Many entrepreneurs start the year full of motivation but by February are already losing momentum or have quit. It’s normal but not necessary when you have the right fuel for your actions.

Why Motivated, Excited and Inspired Aren’t The Answer

Exasperated entrepreneurs believe they need to feel motivated, excited or inspired to successfully take action on their goals. And while those emotions can be rocketfuel for action-taking, they also tend to evaporate when we come up against obstacles.

That’s when feelings like fear, resistance and doubt take over. At that point most people rely on willpower and negative self-talk to get themselves to take action while feeling the negative emotions.

Not. Helpful. At. All.

This approach depletes your energy, erodes your self-confidence, and destroys your momentum. And THAT is why most people give up and settle for playing smaller and safer.

More Useful Emotions For Sticking With Your Goals

Empowered entrepreneurs fuel their pursuit of success with three very different emotions: compassion, curiosity and willingness.

I know, they don’t sound as sexy as motivated, excited or inspired, but they are vastly more useful when you hit the inevitable challenges.

Compassion Is The Foundation For Growth

Compassion lets you hold space for yourself to fail on the way to achieving your goals. In compassion, you can be patient when you make mistakes or don’t get the result you were going for.

Compassion makes it safe to try new things, fail, learn and keep going (which is the recipe for long-term success).

Curiosity

A foundation of compassion allows you to cultivate curiosity instead of criticism. Or, as Ted Lasso would say, “Be curious, not judgmental.”

Curiosity leads to new ideas, strategies, and actions that propel you toward your desired outcome—even if you experience temporary setbacks.

Willingness To Act in the Face of Fear, Overwhelm and Resistance

Once you have compassion and curiosity working for you, it becomes easy to generate a willingness to take action.

And willingness is the way around resistance, fear and overwhelm.

It can be hard to generate motivation and excitement when faced with setbacks. But willingness is much more accessible and keeps us in action-taking mode through the “messy middle”of the journey to achieving our goals.

Tips To Cultivate Compassion, Curiosity and Willingness

Try asking yourself empowering questions/thoughts to help you cultivate compassion, curiosity and willingness.

Here’s a few templates to get you started…

• Why is it understandable that [negative result, feeling or behavior]. (For example, "Why is it understandable that I feel scared in this situation?" "Why is it understandable that I got 5 optins instead of the 50 I had thought I would get?"

• What can I learn from this?

• I wonder… (For example, "I wonder how I could do this better next time." "I wonder what might happen if I try X, Y or Z." or "I wonder what else could be another way to interpret these facts.")

• I’m open to trying this because [compelling reason why you set the goal].

• I’m willing to take this risk/action knowing I will either get the result I want or I’ll learn something that will help me get that result next time.

Try these out and let me know how fueling your action with compassion, curiosity and willingness helps you create momentum. You can contact me through the Contact page on this website or DM me on Instagram @LauraNaiser or message me on Facebook.