The Truth About Business/Entrepreneur Motivation

In this article I’m going to talk about entrepreneurial motivation. Some people think that entrepreneurs, like Elon Musk, are magical beings who wake up every morning with a burning passion and huge motivation to do work. They think that their motivation makes their breakfast for them while they eat it, and it brushes their teeth for them as well. Then their innovation puts on their tie, they put on their cape of awesome entrepreneurship and then they fly to work on a rocket ship. 

Of course I’m exaggerating, but that’s what some people think entrepreneurship is, and what the other successful entrepreneurs are like. The truth is that different people function in different ways.

The Morning Routine

First of all, there is the myth that all entrepreneurs wake up at 5 am with a burning passion and desire in their stomach. I can assure you that this is not the case. Most people actually wake up a little bit later then that, and it takes them a while to get into it. Like anything else it’s a process. It starts really slow. You start with a little breakfast, maybe some water and a workout. Then after that it starts to get going. In the beginning of the day people generally do some easy tasks.

I know that there’s this myth out there that you should do the hardest tasks in the morning. Well most people don’t actually do that. Most people get going quite slowly, and as the day progresses it builds up.

For me personally, and for some of my friends as well, it takes a while to get going and to get warmed up in the morning. Before we can do the really productive tasks, the hardest things and the most creative tasks, like creating videos for YouTube or doing sales calls. This is quite normal.

On the other hand, I actually know a guy who grew up on a farm. He wakes up at 5 am, forces himself into a decent mood, and then he picks up the phone and starts making calls to other countries where they’re already awake. So some people are like this and that’s perfectly fine. However, most entrepreneurs don’t wake up with fire in their belly. In the morning they aren’t ready to work at their peak performance.

Building the Momentum

It goes even further for me. My peak for productivity is actually later in the night. That’s why I go to bed at 4 or 5 am, sometimes even 6 am. It’s because I peak later in the day, when there’s less sunlight and less stuff going on around me. It just works for me, and it’s always worked for me like that.

So it’s quite normal to stumble out of your bedroom, have your eggs in the morning, and get the train rolling. People get really hard on themselves sometimes. They beat themselves up and tell themselves things like:

“I can’t be an entrepreneur because this morning I didn’t implement. So I may as well just do whatever it is that I normally do.”

Instead of that, just accept the fact that you’re not perfect, and no one else is either. It’s perfectly normal to get a slow start in the morning and then to build it up as the day goes on.

Be aware though that you still need to work the hours. Just because you get going slowly doesn’t mean you don’t have to do the work. It doesn’t mean that you don’t have to hustle. You still have to hustle, just follow the process and don’t beat yourself up. If you don’t feel super awesome with a burning passion in your stomach every morning, that doesn’t mean that you need to find a different business because you’re not passionate about it.

The Daily Hustle

This is a process that you work on and build up over the years. Guys like Elon Musk haven’t always had an amazing passion for business. They’ve had mentors and they’ve had step by step success that they’ve built up over the years. Now they’re at the point where they can achieve amazing things. However, in the beginning they worked hard in their basement for many years, just like everyone else. They’ve built up lots of momentum. The daily micro-momentum, and the macro-momentum which carries them through the years as well.

That’s how it works. That’s what I see in the real world, when you don’t read a book by an author who is trying to make someone seem like he’s a god. These guys aren’t gods, they’re just human beings. I can absolutely guarantee you that all these entrepreneurs, all these millionaires, all these billionaires, all these company owners, they’re all just human beings and they’re really not that special.

If you hustle and work really, really hard, in a few years you can be what they are. This is not something that you’re born with, it’s something that you develop, and it’s something that you are capable of developing.

So that’s pretty much it, that’s what I wanted to share with you today. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below. If you’d like more free content on entrepreneurship, business, sales and marketing, please subscribe to my YouTube channel.