Motivation is something we all need. To pursue our passions, our dreams. We need to be motivated to do so.

We think of individuals being motivated in their own ways and for different reasons. But we don’t always consider motivation in families.

We don’t consider why in some families almost everyone reaches a level of success in their lives, but in other families everyone pretty much remains stagnant.

In these instances, it’s not just one individual in the family that lacks motivation, but the entire family does as well.

This lack of motivation can happen for a number of reasons, and one of them is because of influence. When you live in a household with other people, you all influence one another. The influence may not be always be obvious, but it is still occurring.

Influence happens because people look to others to see what they should and should not be doing. Even when they shouldn’t.

As families we tend to do the same, so we copy and follow one another as a result. We participate in the same activities, we watch each other, we like the same things, so we become heavily influenced to engage in similar behaviors, good and bad.

Once we start being influenced by people it becomes easy to copy them without even thinking about why.

So when you see people around you working at jobs they don’t like, you’ll likely do the same.

When people around you don’t show ambition it will influence you to not be ambitious either. When you see people settling, it’ll make you feel okay with settling too. 

As a family its easy to get lost in our everyday lives & not look at our lives from the outside. We don’t realize how unmotivated we are because we get used to the same old same old, and continue to go on doing those things.

When we see the reality of many people’s lives in our family, we also take on their feelings about life which can further contribute to a lack of motivation.

Education

Moreover, the education a family receives impacts their motivation as well.

When we aren’t well educated that may make us insecure about our capabilities. So instead of challenging ourselves & risking embarrassment, we decide to do what comes easy for us.   

If it’s what everyone in our family has done and is doing, we will likely follow in those footsteps.

Challenging People

In order to be motivated we also need people to challenge us in our lives. Not all of us grow up in families that challenge one another. If we are not challenged we won’t see the need to move further up in life or even know it’s a possibility. 

We reach for what we see others reaching for around us because that’s all we know. 

Embarrassment

Furthermore, fear of embarrassment or being shamed by others around us causes us to lack motivation as well. If we try to do something that people around us don’t do we may fear what they’ll think of us, so we don’t even make an attempt to do things differently.

We see ourselves as those around us see us.

Conversations

Motivation also comes from our conversations. Do we uplift one another with our words? 

If you grow up in family that talks about how you are incapable of being successful, it will influence you to see yourself in that way. You will only see the things you do bad, and not the things you do good.

My Household

In my case, I grew up in a household that was not very strict on education. This was not a bad thing completely, but it made it harder for me to want to do my school work because no one in my household really held me accountable for it.

So that influenced me to not really take school seriously.

As I got older it was hard for me in college because I wasn’t used to structure when it came to school. I also did not have much motivation to go to college & complete it because no one around me really pushed me.

These aspects of my life impacted my overall motivation to pursue my passions.

How to Motivate Each Other

So motivation not only comes from within, but it also comes from the people we are around. We all influence one another by our actions which is why it’s important to be aware of ourselves.

It’s important to realize that in a family dynamic there will be a lot of following one another & each other’s paths.

To see a change in our families, we need to start challenging our family members in every area of their lives & allowing our family members to challenge us.

If we see our family members slacking off too much, encourage them to be more disciplined.

If we notice someone has a gift that they are not pursuing, help them realize that, and assist them on their journey to pursuing it.

We also need to motivate one another to go further in life & seek out our passions.

It’s not just movie stars and musicians who can do significant things, any of us can.

We need to encourage our family members to seek out an education as well, and to be ambitious while doing so.

An education gives people the knowledge they need, to pursue their passions.

It’s also important to uplift our family by using encouraging words, so they know they not only realize their capabilities, but go after what they want as well.

It’s so important that we need motivate our family by highlighting their strengths, and encouraging them to work hard to get to where they want to be. We should also strive to be an example for them by working hard to reach our own goals and going after our own passions.