How to Refuel Your Motivation and Have Your Best Year Yet

Are you feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, stressed, disappointed, or generally burnt out right now from the ups and downs of the automotive industry and what we’ve experienced in the past few years?

If the answer is YES, this might be a good time to re-start and re-ignite the motivation that your automotive business needs to drive the sales, profits, and overall goals you want to achieve for this year’s objectives.

We’ve seen it across the board, everyone is burnt out right now. There are many automotive businesses (and individuals) feeling beaten up and bruised over the lack of employees, lack of quality employees, parts delays, lack of training, frustrations with strategic partners, financial losses, and the obvious, the global pandemic.

We’ve even experienced it on our end when speaking with automotive businesses, everyone seems to have the same “deer in a headlight” look when you ask the question “What are your exciting goals for 2022?”.

At first, my thoughts were that people needed a kick start to motivation, and to some, this is true…but as I started to uncover the root cause, I started to see that most just simply didn’t understand the things they could do to use their motivation in these tough, restricted, and challenging times that we’re facing.

That’s where we thought to come in and help provide some inspiration. We’ve asked around and did plenty of research to find out exactly how an automotive business can get past the burnout and reignite the fuel they need to have a powerful year.

At Auto+ Performance, we are a company that is based around finding solutions to automotive business problems and challenges. We truly believe that the foundation of every solution needs to come from the motivation and commitment to inspire and influence positive change. So, simply put, motivation is important.

What is Motivation?

Motivation is that internal spark and energy that fuels your body and mind to gain valued outcomes like improved performance, enhanced well-being, personal and professional growth, and even a sense of purpose.

It’s the thing that gets you out of bed in the morning with an insane amount of energy to not only conquer the day but crush every goal and task item you set for yourself. Do you have this spark we speak of? If the answer is no, or kind of, keep reading, this is where things get good.

Let’s start by saying that every single individual on this planet has the exact same 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to make the choices they need for the outcomes they desire. Would you agree with this statement?

So, with your 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, how do you currently use your time? Do your personal or professional goals and dreams match the 24 hours a day/7 day a week that you’re currently living?

If the answer is no, I think we may have uncovered a solution to your motivation.

“Motivation comes from when the things we do, align with what we want to achieve in our lives. If we set certain goals and objectives that we want to achieve, we then make the choice to align how we go about achieving these items in our daily lives”.

Are you still following me?

So, what are the goals and objectives you want to achieve for yourself or your business this year?

• Do you want to hit record sales?
• Do you want to achieve higher net profits?
• Do you want to change your companies’ culture?
• Do you want to get additional certifications?
• Do you want to buy a house on the water?
• Do you want to be debt-free?
• Do you want to have financial freedom?

What’s stopping you?

Let me ask that again, what’s stopping you from achieving those things? Take some time to reflect on this, as the answer to this is usually our root cause.

And once we understand the root cause, we can grow.

Do you know what we have in common in relation to an acorn? Insane potential.

When we revert to nature for lessons, a single, little acorn is capable of producing an oak tree over 90 feet tall, with a crown of 150 feet and remains green and growing through its entire life span. We, as individuals, also have the same potential inside us.

Growth is motivation; the potential to grow is what motivates us, just like the acorn growing to its full potential.

Why is it Important?

Well, it is to my belief that there are only two ways on how we go about living our lives.

1. You’re either green and growing, expanding yourself, achieving goals, hitting targets

OR

2. You’re living the life as “this is good enough for me”

Neither is right or wrong, it’s only what works for you. So, which one are you? Green and Growing or Good Enough?

If you chose the “green and growing” then that’s where Motivation is important and essential in a goal and objective living environment.

But let’s say you chose the “good enough” lifestyle.

Let me ask you if you lived the rest of your life in the “good enough” mindset, would you feel happy and fulfilled or would you feel like you always wished you did something more with your life?

If the answer is happy and fulfilled, I truly believe that some individuals really are happy with this lifestyle.

But I don’t believe it’s you as you still wouldn’t be reading this article.

We as human beings, usually need a sense of purpose in life. We feel good when we accomplish things in our lives and hit milestones. For some, this could be having & raising a family, for others, this could be to be financially free. What is important to you?

Whatever it is, know that you can have it…and you can have it all too.

Finding Motivation

Motivation is the name of the game, and the roadblocks are usually your fears.

Take a moment, close your eyes and think of something you want to achieve more than ANYTHING in this world. Visualize yourself having that thing and then think about why you don’t have that thing today.

What is the reason why?

Let me guess, it’s too difficult to achieve, takes too much time, you don’t have the money, you don’t have the education to do it, you don’t have the resources available to you, you weren’t brought up with the tools to allow you to accomplish those things.

Am I close? I feel like I am.

We as humans, always put roadblocks on ourselves when it comes to achieving the things we want. We make excuses to justify the reasons why we haven’t accomplished or achieved those things to date.

But really, it always comes down to a few simple reasons.

First, it’s knowing that every single person on this planet is in the exact same position as you. If they have money, they have insecurities. If they have strength, they feel like they don’t have the financial resources available to them.

My point is everyone is dealing with their own reasons of why they aren’t achieving the things they want for themselves.

The second reason is usually FEAR.

• Fear of Failure
• Fear of Rejection
• Fear of Uncertainty
• Fear of Change
• Fear to be Judged
• Fear of Loneliness
• Fear of Losing our Freedom

But what if you took all these fears and threw them out the car window? What if you stopped caring about what everyone else thought? Would this help?

Most of the things we want to accomplish, usually stem from the conversations we tell ourselves which, usually stem from our egos (our pride), and our fears.

And once you let go of your pride and face these fears and stop caring about what others think, you can do anything. Literally, anything you truly want for yourself and your business.

Ways to Keep and Measure Motivation

Additional to that, I am a firm believer that to stay motivated, you must also have a motivated support system around you. But what if the people surrounding you aren’t motivated? How do you motivate yourself and motivate others? What are some things you can do to build your own motivated support system?

Why We Lose Motivation

Often times, people lose motivation when they feel like they have done something over and over again and never received the results they were looking or working so hard for.

For example, how many times do people implement a goal to lose weight? Or get in shape?

To only have this goal drop after 30, 60, 90 days because the work they had to put in didn’t measure the results they were looking to get out. So, they drop the goal and say “forget it, it’s too tough right now with everything going on in my life”.

Do you agree?

This same principle applies to everything in life.

For example, how many people have tried to become a millionaire to not only give up because they didn’t receive the results they were expecting in the timeline they had expected them for?

We see it all the time with Social Media Marketing, or really, marketing in general. People put the money in to expect results right away based on their expectations but really everything great that has been achieved in life came from an enormous amount of hard work, time, commitment, money, etc.

You have to want to lose weight, be a millionaire, or achieve that specific goal so bad that you’re willing to do whatever it takes to get you there.

But it can even go deeper than that. Individuals will go back to their beliefs and the stories they tell themselves because that gives them comfort to know why they cannot achieve something. For example, let’s say you believe you were born with a “weight issue” or “your parents were very poor growing up”, you may tell yourself the story that no matter how hard you work, you’re just never going to lose the weight or become rich. It’s just not possible.

I’m here to tell you that’s FALSE information! And go back to reading Finding Motivation in this article to remember how to believe in yourself and the goals you want for yourself. We all have experienced something in our lives but this cannot be the reason why we don’t accomplish the things we want for ourselves.

Measuring Motivation

With anything in life, how do you know if you’re losing weight, achieving the millions, or being successful in your business? And how do you keep moving forward?

You need to have SMART goals and measure your results.
S- Specific
M- Measurable
A- Achievable
R- Realistic
T- Time

Here are two examples of great SMART goals

1. “I will make $500,000 in personal income per year ($41,666 per month) by December 31st, 2027”
2. “ABC Automotive will achieve $5,000,000 and 17% Net Profit measured through our Profit & Loss/ Income Statement and this will be achieved by the end of December 31st, 2022”.

Let’s take #2 as an example, how could you measure this goal?

Well, first, Profit & Loss/Income Statement or Bank Account would be a great measurement. Are you hitting $416,666.66 per month? Or are you only at $200,000?

If you’re only at $200,000, write where you are at each month and watch your numbers grow.

If you find yourself achieving $200,000 for the 3rd month in a row, ask yourself, what are ways I could make some additional money?

Some options could be:

• Have a team brainstorming meeting to get everyone else’s input on how these goals could be achieved as a team.
• Motivate your team to be more efficient and productive so that everyone wins
• Think outside the box- how could you make some additional money? Perhaps a YouTube Channel? Write Blogs? Sell things on your Automotive Website? Etc.
• Ask for a raise (From your strategic partners or boss.)
• Ask or implement a bonus that is tied to a Businesses Sales, Performance and/or Profits.
• Have regular meetings to ensure everyone stays motivated and on-board to achieve these outcomes.

Positive Ways to Handle Setbacks

When times get tough and you feel like giving up, just remember that you could be the most motivated person on the planet, and there will still be setbacks and forks in the road.

Yes, seriously.

No matter how much we try to focus on ensuring these setbacks don’t happen, they still do and always will, and that’s okay. Just dust yourself off and keep moving forward.

These setbacks are the ways we learn to use our inner strength to grow, flourish, and learn from our mistakes. There is so much good that comes from every setback we get so just remember that.

How to Handle a Setback

• Remember why you started and why your goals are so important to you and your business.
• Go back to your Motivated Support Team.
• Recognize and acknowledge them for exactly what they are.
• Review goals and set smaller, more frequent milestones to review on a regular basis.
• Talking to others with similar goals and strategizing a new method.
• Give yourself positive self-talk. It’s okay to take time for you and allow you to reset yourself.
• Sharing your successes with others who support you and getting their feedback often.

Remember to use your setbacks as a positive and the fuel you need to keep pushing forward.

Conclusion

As you can see now, motivation influences so much good in our lives. It gives us the inner joy and sense of purpose that we all long for when achieving milestones for our businesses and in our personal lives.

It allows us to achieve our goals and fuel our energy in a positive and powerful way that helps us to feel and know that we can truly accomplish anything we want for ourselves if we choose to.

And if you feel like after reading this blog that you still don’t feel motivated, perhaps you haven’t found that area that sparks you to feel good and motivated each day and perhaps this is a great time to look within to find the things that truly will bring you the happiness and success you want for yourself.

So, what goals and objectives do you have planned for this year? Do you hope to grow your customer base? Connect more with your current customers? Become more profitable? Grow your team or increase the morale in your shop? All of these can be achieved through a firm focus on motivation.

Interested in learning more about how motivation is tied to your business’ success? Let’s chat! I’d love to walk you through new and exciting ways to grow your business and motivation in 2022.