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Most of us are complacent until we are motivated to take action.  But, what motivates us?  What is real motivation?  What is the difference between inspiration and motivation?  Those are a few of the questions I am asked over and over again.  So, let me give you an example of motivation and inspiration.

Inspiration comes from within.  For example, we may hear the story of someone who has done something for the community that inspires us.  In our neighborhood, I would name Happy and Maya as inspirational people.  Neither has created a problem or a challenge for the neighborhood.  Instead, both have seen a need and taken action.

Happy and Maya realized that a small community of folks not too far from us was going without.  Many in that neighborhood could not afford food, were older and poorer than many in our town, and were overlooked by most.  They began a community garden set in the middle of that economically stressed neighborhood.  Without going into specifics, the two women through their actions inspired others to take part in creating the garden.  Today some 26 kids and adults from our neighborhood are regulars working in the community garden to provide fresh food for those who need it.  The people who live in the community surrounding the garden plot have found new hope and now also participate in the gardening project, helping to feed themselves and their neighbors.

It was not motivation that got so many people involved in the project.  It was inspiration.  Inspiration comes from within, from seeing and hearing about others doing something worthwhile and then doing something yourself.

On the other hand, motivation comes from outside stimuli that affects us.  Let’s say you are overwhelmed with credit card debt.  Collection agencies begin to call and harass you.  You feel the pressure to do something about your debt so you set up a payment schedule that will help get you out of debt.  That is motivation.

Quite honestly I learned about motivation in the simplest of ways.  Several of us who were learning about positive mental attitudes, motivation, goal setting and the such had been in class all day.  As soon as the class ended the lot of us headed to the hotel bar for a beer.  The instructor followed along.

I finished a glass of beer and excused myself to go to the restroom.  The instructor looked at me as I stood to leave the table.  “Beer is motivational, isn’t it?”

Many of our more basic goals are the result of motivation.  Something affects us and pushes us to take action.  Most goals are the result of problems that we face or challenges in our lives.  Too many of us are happy to continue our lives as they are until something happens, until something slaps us in the face, until something forces us to get into action.

Our first goals are usually the result of motivation, the result of a personal need.  Once we have mastered what motivates us often we can rise to those goals that come from inspiration.