It is normal to have ups and downs in your motivation levels. Sometimes all you are motivated to do is click next for your current Netflix binge (or even worse, just let it go on to the next episode after 15 seconds). After a good binge (I just finished Occupied), you may be motivated to find another series to binge, but what if you could find your motivation in life instead?

Motivation is something YOU need to find, not something someone else can give you. There are many motivational speakers (I happen to be a fan of Zig Ziglar, Napoleon Hill (may they rest in peace) and Tony Robbins) but really all they can do is help you to find something that gets you going. I encourage you to watch some of their videos, read books, listen to talks or attend sessions if that is what you like (if you haven’t read it yet, pick up Napoleon Hill’s classic: Think and Grow Rich). But what if you could find your motivation FROM your Netflix binge?

What you watch (on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, whatever) reflects your interests (hence why they all make recommendations for you that are sometime a bit scary). Netflix probably knows more about you than some of your closest friends (and possibly more than you know about yourself). For example, I tend to watch sci-fi, end of the world and zombie shows/movies (gotta love Walking Dead). A bit of soul searching tells me that I enjoy seeing humanity overcome great barriers and come together to survive. It tends to match my own personal goals and beliefs. I follow some sage advice from Zig Ziglar in everything I do: “You can have everything in life you want if you just help enough other people get what they want”.

Here are a few steps/guidelines to help you to find your motivation:

1. Look for themes of what is important to you. (Are you looking for fame, fortune, family, friends or???)
2. List the top three themes/topics that are most important to you. (order matters)
3. Pick 1 thing you want to achieve in the next 1-3 years from your list.
4. List what achieving that goal will bring you (why you want to do it).
5. List what you will have to give up to get to that goal. (time, money, etc)
6. If what you get by achieving your goal is more important to you than what you will give up, work on setting up a plan and milestones to get you there.
7. Set up a process to hold yourself accountable to your plan.

It may seem odd to use your Netflix queue to get to know yourself, but it is just as good of a starting place as any. What you are trying to do is see where your mind goes when it doesn’t have self-imposed barriers. The grind of daily life tends to make us focus on the immediate, killing our motivation for growth and improvement. The intent is not to set your dreams to some type of Hollywood life but to allow you to expand your horizons.

If you need help through the process, feel free to reach out to me at http://www.jasonzigmont.com

This article was written by Jason Zigmont.  Jason Zigmont is a coach, consultant and author and can be found at http://www.jasonzigmont.net, on Twitter and Facebook.  Jason holds a PhD in Adult Learning and provides coaching services at http://www.jasonzigmont.com.