There was once an old farmer in America’s Deep South who struggled every day to make ends meet. When the oil companies started to drill for oil in the communities surrounding his land, he was approached but refused them permission to drill. He didn’t want his neighbours and fellow farmers to consider him desperate and willing to give up his core business for the chance of a quick return. However, the oil companies kept asking him and, eventually, after a particularly bad harvest, he agreed. The test drilling gave good results so they bored a hole and set up a well, which was known as Spindletop.

Apparently, when you strike oil, it can blow the top off the ‘derrick’. When Spindletop struck oil it destroyed the derrick. At that time it was the biggest oil find in American history. The farmer became a multimillionaire.

Here’s the message. The farmer was already a multimillionaire. He had been walking across millions of dollars of assets. His father had been walking across millions of dollars worth of assets. The difference came about when the farmer was persuaded to take action.

So do you have a Spindletop? What success story lies beneath you just waiting to be drilled and taken to market? What are you missing because you can’t get out of bed early enough or drag yourself away from the TV?

If you think ‘If I knew I had a Spindletop, then I’d find all the motivation I needed to get to work’, you’d be correct and you’d flourish right up to the first challenge; and then what would happen?

People who are motivated find a way; they get things done and they create energy.

So what stops you from getting motivated and what can you do about it?

Lack of energy

One of the primary reasons people lack motivation is they believe they don’t have the energy. Now, notice I said they ‘believe’ they don’t have the energy. Your body is amazing; it stores energy, so even when you think you are tired there’s still loads of energy in reserve. The key is that, when you think you can’t, change it to ‘I must’, then physically move your body. Give your fingers a wiggle, give your feet a shake, stand up and move about!

Fear of failure

Many people lack motivation because they fear they will fail, so they just don’t bother to get started. Of course, that means they have failed – but once that cycle has started, it’s hard to break. Unfortunately, the common perception nowadays is that it isn’t good to fail. I think failing is so much better than not having a go, so go for it. Make it your mission to fail at three big things this week. I bet you can’t.

Nothing to be motivated for

When I was a youth worker I was asked this question: ‘Why do kids hang out on street corners?’ My answer threw the questioner a little: ‘Because hanging out on street corners is excellent, that’s why.’

I’m sure he wanted me to go into some long explanation about how the youth of today are dysfunctional and how there should be ‘more for young people to do’. But the point is unless the ‘more for young people to do’ is going to be more fun than hanging around the streets, they just aren’t going to do it.

When I was 15 it was challenging at times to get me out of bed to go to school. Then an interesting thing happened – I fell in love. Well, I got a girlfriend, then suddenly I was out of bed at 7 am; in the shower; brushing my teeth for 20 minutes and getting to school early! I had suddenly found my ‘why?’

Find your ‘why?’

The real key to motivation is to find a big enough ‘why?’ and the rest will follow. To find your ‘why?’ see if you can work out what it is that motivates you.

Here’s a list to get you started:

With a big enough ‘why?’ the ‘how?’ becomes easier and with that you’ll feel your levels of motivation start to increase. As always, the secret isn’t in the knowing, it’s in the doing.