Something I read and hear from many great leaders is consistency. Doing something regularly day after day!
The major problem with doing something consistently is sustainability. Is what you're doing something you can continue doing weeks, months, or even years down the line? Weathering through the times when you really don't want to do it, and yet continuing. I've found two major camps in accomplishing any goal: motivation, and the other is a mindset change.
Motivation can be found in anyone; everyone gets motivated by something; if not, we wouldn't get out of bed in the morning, we wouldn't have a will or reason to live and go brain dead or otherwise. Motivation is something that can take someone's potential and actualize it. It's getting someone almost 300lbs to eat healthily and lose nearly 100lbs in a relatively short time period. It's the drive for going after something. However, it doesn't last; motivation fades as things start to slow down or get into a rhythm and we become desensitized to what we've accomplished, and without a clear vision for the end goal, there is a lapse into old behavior. I always thought that motivation, once had, would keep you going forever, it would take you leaps and bounds, and that's what would generate more motivation and energy. This is true to a certain extent, but after a while, it becomes commonplace, or we lose interest in the goal.
Having that thought of "I'm going to lose motivation sometime down the line" in the back of your head as you're going into a new project or idea sets you up for success. You can then ask yourself, "alright, I'm going to lose motivation for this, what will I do when I don't feel like it anymore," and that's something that I've found you need to answer before going for a goal, if not you will fall off the path. If you set in place small changes that you know you can consistently do over the long term, you will go much farther, even though you feel like you could move mountains initially, and doing small things doesn't make any sense.
Motivation is something that gets you started; mindset is what keeps you going.
Key takeaways:
1) Everyone is motivated by something; if not, they wouldn't have a reason to get out of bed in the morning.
2) Motivation is a huge power, but it's not sustainable; there must be a mindset change for lasting impact.
3) Sustainability is more important than doing something big at the moment.
4) Making small changes, in the beginning, feels counter-intuitive, but can keep you going over the long term