursuits that makes us truly alive. So let us remember that nothing keeps motivation aflame more than hard work and the resulting momentum and fulfillment to continue our efforts toward our ambitions despite fatigue and distraction and hardship. This is the mark of the truly motivated. Our life and legend hinge on our ability to keep marching on, to keep firing our will over the long term. Just one more heavy step toward our dreams often awakens the desire to follow it with another. And so the answer becomes clear when people ask what is the ultimate secret to lifelong motivation? Continuing on no matter what? It hurts to think that after all of our struggles to feel more motivated, all we needed to do was give more attention to our ambitions. We would rather believe that during those roaring times of our lives when we were fired up, there was luck or an external force at play. We want to fall for the fallacy that we were more motivated because of environmental factors. Our back was against the wall. Our dad died, our wife needed us. The big door of opportunity swung open. God touched us. There was a baby to feed. But the stark reality is that those times we were motivated happened simply because we were willing and working ourselves forward more often. There was attention. There was effort. These things were daily, relentless and inextinguishable. And these things were choices. We chose to give more attention and effort toward something meaningful. There was no more. Choice energized us. It was our savior, not the grace of changing circumstance or dire need or even divine calling. For how many people have heard such a call but chose not to respond? It is in choosing to respond to circumstances or or need or God, in our own way, as a free and driven person and with real action that we emerge from the darkness. Let it be clear to all. Greatness belongs to those who have mastered the ability to focus relentlessly on their ambitions and act decisively toward them. Amplifying Motivation we have aroused our motivation and we have kept it burning. Now let us grow it and condition it through every fiber of our being and into every facet of our lives. Two choices will amplify our motivation to another attitude and environment. Attitude matters. Free and motivated people are positive and enthusiastic about their goals and their lives. Yet look at the millions of people drowning in the quicksand of pessimism, gritting their teeth in contempt at their everyday experiences. Anger, hatred and all the trappings of fear fuel the minds of the masses. There is a dispirited gloom hanging over so many. But why? Is there a sudden reason to feel profoundly more negative about life? No, the issue at hand is a failure to choose one's attitude. Most people rarely even think about their disposition or how they are energetically experiencing or contributing to the world. This inattention to how they think and behave and serve this unconscious style is costing them their dreams and legacy. Just think of the people who have achieved great things. Are they sullen and bitter? Negative and angry? No. What person ever achieved true greatness and fulfillment with a universally bad attitude? Those with a miserable attitude rarely move the needle of the world toward Progress Motivation never kindles anyone's soul to its brightest burn unless he or she is open minded and fired with an enthusiasm for life. An open and positive disposition toward the world can attract people, bring joy into our experience and channel the highest energies of the universe. So let us remember that in all circumstances we can choose how. When we show up and feel and relate with the world, we must make it a game to meet difficult circumstances with a smile, good natured intent, humor and a cheering voice that rises above the somber murmurs of the aimless crowd. Keeping one's attitude positive, especially when the world conspires to make us mad, is one of the great accomplishments of life outside of our direct will. One way to keep ourselves sane and positive is to surround ourselves with people who are sane and positive. Few things amplify our long term motivation more than a positive social environment. Whom we interact with matters to our attitude and thus to our motivation. Unfortunately, most people have allowed their motivation to be dampened by the social spheres to which they restrict themselves. It is hard, though not impossible, to be highly motivated when surrounded by pessimists and jerks or while living in the same stress and chaos created by the drama queens and the absent minded. It is also the rare individual who spends his days couch surfing and partying with drunken friends, then ends up stumbling on the secret to success and happiness. The woman with the demeaning boyfriend rarely feels motivated to be her best self and the man working a dead end job with an insulting boss and bored co workers rarely feels motivated to contribute with excellence. For once and for all, we should distance ourselves from those with bad attitudes for their energy is contagious and corrupting. We should remember our personal freedom is on the line and so our social sphere mustn't hinder our self expression or pursuit of things that are meaningful. For motivation's sake, we must be vigilant and surround ourselves with genuine and positive people who seek positive aims. With positive attitudes, let us also be more disciplined in shaping our physical environments to amplify our emotions. We should love the spaces we spend our time in and if we do not, we should make immediate changes. Walking into our homes shopping should bring peace and the ability to rejuvenate. We should have plenty of light and a place where we cannot be disturbed so that we can reflect, think, plan, make art. We should feel comfortable where we sleep and where we think. Our workspaces should inspire us and we should have a ready contact list of other driven people to call upon when we need new inspiration. If we do not. Again, we must make immediate changes to find and cultivate such relationships. If we lack a supportive place to live and work, or a positive peer group, let it be our mission to manifest those things in our lives. Our environment matters, and so we shall shape it to lift us to the next realm of motivation and joy. A Clear Path from Victimhood with this new understanding of our motivation, we move away from victimhood and find a clear path toward freedom. We can now bring motivation to life at any moment, and we can tell others how to do it. Choose an ambition and with full force expect that it is possible and that you can make it happen. Give constant attention and committed effort to your dreams and your motivation will perpetuate itself. Demonstrate a positive attitude as you strive for great things and and take care to create a supportive environment around you that amplifies your motivation. With such practices, cultivating motivation moves from a lucky feeling to a willed choice. Over time, these choices will lead us to feel in command of our lives, able to punch through distractions and better at riding the ups and downs of existence. Without such practices, we we fall whim to our impulses and slave to laziness and fear. We fall victim to others and to circumstances because we cannot rouse ourselves to be mindful or break free. Soon we are unmotivated victims and nothing deadens the energies of the soul like a sense of victimhood. And so we have a message to the aimless and the unmotivated. They say, I am waiting for something or someone to motivate me. We say motivation is summoned only from within. They say, I do not feel motivated. I'm just not a motivated person. We say motivation is not an impulse of the body or a personality trait. It is an intention and will of a free and conscious mind. They say, I'll get more motivation and work harder when my job gives me more pay, autonomy and responsibility. We say, if you have not chosen to be motivated before, that is why you do not have more pay, autonomy and responsibility. Effort gives you motivation and motivation gives you reward. They say, the people around me keep killing my motivation. We say, you are choosing the people around you, but regardless, no. Motivation is of your own will and volition. It is imperishable and cannot be granted, diminished or killed by others. It exists within you because you want it to. The birth, life and death of each day's motivation are subject to your own direction. They say, well, I haven't had any major life experiences that have motivated me. Like a lucky break or a life event that made me find my Purpose. We say purpose does not strike as a lucky lightning bolt of inspiration. Motivation and purpose are choices. The only thing needed to spark motivation is a decision to heighten your ambition and expectancy. To sit down, think about what you desire and believe you can go get it. To keep that motivation, you must give constant attention and effort. They say, sometimes I just feel lazy. We say, then choose to feel something else. Laziness is a choice, just as any other feeling can be a choice. Understand that life is short and that choosing laziness for the long term will lead to a life that is slave to impulse and littered with regrets. Only in choosing to energize yourself will you finally go out into the world. You discover who you are, grow, actualize your dreams and become free and great. Life enlarged and glorified. To be aware. To utilize our full mental faculties as humans to be directors of our own minds and motives. These things give us personal power. Let us never neglect them. And let us devote ourselves to mastering motivation each day of our lives. There is nothing so deserving of our vital attention. For it is in the millions of in the moment decisions made throughout our lives, either directed by a motivated mind that bends toward personal freedom or left to the default impulses that bend toward fear that we create our destiny. Fear wins or freedom wins. Life is enlarged and glorified when motivation is so. Let us once more spark our souls with an ambitious fire. Let us stoke this energy with close attention, constant effort and positive attitude. Let us act with full efficacy in shaping the social and physical environments of our lives. Should we be diligent and should we succeed, our vitality will amplify. Our life will magnify as if a divine light is bursting through, signaling to the world and and to destiny that we are here, that it is our time, that we are ready.

Okay, it's Brendan, the modern day Brendan here, jumping back in. I hope you enjoyed this chapter of the Motivation Manifesto.

If you did, yes, you can still.

Find the book for sale on Amazon. And I would encourage you to.

If you're not yet a member of.

Growth Day, maybe this is the day that you join. Join? There's actually a 12 week advanced motivation course based on the Motivation Manifesto in Growth Day. It's unlocked for any of our Mastery members. How do you know if you're a Mastery member? Well, just go to growthday.com and get yourself signed up. If you're already in Growth Day, just go to the search bar and type in motivation manifesto and BAM. That 12 week course will pop up for you. Free just for being a Mastery member in Growth Day. Again, you can go to growthday.com and you'll find an entire course 12 week online motivational course unlocked for all Growth Day Mastery members. We'd love to have you in Growth Day if you're not already. Again, you can just go to growthday.com I want to thank everyone for listening to this episode of the Motivation Manifesto audiobook. Again, make sure you download this episode and all the episodes, otherwise you will lose these on June 3rd. This is a 10 day preview of 10 chapters of the Motivation Manifesto. My thanks for the 10th anniversary of the release of the Motivation Manifesto.