People who achieved extraordinary success in life are people who are extremely self-motivated. They live a passionate life, they work tirelessly on their goals, and they are always on the move no matter what happens.
So, have you ever asked yourself if you are someone who is highly motivated? Or someone who is not?
Self-motivated people come from all walks of life. They can be anyone who is driven with a clear purpose and equipped with a burning desire to achieve their dreams.
And to achieve outstanding results in life, you need to develop the traits of a high self-motivated individual.
You must separate yourself from the ordinary to achieve the extraordinary.
You must choose to move on when others quit. You must work harder and dare to pursue your dreams when the rest of the world is still comfortably in their warm beds. You must have a clear and purposeful goal rather than living your life aimlessly.
So what are the traits of a self-motivated people and how can you become one? Consider these 10 traits below.
[ctt template=”9″ link=”WfU1f” via=”no” ]”Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.” – John Wooden[/ctt]
1. They are absolutely clear about what they want
First, self-motivated people are absolutely clear about what they want in life. They are goal-oriented and are driven by their purpose.
You must find out why you do what you do if you want to be motivated. Your purpose is the fuel that keeps you burning hot when you face difficulties and challenges.
Imagine going through a weekend without having any purpose, what do you do? Boring, right? What if you have a purpose and you know what you want to get done during the weekend?
Suddenly, you are motivated by your intent. You know what you want to do and you become purposefully motivated.
Thus, find out what are your goals and your dreams. Find out your purpose in life and you too, can become a self-motivated person.
2. They are always living their purpose
Knowing what you want out of your life is just the beginning. What you need to do next is to live your life according to your purpose.
There is no point to daydream about what you want but you are doing nothing about it.
Self-motivated individuals are driven most of the time because they have programmed what they want to achieve in their subconscious mind.
As a result, they can’t help but to constantly think about their dreams, their goals, and what they want to achieve in life.
You should do the same. Make your goals and your dreams your dominant thoughts. And so that you will think about them all the time.
Remember, you will become what you think about most of the time.
If you consistently think about enjoying life, watching a movie, and playing games, guess what, that will be exactly what makes your life.
And if you constantly hold the thought of achieving your goals, living your dreams, and achieving great success, your outer world will show. You become goal-oriented. You become more self-motivated and you will take action to achieve them.
So be like all the highly successful people out there, hold the things you want long enough in your mind, and you will bring it to your life.
3. They ignore the naysayers
Another trait of self-motivated people is that they ignore the naysayers. They are so driven that they ignore the rest of the world.
When Arnold Schwarzenegger decided that he wanted to be famous in the bodybuilding world, people laugh at him, but he ignored them and went on to win the Mr. Olympia title.
After he made his name in the bodybuilding industry, Arnold wanted to get into the movie industry. People told him that it was impossible because his accent was funny, his body was too bulky, and that his name was too difficult to pronounce.
Did he listen to them? No, he ignored the naysayers and moved on to pursue his dreams of becoming a Hollywood actor. And he did.
Thus, if you want to be a self-motivated person, don’t listen to what others tell you how you should live your life.
Instead, choose to listen to yourself. Follow your heart and pursue your dreams. And let the rest of the world admire your success after that.
4. They are always passionate and energetic
What traits do self-motivated people have in common? They are always passionate and energetic.
Are you living your life with passion and energy?
If you don’t, re-examine your purpose and reflect on what you want in your life.
Highly motivated people are always living their lives with passion and seem to have all the energy in the world.
When it comes to this, the ones that always come to my mind will be none other than Steve Jobs and Elon Musk.
Of course, most of the successful people who achieved extraordinary success are passionate and energetic, but I love the success stories of Jobs and Musk.
Steve Jobs was no doubt a highly motivated person. He said that passion is what you need to achieve great success in life:
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.”
Therefore, if you want to be highly driven, align your purpose with your goals and dreams. And live with passion!
5. They take massive action and keep making progress
Yes, self-motivated people are people who constantly on the move. They take massive and consistent action every day. They keep making progress toward their goals.
Look at people like Gary Vaynerchuk, Richard Branson, and other extraordinary people. They take massive action.
They don’t just talk about their dreams, they do it. They dare to pursue and they are always making progress.
Does this mean that they are making no mistakes or they will never fail? No, not at all.
Highly successful people fail, but they don’t stay there. They make a mistake, they learn from it, and then they continue to move on.
They don’t dwell on their mistakes and failures.
When you study the success stories of great people, you will see that they don’t talk the talk, they walk the talk too. They take action despite facing plenty of difficulties and challenges.
This is the kind of character you must adopt if you want to be a self-motivated person who strives for your dreams.
Make progress all the time. Make it your habit to always take at least one step to reach your goals.
6. They dare to sacrifice and take the risk
Yes, self-motivated people dare to sacrifice and they are willing to take the risk.
The key to achieving the success you want in life is to figure out what you want and then get busy paying the price to get there.
Unsuccessful people understand what they need to do to get there, but they are not willing to pay the price. Successful people, on the other hand, understand this and they are willing to sacrifice and pay the price in full.
Those who accomplished extraordinary results in life are those who don’t complain and choose to do it even when they don’t feel like it. They are motivated to achieve their goals and are absolutely committed.
Unlike the unsuccessful, they choose to do what is convenient. And when things get tough, they stop, quit, and give up. They start another project or abandon their goals.
This article from Entrepreneur.com nails it:
“The successful are clear on the why’s of what they do. Their why’s provide the deeper meaning responsible for sustaining their motivation. They understand they can get practically anything they want out of life – if they are willing to pay the price.”
Hence, are you willing to do the extra? Are you willing to do the hard work where most people don’t want to do?
When you are absolutely committed to achieving what you want, you give yourself no excuses, only action. And this is when you will become a self-motivated person who makes things happen.
7. They take full responsibility for whatever happens to them
Motivated people have the, “it’s up to me” mentality. They know that whatever happens to them right now is just temporary and that they have the control to change their lives because they are responsible for their lives.
The highly motivated, like Les Brown, Tony Robbins, Brian Tracy, and many more, understand that life is up to them. They are the ones who are responsible for their lives.
This is why it is alright that they can be born into a poor family, but that doesn’t mean that they have to be poor for the rest of their lives. They believe that they can change their lives. They believe that they are the ones who can alter their fate.
And thus, they make choices and decisions based on the future that they want.
Of course, there are things that we cannot control, such as the weather, gravity, nature, etc. But that doesn’t mean that we cannot be responsible for what is happening to us.
Even if you can’t control the event, but you can always control your responses. Just like this saying:
[ctt template=”9″ link=”Rq818″ via=”no” ]“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.”[/ctt]
Self-motivated people understand that blames, excuses, and justifications are not going to help them reach a higher ground.
And if they want to win the game of life, they must take full responsibility for their lives. You too, should do the same. Do not blame and make excuses. Take responsibility for your life, starting from this moment.
8. They delay instant gratification
Yes, highly motivated people know the power of delayed gratification. When they get to choose between partying and working on their dreams, they always choose to work on their dreams.
They understand that if they work harder right now for what they want, they can enjoy later.
Success is about making the right choices and doing the things that get you where you want to go. And many times, people choose to have instant pleasure rather than to sacrifice and work for their goals.
- They choose to play games now instead of writing the articles for their blog post.
- They choose to eat the box of chocolate rather than exercise and burn the calories.
- They choose to spend right now rather than save and invest the money for future growth.
Self-motivated people understand that they need to work hard right now and sacrifice for their future.
Remember this quote:
[ctt template=”9″ link=”K1byw” via=”no” ]“Success is living a few years of your life like most people won’t, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t.”[/ctt]
Therefore, learn to delay gratification. Choose to work on what is important and not on something that gives you immediate pleasure.
Do you know one of Warren Buffett’s secrets to becoming a billionaire is his ability to constantly delay gratification?
Rather than spending the money he has earned, he chose to re-invest and let the compound interest works its magic.
So, choose to delay gratification. Work on the important. Work on your goals and your dreams. And when you get there, you can taste the victory from your own hard work, which is the sweetest.
9. They work extremely hard
Do I need to explain more? Self-motivated people are people who work extremely hard. They choose to work on their dreams and their goals whenever possible.
Rather than wasting time checking what are the updates from their friends on Facebook, they choose to work on their goals.
They don’t simply waste time for nothing, but they enjoy working for their goals and pursuing their dreams.
This is not to say that highly motivated people don’t enjoy or have leisure time. They just work hard so that they can enjoy “harder” later.
Hence, don’t get lazy. Keep on doing, pushing yourself, and eventually, your hard work will pay off.
Recommended reading: Stop Working Hard Unless You Fulfill These 5 Principles
10. They make mistakes and they fail, but they don’t give up
Self-motivated people are people who will never give up. A winner will never quit and a quitter will never win.
The only way to achieve victory is not to quit, no matter how tough or difficult the situation gets.
Steve Jobs was fired from the company he started, but he did not quit. He followed his passion, founded another company, and eventually that company was acquired by Apple and he got back into Apple. And the rest, as they say, is history.
No matter what happens, choose to not give up. You can face failures and experience dramatic setbacks, but whatever you do, don’t give up.
Motivated individuals know that they are working for a bigger purpose. They don’t work for the money or the car, they work for a higher purpose that drives them internally.
And because they are working for a purpose bigger than themselves, they won’t give up. They make mistakes and they experience failures, but they continue to move on.
This is the trait that you must adopt if you want to be a highly self-motivated person, too.