No One Stays Self-Motivated

The lies motivation experts tell us.

There are days you need others to pull through.

One of the top motivation and productivity quotes is to stay “self-motivated.” You’d hear experts go on about the need to have an inward drive and stay inspired from within. They talk about having a strong “Why” and yada, yada, yada.

These are truly valid considerations on your road to productivity. I have even written about that myself, but the truth is there’s only so far this kind of talk can get you.

The truth is: no one stays self-motivated.

Have you ever noticed that sometimes you get so fired up and inspired that you feel you can climb Mount Everest with your bare hands? There are times you’d sit down, speak to yourself, resolve to do better, and stay the course for a few days or weeks—only to end up back in the same circle.

Can you remember an instance like that? Great.

You see, man, being a social being, wasn’t made to dwell in isolation. In other words, that internal resolve you had is only Part A of the equation. Yes, there’s cultivating discipline and perseverance, but one of the most important factors that keeps you going is your environment.

By environment, I mean the people you surround yourself with and the resources you expose yourself to.

The turning point in the evolution of man was when we stopped being nomadic and started dwelling in settlements. When you study the development of man, you’d realize that the outburst of innovation came when they formed small communities and relied on each other to grow. They started creating shelter, tools, and systems because they found one of the yearnings of the human soul: to not be alone.

Even in the Book of Beginnings, the Lord God made a striking observation about the man He created. He said,

It is not good for man to be alone

Then He formed Eve. If He could say that about man, then it tells you that even in your productivity story, you mustn’t be alone.

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I recently watched a clip from a popular content creator. He said the Law of Motion states that a body stays in a state of rest or uniform motion unless acted upon by an external force. But he argued that since he was internally driven and not jolted into motion by an external force, then there’s nothing external that can stop his progress.

It was a really sensational clip. However, I’d like to add that for that “internally driven” body to have continued in motion, it was aided by external forces. There is friction, gravitational pull, weather... for every single body in motion, there is a host of external factors helping it stay on course.

Do you get the gist?

You can be self-motivated, but never believe your success solely depends on your internal drive. You need the right environment.

It’s a concept chemists understand well: many reactions, though internally stimulated, require the right environment and catalysts to operate.

I have been in talks with various leaders who confessed that there are times when reluctance swims in their bones. They know what they ought to do, but sometimes they need that subtle external push. They need that environment that keeps them on their toes.

If you get the core of this message, you’ll understand why an ice block melts in heat and why gold shines in fire.

Your environment is everything. No one is truly “self-made.”

I was in talks with one of my mentors recently, and he mentioned he is looking to make hundreds of thousands of dollars this year. Then he said something that swept me off my feet: “Those around me are doing it steadily.”

Do you see the picture? The reason $100k seemed so easy and within grasp was that he was literally surrounded by it. His environment made it normal.

Your association and exposure determine your altitude.

Someone in the ghetto who has never seen dollars would not have the mental instruments to envision $100k.

This is the power of interdependence. Stephen Covey explained that there are three levels to maturity: Dependence (”You”), Independence (”I”), and Interdependence (”We”). The greatest, of course, is interdependence. It’s where you move from relying on just your personal input to effectively collaborating with others and your environment.

It's where you understand that you are sufficient to grow, but being in the right environment will shoot you out of space.

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Modern-day motivation quotes revolve around igniting an internal drive. Those fiery doses of dopamine that fade like a drunk man sobering up.

The “hard work” lies in actually setting up your environment. Exposing yourself to the right materials and people that will sustain that ignition until it becomes a wildfire.

For example, your reading D_lore up to this point is creating the right environment.

That’s where the work is: creating an environment that constantly inspires you to do more. No one is an exception to this rule. I remember just a day or two ago, Fave was keeping me on my toes to post D_lore for this week.

Of course, I already had plans to post, but her constant check-ins hastened my hauling feet. That’s the impact of having the right environment.

And I hope you create yours today.

Lore,

Your buddy in productivity.