1. Have a cause

I can't think of a more powerful source of motivation than a cause you care about. Such cause can inspire you to give your best even in the face of difficulties. It can make you do the seemingly impossible things.

While other causes could inspire you temporarily, a cause that matters to you can inspire you indefinitely. It's a spring of motivation that will never dry. Whenever you think that you run out of motivation,  you can always come to your cause to get a fresh dose of motivation.

找到一個(gè)理由
“在激勵(lì)里，沒什么比理由更有力了。這些理由能在困難當(dāng)前時(shí)把你激發(fā)起來。它能讓你去做一些看起來不可能的事�！�

盡管也有其他一些動(dòng)機(jī)理由能臨時(shí)刺激你，與你休戚相關(guān)的那些目標(biāo)能無限期地激發(fā)你。這是一口永不干涸的激勵(lì)泉水。什么時(shí)候你覺得沒動(dòng)力了，就去找找自己的目標(biāo)以獲得動(dòng)力的泉水。

2. Have a dream. A big dream.

Only as high as I reach can I grow, only as far as I seek can I go, only as deep as I look can I see, only as much as I dream can I be.—Karen Ravn

Your cause is a powerful source of motivation but it's still abstract in nature. You need to make it concrete in the form of a dream. Imagine how the world will be in the future. Imagine how people will live and work.

Having a dream is important because it's difficult to be motivated if you don't have anything to shoot for. Just think about people who play basketball. Will they be motivated to play if there is no basket to aim at? I don't think so. They need a goal. You need a goal. That's what your dream is for.

But just having a dream is insufficient. Your dream must be big enough to inspire you. It must be realistic but challenging. It must stretch your ability beyond your comfort zone.

要有一個(gè)夢(mèng)想。還要夠大。

“能摸多高我就長(zhǎng)多高，能探多遠(yuǎn)我就走多遠(yuǎn)，能看多深我就看多深，能做多少夢(mèng)我就做多少夢(mèng)�！�

你的目標(biāo)動(dòng)力對(duì)于激勵(lì)來說是個(gè)挺有力的來源，但還是太抽象。你得把它具體化成一個(gè)夢(mèng)想。想象一下未來的世界會(huì)怎樣。想象一下人們?cè)趺瓷�活工作。如果你無的放矢，根本沒法激勵(lì)自己，所以做做白日夢(mèng)還是挺重要的。想想打籃球的人。如果根本沒有籃筐去投，誰還有動(dòng)力�。课铱淳蜎]有了。他們需要目標(biāo)。你也是。不然你白日夢(mèng)拿來干嘛。
但光有白日夢(mèng)還不夠。這個(gè)夢(mèng)得足夠高遠(yuǎn)，那才能激勵(lì)你。它得既現(xiàn)實(shí)主義又不是可以一蹴而就的。它還得能迫使你離開安逸的環(huán)境去大展身手。

3. Be hungry

Wanting something is not enough. You must hunger for it. Your motivation must be absolutely compelling in order to overcome the obstacles that will invariably come your way.—Les Brown

To be truly motivated, you need to have hunger and not just desire. Having mere desire won't take you through difficult times since you don't want things badly enough. In many cases, hunger makes the difference between the best performers and the mediocre ones.

How can you have hunger? Your cause and your dream play a big role here. If you have a cause you care about and a big dream related to it, you should have the hunger inside of you. If you think that you are losing hunger, all you need to do is to connect again to your cause and dream. Let them inspire you and bring the hunger back.

要有饑渴感

“‘想要’什么那還不夠。你一定要對(duì)它充滿渴望。你的動(dòng)力一定要足夠霸道，那才能跨過總是出現(xiàn)在路上的那些障礙�！�

要想真正得到激勵(lì)，你得不僅僅是“想要”，還要是“渴望要”。僅僅是普通欲望沒法幫你渡過困難，因?yàn)槟阌植皇欠且�不可。很多時(shí)候，有沒有饑渴感就是將軍和士兵的差別。
怎樣才能有饑渴感？這里就得看你的動(dòng)機(jī)目標(biāo)和夢(mèng)想了。如果你又有關(guān)心的目標(biāo)又有和之相關(guān)的白日夢(mèng)，你就該有一種饑渴感才對(duì)。如果你認(rèn)為自己正在喪失這種饑渴感，你所要做的就是再一次連結(jié)起目標(biāo)和夢(mèng)想。讓它們繼續(xù)激發(fā)你并給你帶來饑渴。

4. Run your own race

I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself.—Mikhail Baryshnikov

Comparing yourself with others is an effective way to demotivate yourself. Even if you start with enthusiasm, you will soon lose your energy when you compare yourself with others.

Don't let that happen to you. You have your own race so how other people perform is irrelevant. Comparing yourself with others is like comparing the performance of a swimmer with a runner using the same time standard. They are different so how can you compare one with the other?

The only competitor you have is yourself. The only one you need to beat is you. Have you become the best you can be?

別管別人

“我又不想比別人跳舞跳得好。我只想著跳得比自己好而已�！�
要想灰心喪氣，拿自己跟別人比可謂立竿見影。就算一開始你豪氣沖天，一和別人比，你馬上就繳械投降。
千萬別這么做。你跑自己的，管別人呢。拿自己和別人比，就像讓一個(gè)游泳的和一個(gè)跑步的用同一時(shí)間標(biāo)準(zhǔn)斗快。都不一樣，天曉得你怎么比較出來？
自己才是自己的唯一敵人。這也是你唯一要戰(zhàn)勝的對(duì)手。你做到最好了嗎？

5. Take one more step

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.—Winston Churchill

When you meet obstacles along the way, there could be the tendency to quit. You may think that it's too difficult to move on. You may think that your dream is impossible to achieve. But this is where you can see the difference between winners and losers. Though both of them face the same difficulties, there is one thing that makes the winners different: the courage to continue.

In difficult situations, just focus on taking one more step forward. Don't think about how to complete the race. Don't think about how many more obstacles are waiting for you. Just focus on taking the next step.

走下去

“成功無止境，失敗還有救；重要的是要有勇氣玩下去�！�

當(dāng)你半路遇到困難，你可能想過要溜掉。你可能覺得難于上青天。你可能覺得自己白日夢(mèng)做得太離譜。但就在這里，成功者和失敗者的不同點(diǎn)就凸顯出來了。盡管他們遇到同樣的麻煩，有一點(diǎn)使成功者與眾不同：玩下去的勇氣。
困境里，你應(yīng)該集中精神向前邁多一步。別想著怎樣才能跑完。別想著前面還有多少障礙。只想著你的下一步。

6. Let go of the past

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could.—Ralph Waldo Emerson

Believe it or not, one of the best demotivators is your past. Your past can drag you down before you realize it. Your past can give you a heavy burden on your shoulders.

The good news is it's a burden you don't have to carry. Take it off your shoulder and leave it. You might make mistakes in the past. You might disappoint others with what you did. But it's over. It's already in the past and there's nothing you can do about it.

Today is a new day and you have the chance to start again. No matter how bad your past might be, you still have a bright future ahead waiting for you. Just don't let the burden of the past stop you.

讓往事如煙飄走

“搞定每一天，你就能做任何能做的事�！�

隨你相不相信，你的過去在擾亂軍心上可謂極具殺傷力。你還不知道，就給它扯了后腿。它給你背上了太重的負(fù)擔(dān)。不過，好消息是這些負(fù)擔(dān)你根本用不著去背。拿下來扔掉吧。過去你可能犯了錯(cuò)，可能因?yàn)樽约旱乃�做所為讓人大失所望。但都過去了，再怎么樣你都沒法彌補(bǔ)了。
今天就是一個(gè)新的一天，你又有機(jī)會(huì)重新來過了。不管過去你多么不走運(yùn)，你仍然前程似錦。別讓那些過去的負(fù)擔(dān)束縛了你吖。