Welcome back to the Mib Speaks podcast, the podcast
for mums and women in business who are done waiting
to feel like it and they're ready to build something
sustainable. Not something that depends upon
your mood, your energy or a perfect morning but
something that works in real life. I'm Leona
and today I'm going to say something that might
sound a little bit and feel a little bit uncomfortable
at first. Motivation is a lie. Not because motivation
isn't real, because it's unreliable. And if your
business depends upon motivation, it will stall
the moment life gets busy, loud or hard. Motivation
is a spark, but sparks burn out quickly. Have
you ever told yourself, I'll do it when I feel
motivated. I'll get to it when I get back in
the zone. I'm waiting for the spark to come back.
Then this episode is for you. Because here's
the truth that most people don't want to hear.
Highly successful people are not more motivated
than you. They're more disciplined. They're more
committed. They don't wait to feel inspired.
They build systems that work even when they don't
feel like showing up. Motivation feels good,
but discipline builds results, habits build income,
consistency builds confidence, and none of those
require for you to feel motivated. If motivation
were the key, every January life would change.
But we know how that works. Right? Motivation
fades the moment you're tired, your kids are
sick, somebody doesn't get back to you, you don't
get the response you hoped for on one of your
posts. You try something new and it doesn't work
first time. Most people stop. Not because they
can't do it, but because they tried an action
and they tied an action to an emotion. If I had
to tell you one thing that changed everything
for me is this. I stopped asking myself, do I
feel motivated? I started asking myself, what
does the committed version of me do today? Because
commitment doesn't care about mood. Commitment
shows up tired. Commitment shows up messy. Commitment
shows up anyway, regardless. Now let's make this
very real. Think about the last time you felt
highly motivated. Maybe you planned everything.
You wrote the list. You felt the energy. You
felt amazing. Then life happened. Motivation
didn't disappear because you failed. It disappeared
because motivation was never meant to carry the
weight. So here's the reframe that I want you
to adopt. Motivation starts things. Systems sustain
them. And if your business relies upon motivation,
it will always feel heavy. If your business relies
upon habits it becomes lighter over time. So
let's talk about actions, not hypotheticals.
Here's the first shift that I want you to make.
Stop setting goals that require you to feel like
it. Instead, set standards. Standards sound like
I post three times a day regardless. I follow
up on every lead within 48 hours. I spend 20
minutes a day working on my visibility. I do
the boring basics even when I'm not in the mood.
Standards remove negotiation. They remove emotion.
They remove excuses. And that's freeing. So here's
your first action. Write down three non -negotiables
in your business, not goals, standards. Things
you do, whether you're motivated or not, whether
your motivation is high or low. Now let's talk
about energy because this matters. Lack of motivation
is often a signal, not a problem. Sometimes it's
telling you you're doing too much, you're over
-complicating things, you're chasing things that
don't matter to you. You're working without direction.
So here's your second action. Ask yourself, what
can I simplify? What is the one thing that you
could strip back that could make consistency
easier? What's one task that you could make smaller
instead of abandoning it altogether? Because
consistency doesn't mean doing more. It means
doing less, but doing it better repeatedly. Now
let's talk about identity because this is the
part most people skip. You don't act consistently
because of motivation. You act consistently because
of who you are, who you believe you are. When
you identify somebody who shows up, you show
up. If you identify somebody you follow through,
you follow through. Do you keep promises to yourself?
Do your actions change? So here's your third
action. Finish the sentence. I'm the kind of
business owner and I choose an identity that
requires action and not emotion. Now I want you
to address something honestly. especially for
moms and women in business. You don't need to
be perfect. You don't need to be on all the time.
That is impossible. You don't need to hustle
all of the time. You don't need to burn out to
be committed. Commitment can look calm. It can
look quiet. It can look like showing up in your
PJs. It just needs to be consistent and fit into
your life. But it does require responsibility
and responsibility sounds like this. Even when
I don't feel like it, I do the basics. Even when
it's uncomfortable, I follow through. Even when
nobody is clapping for me, I keep going because
results don't come from big bursts of motivation.
They come from boring, repeatable actions done
time and time again. So let me leave you with
this. Stop waiting to feel motivated. Stop waiting
for your success to determine, be determined
by your mood. Stop believing that everybody has
something that you don't. They don't. They just
decided that motivation doesn't get to be in
charge. So here's your final question and sit
with this. If motivation disappeared tomorrow,
what would you still commit to? Because that's
where your real success lives. If this episode
has hit home, share it with somebody that needs
a reminder. And remember, You don't need motivation.
You need to be committed. You need good habits.
I will see you next time on Mibspeak.