I remember a friend of mine who swore by a certain ritual that he did prior to taking any test. This is kind of an ironic memory because I was in graduate school in California and last time I checked the people in that program were otherwise very logical, rational and tended to live their lives based on evidence.

Well, I ran into this guy, and let’s call him Dave, who had this ritual that he would engage in before he took a test. It doesn’t matter what kind of test it was, he would always engage in this ritual and he would have ritual socks that he would put on. Dave, of course, did not get the memo that regardless of what you’re wearing and what kind of actions you took, you still have to know your stuff.

In fact, he believed so much in the ritual that he didn’t even bother to prepare for the tests. Well, it is no surprise to learn that Dave did not do all that well in school. I believe he graduated at the bottom 3rd or bottom 5th of our class. Not exactly a good place to be, especially if you’re looking for a job.

Anyway, I bring up this sad example because a lot of people tend to live their lives based on rituals. They think that as long as they’re putting in the time at work, somehow they will get rewarded. Well, guess what, we live in a post-mobile digital economy. I know that’s a mouthful, but the point I’m trying to make is that the jobs that you will have today will be gone tomorrow.

That’s how quickly our economy is evolving. This is not just the truth in the United States or any other kind of developed economy. This applies across the board, even in places like the Philippines, India and Siberia. You have to understand that the jobs now will disappear. That’s how quickly the world is evolving.

To adopt some sort of rigid ritual with the underlying assumption that things will not change is really a dead end, to put it lightly. You’re setting yourself up for a nasty disappointment later on. all that time, effort and focus you are investing in your ritual will go up smoke. It is only a matter of time.

Do yourself a big favor. Focus instead on proper motivation. When you are properly motivated, you increase your chances of developing a state of flow. Once you achieve mental and emotional state, all bets are off because you will be able to learn what you need to learn to stay afloat. You’ll be able to adapt and reinvent yourself, so whatever surprised life has in store for you, you will be able to handle easily.

I know this sounds too good to be true, but look at the alternative. Look at a dogmatic attachment to ritual, only to end up crashing and burning later on. that’s not going to be pretty. Do yourself a big favor. Set yourself up for success. Set yourself up for victory. How do you do this? Learn how to get properly motivated so you end up doing whatever it takes for however long it takes to achieve success.

I remember when I was in college and I was hanging out with some guys who were in a fraternity and they were telling me that their main priority in college was to basically chase girls and drink a lot of beer. At that time, all that sounded like a good idea. After all, who could argue with a nice fraternity party?

I mean, we’re talking about a party that snaked around the block, long lines of people, lots of beer that seemed to flow endlessly. What’s not to love? Well, the problem is, if your motivation is based on something that can easily be taken away from you, then you have your problem on your hands. You have to understand that motivation is the raw ingredient of any kind of success.

I don’t care whether you are studying for a test so you can get some sort of accreditation. I don’t care whether you are studying for a board exam or you are looking to migrate to another country. Motivation is crucial to any kind of goal achievement. Unfortunately, it’s very easy for us to assume that we’re already motivated.

It’s very easy for us to take the snarky attitude, that, “Hey, I’m doing what I’m doing, right? That means that I am motivated.” Well, you cannot take motivation for granted. At the very least, you cannot look at what you’re already doing and conclude that the fact that you’re doing them means that you are motivated.

If you were to do that, chances are, you are setting yourself up for a big letdown. Chances are, you’re only setting yourself up for even minor challenges to throw you off track. It doesn’t take much if your level of motivation is so shallow, problematic and derivative that any little problem is enough to throw you off.

If you pair this with the fact that most Americans and most modern people, for that matter, have increasingly small attention spans, then it is no surprise that people end up spending their lives doing stuff that they think will take their lives to the next level, but they quickly realize that they’ve been spinning their wheels all this time.

That’s how powerful real motivation is. When you are truly motivated, you look at your life based on first principles. You dispense with the busy stuff that doesn’t really take you anywhere. You look at the big picture. You look at your purpose. You revisit why instead of just getting bogged down, trying to figure out what and how to do things.

Do you see how this works? Do yourself a big favor. Stop taking your motivation level for granted and you will probably achieve greater results. If you are in any way, shape or form stuck, frustrated or disappointed in any area of your life, you might want to start looking at how motivated you truly are.

Now what if I told you that figuring out what to do, how to do it and when to do it are not as important as figuring out why. That’s right. Technical considerations, and this involves learning how to do something, are very important. After all, you need to know how to do things for you to get better at them. This is crucial for success.

But as important as these considerations may be, until and unless we can wrap our minds around purpose, we’re just basically spinning our wheels. That’s right, we’re just wasting our time. Most people live life wasting precious time on the small details. They focus on one exam after another, but at the end of the day they are still living the same life.

They are spinning in place and they are chasing their tails. How come? They did not let a big sense of purpose motivate them. They don’t even have an idea what this purpose is. Believe it or not, we all have a purpose if you are willing to look for it. You were put on this earth for a reason.

Last time I checked, this has nothing to do with stuffing with your face, going to the bathroom, worrying about shelter or any of the mundane small stuff in life. A purpose is the big stuff. will the world be a better place when you’re gone? Will the world be a better place because you have lived?

Those are the questions that speak to purpose. I’m not just talking about you leaving a child or you having an impact on your family because everybody does that. I’m talking about something bigger. Unfortunately, a lot of people lose sight of this and that’s why they do not have the proper level of motivation needed to achieve the big things in life.

They are unable to achieve a state of flow because they’re not properly motivated. The worst part of all of this is that they only have themselves to blame. Do yourself a big favor. Pay close attention to your sense of purpose. Understand that you have one. Reconnect with it. Allow it to push you to where you need to go.

Keep in mind that the longer you feel you are just spinning your wheels, the more you sap your resolve. Sure, you might have a lot of passion and energy on a day to day basis. Don’t expect that level to remain solid. Eventually, as doubts and a sense of helplessness about your routine creeps in, your daily level of passion and energy starts a downward decline. You might not even notice it at first but eventually it will show up in the worst way possible-you will be able to tell through your reduced output or your degraded output quality. Don’t let this happen. Get the proper motivation pronto!