People will not always give you the boost that you require. In fact, it will get to a point in life that you will feel like you are all alone. It may look like you are walking the journey of life all by yourself. At that point, the only person you need to keep you motivated to keep going is yourself. There might even be times that you will not get applause, supervision, nor immediate reward, yet you still find a way to push yourself forward. This is why self-motivation is very important. It is the inner drive that keeps you going even if others may be quitting, doubting, or resting. It is true that external motivation, maybe from friends, family, and others, may be helpful, but your long-term success is heavily determined by your self-motivation.
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I once read a story of a king whose kingdom was attacked. His wives, children, servants, and relatives were taken into captivity, together with a lot of his material possessions. When the king came back home, he met his palace in ruins. He called on the elders of the land to quickly talk with them. The same people who he thought would help him think of a solution were the same people that only gave sympathy and it made the matters worse. The king was broken emotionally to the point that he could not help it but to start crying like a baby. Even the elders and chiefs joined him to cry.
After he was sad about what had happened, and then seeing that no one was ready to help him with a potent solution, he encouraged himself. He found motivation in himself, then picked up his emotions together and do what was needful. He assembled his army and then led the troop to fight the captors. He fought so hard alongside the army and at the end, he rescued all that were carried away. When he came back, the kingdom was so happy. All these were very possible simply because he motivated himself and fought for what he stood for. He did not wait for people to motivate him, because the people that should have done that did not show support. He got up and got it done himself.
If you are waiting for people to push you before you do well in life, then you may wait for long. It is true that people can inspire you to take certain steps, but to sustain yourself, you need more than just inspiration, you need self-motivation. Your true character is not shown when others are watching you or monitoring you, but when you are alone. It is normal for people to feel the zeal and enthusiasm to act when they have people supporting them. But what happens when they are alone? This is when your true personality and character will be tested. This is when self-motivation comes into play. It is doing what is necessary and what is right even if you are in private.
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In order to build self-motivation, you need to have a clear purpose. When you have a clear reason why you are doing what you are doing, you will have strength to continue to do it, even if it becomes difficult to do. It is actually purpose that fuels persistence. Without having purpose, you can easily be distracted. But when you have a clear purpose, you will become more disciplined, because you have a bigger picture of what you want to achieve. When you know where you are going and why you are going there, you will not need external people to motivate you, you will naturally feel motivated to keep going.
To also grow in self-motivation, you have to learn to celebrate your little wins. Every progress you make, no matter how small it may look like, will boost your confidence. For example; completing a task, learning new skill, achieving a daily goal, etc, all these will remind you that your efforts are producing results. These results will become a self-motivating factor to make you keep taking more steps. These small wins are part of what create the momentum that will keep you motivated to be moving.
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