The question: What is something that motivates you and pushes you forward?

I can already tell that this new year is going to hold its own assortment of peaks and pits alike. Therefore, before life speeds up too much, I wanted to take a moment to focus on goals and ambitions. What do I want out of this year? Where do I want to lay a foundation down this year that I can build upon in the following years? In a perfect world, we’ll be able to accomplish every last little check on long list of to-dos. But, the cookie doesn’t always crumble that way and we need to find our reason to push through the tough times and drive towards our goals.

First, I want to share something from personal experience. Maybe you can relate, maybe not.

Ever since I went off to college, I continuously did everything I thought I should be doing (focusing in on a professional standpoint for the sake of this argument, but could definitely be applied to all areas of life). Study these topics, join that club, run for this position, work here, volunteer there, do it all. Sometimes I enjoyed it, sometimes I hated it. But, anything for the resume, right? Well that… and everyone else was doing it. It must be the right way.

After continuously making this same mistake over and over again through the years, recently I took a quick shuffle back. I tried to place aside any expectations I felt I needed to hold up, any judgements I feared from others, and any pressure to do what others have done in the past. Wow. I was carrying a lot of stuff and holding myself to a standard that I didn’t even set. Why do we do this to ourselves!? Goodness.

Moving forward this year, I vowed to myself to only seek out opportunities that truly excite me. To stop saying yes / no to please others. To let go of judgements and fear of failure. And most importantly, to trust that all things will work out even when I don’t follow the strictly set quo. Anyone with me?

---

So now I’m gonna pull a fast one on you and change up my question:

If no one, but yourself, ever knew what you have and will accomplish, what would your goals and ambitions look like?

That, my friend, is your true motivation.