I discovered something that I didn't really want to see. But it was the truth and I'm going to admit it to you right now.

You see I have always been a good starter. I never have a problem starting new things. In fact I tend to go overboard. I am always starting something new. And I know that those people who know me are shaking their heads and saying,

"Yes, he is always going off on a tangent and starting something new."

I'm a great starter. I come up with brilliant new and better ideas than before all the time, and I'm always starting new things.

I am also a very good motivator. I really believe that I am. I get so excited about all these things that I want to do, that I motivate and excite everybody else.

I get them stirred up and they go out and conquer the world. And actually the truth is that most of them go and do what I started.

But here is what happens with me. I am a great starter, but I found out I am a difficult finisher. I get demotivated too quickly.

I get demotivated by the results when they are not quite what I expect them to be. I get demotivated by the way people respond to what I am doing. And I don't follow through and finish what I started.

I always used to hide behind the fact and say, "Well I'm an apostle and it is my job to lay foundations. It is other people's jobs to go and build on those foundations."

I got away with that for quite a few years. You see I would come up with these brilliant new ideas. I would start them off and hand them over to other people, and they would finish them.

Yes I believe God used it for a purpose. But I have realized that there is a problem within me when it comes to motivation.

And so I want to share on that subject in this Section. And perhaps you can identify with me and with some of the principles I am going to share here on this subject.

So let's first start out by seeing what motivation is. In this Section I want to explain what motivation is, why we need it, and where we can find it.

In the rest of the Sections we will go into more detail on reaching in and finding those sources of motivation, and making sure that we have them so that we follow through and finish the things that we start.

Two Cliches

Now there are two very important clichés if you like. You won't find these in the Bible. They are just the sayings of man, and they go like this. The first one says:

You don't need to get it right. You just need to get it going.

That is for all the people who have a problem starting things. I have never had that problem. In fact I get something going before I even think about how I will do it.

People who are a bit too analytical have a problem getting it going, because they are trying to figure out how they are going to do it before they start. We will look at temperaments later and see the problems that are involved there.

But you don't need to get it right. You don't have to be perfect. Just get it going and you can perfect it later. Get the ship into the water, and you can steer it on its course and fix things later.

This first saying is a well-known one. I have used it plenty of times, and you may have heard it around. But here is one you probably haven't heard before. It goes like this:

You don't need to do it perfect. You just need to keep it going.

Can you see the difference? You don't need to get it right. You just need to get it going. You don't need to do it perfect. You just need to keep it going.

You see perseverance is one of the major keys to success.

There is a little expression that I have used in the past and I am going to give it to you again.

What is it that makes a person a big shot? A big shot is just a little shot who kept shooting.

Perseverance can cause a nobody to eventually become a somebody. It can take a little shot - somebody who is insignificant - and as they keep working at it, eventually the time comes when they rise up and succeed and are considered a person of reputation.

So perhaps you have got it going now like I have always been doing, but you are having difficulty keeping it going. What you need is motivation to keep it going.

What Motivation Is

And so we come to the main part of this teaching. What exactly is motivation?

I discovered that the word 'motivation' is actually fairly new in the English language. It didn't exist for that long in the past. It was unknown. It is a fairly modern term, and one that has actually become so commonplace that you have heard it many times.

But how would you define it? You kind of know what it is. It is that elusive strange thing that we know we have to have. But we are chasing it like that elusive butterfly because it seems to run away from us all the time.

Motivation is Costly

Motivation is a very costly product. It really costs us. Do you know why? It is because you depend all the time on other people for it.

You are always looking for some way of getting motivated. And usually you are looking outside of yourself and looking to other people.

People will pay huge sums of money to go to a motivational speaker or a course on motivation.

They will spend a few days listening to a speaker who will stir them up. He will motivate them and get them charged up, so that they can go out and conquer the world and do what they don't feel like doing.

The problem is that the motivation often runs out about the time you walk out of the hall. Or it happens on the way home in your car. It may even last a day or two.

If it is really good it may last a week and then it is over. It is gone. And now you have to start looking for the next motivational course or the next motivational speaker that is coming to town, so that you can go and sit and listen and get motivated again.

It costs you a lot of money. It is worse than food. You have to keep getting it because it just runs out. It is like a great big gas-guzzler of a car that you just keep filling up, and it runs out before you have barely even got onto the road.

Not Always the Same in Everyone

Motivation varies from person to person. There are cultural differences. Different cultures and nations have different ways of motivation, and different things that motivate them.

This is because very often your background, your upbringing and your programming requires a different kind of motivation for each person.

There are differences in gender. Women often require a different kind of motivation to men, because they have different things inside of them. They have different outlooks and experiences and a whole new way of looking at life.

The man looks at things from a broad perspective. The woman looks in fine detail. So different kinds of motivation are often needed for men and women.

These things also change at different age levels. What motivates a little child is not the same as what motivates a senior person who is ready for retirement.

Or you have somebody in between in their youth, who is full of zeal and excitement and ready to conquer the world. The motivation changes over time.

And then there are temperamental differences. Each of the temperaments requires a different kind of motivation. We will look at that in more detail later.

Why We Need Motivation

So that is what motivation is. We will leave where it comes from for last. But first let's go a little bit further and see why we really need this motivation and what the main necessity for it is.

Helps You to Start New Things

Well without motivation firstly you are not going to start any new projects. You have to be motivated to start something new. You have to be excited and you have to have a reason.

You must have a driving force within you that says, "I want to get started and I am going to do this."

If you don't have motivation you will never do anything. You will just sit there and carry on with your humdrum life, living in that rut that you know only so well.

You see motivation is the substance of dreams. It is the substance of fantasy; of the dreams and things that we want to accomplish. These are the things that drive us and motivate us.

Motivation also gives you the confidence to get going. You see if you don't have the confidence to get going, you are going to sit and wait for somebody else to do it.

Then you will sit and complain all the time because everybody else is getting everything. You will say,

"Just look at her. Everything just falls into her lap."

"Just look at him. Everything he touches just prospers. And now look at me, sitting battling year after year."

You didn't have the motivation that the other person had, because you didn't have the confidence that that person had. You need motivation to have the confidence to step out and do what you saw those other people doing.

Motivation gives you a reason to get going.

It Produces Pictures

Motivation affects the soul. It produces pictures in your mind. And when you have pictures in your mind you start to dream. You start to have visions and you start to visualize and fantasize.

All of these things take place in the mind. And what happens when you have these things in your mind? It filters down and begins to affect your feelings and emotions.

Your desires begin to stir up. The more you think about that thing, the more you begin to desire it. And the more you just feel you have to have it, the more you can't wait to get going.

Getting Going

Of course the third part that is affected is the getting going part.

Once your mind is filled with all the brilliant ideas, and your emotions are so stirred that you are ready to go and conquer the world, the first thing you do is you step out and start fulfilling them.

All of the soul is affected by motivation. The mind, the emotions and the will must all be stirred up before you begin to reach out and accomplish the things that you desire in life.

Without it you will probably not even get started. But if you do - and that is the most dangerous thing - you will not complete any of the projects.

You will start something and after a while you will get bored. You will lose interest and just let it go.

Have you ever got all excited about something and you went out and bought all the books and the tapes? Now they are still lying there on the bookshelf if you have one.

You probably don't even have a bookshelf. You probably dumped them under the bed or somewhere.

You are going to get round to reading them one of these days. You likely read the first chapter in the first book. Or maybe you even skimmed through from the back or browsed through a few chapters.

You have ordered the books and you're ready to go. But by the time the books arrive in the mail it has already begun to wane hasn't it? You have become bored and lost interest.

Feeling a Failure

One of the other things that can happen, is you start out with great enthusiasm, and it just doesn't seem to pan out.

After a while you begin to feel a failure and you think, "You know I'm just not cut out for this. I'm just too useless to do this. I feel such a miserable failure. Why should I even continue with this?"

Your motivation will be gone. And without motivation it is going to happen every time.

Overcoming Obstacles

Without motivation you will start out with great gusto and suddenly you will see an obstacle in the road. You will think,

"I wasn't expecting that. I really wanted to do that, but I didn't realize that this is what it was going to cost me."

You didn't realize you would have to overcome that obstacle; that you would have to deal with that person, that circumstance or that situation.

But now suddenly there is an obstacle in the middle of the road. What is going to keep you going, to push right past that obstacle and follow through to the end?

One thing will do it: Strong motivation.

Feelings Get in the Way

Of course the bottom line is your feelings.

You say, "I don't feel like doing it today. I don't feel like going on. I felt like it yesterday. It seemed like such an exciting idea, but you know today my feelings are just not good.

Maybe I will look at it again tomorrow - if I feel like it."

Tomorrow you say the same thing. And after a few days you know that you are never going to do it again are you?

Without motivation you will not start anything. Without motivation you will not finish anything. And without motivation you will not accomplish anything in this life. You will not succeed in anything you set your hand to.

Without motivation it is impossible to persevere. Without it you will stay the little shot all your life, because you stopped shooting.

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