What does it mean to be motivated? For me, it means that I get out of my recliner and do something. “Self-motivated” is a term that is applied to successful people. The way I motivate myself is to think, ponder, meditate on my goals. My goals are what I want, the stronger my want the more motivated I will be.

What do you want?” That question was asked of me by a waitress that was obviously having a bad day, judging by the manner in which she asked me the question. She continued her rude manner of talking to us as she took our orders and brought the food, but in spite of her gruff personality the service was good, and the food was excellent so I gave her a nice tip. Later as I thought about the encounter, I sort of zeroed in on the question for some reason, “what do you want?” Jesus often asked people that question before He healed them, and God asked Solomon that question, and he answered “wisdom”, and God gave it to him.

What do I want? I would like it to be sunny tomorrow, I would like to go fishing, I would like to catch fish when I do. How many “wants” do I actually have? If I identified every single want that is in me, and I ranked them from the strongest, most passionate want down to the ho-hum casual desire, I would discover what motivates me. A second question would be, “what are you willing to do to bring the number one want into reality?” The stronger the want the more I would be willing to do.

The stronger my want the more I will do, the harder I will work, the more I will sacrifice, the longer I will pray, the more money I will give, the harder I will fight, and the more successful I will be.

Very few things motivate a person as much as writing goals and reading them several times each week. It is a simple discipline that very few do, but those who do are motivated.