Life Is Like A Prius

I have a Toyota Prius, which is a hybrid car that runs on a gas engine and an "electric engine" called the inverter. There are three things that make this car work: a regular, 12-volt battery that all cars have, a big hybrid battery that powers the inverter, and a regular gas engine that all cars have.

Here's how this car works. The small, 12-volt battery simply starts the car up. After that, its job is done. From that point, both the gas engine and the inverter make the car move. However, the gas engine does most of the work after the car goes over a certain speed limit. In my case, the inverter operates the car until I hit around 15 miles per hour, then the gas engine turns on. The gas engine would turn off if I either take my foot off the gas pedal, or if I'm at a stop light. But while I'm driving, the gas engine does most of the work, and the inverter would assist the gas engine if I need more acceleration power (for example, if going up a steep hill).

Think of the 12-volt battery representing motivation. The effects of motivation is short-lived, and it is just to get you to started. But motivation, just like the 12-volt battery, is short-lived. The motivation you get simply gets you to make that initial movement, but then that motivation is gone. Once motivation leaves, then something else takes over: faith.

Whenever you're working at something, you know that there is NO guarantee that you would be able to accomplish it. For example, if you're working on starting a business, there is no guarantee that your business would be successful. You can't see into the future. So, why chase after a dream that you don't even know would come true? Because you have FAITH that your dream would come true. So, if you want to keep moving forward, you need to work on building your FAITH, not getting more motivation.

Let's go back to the inverter. The inverter would move the car until the car hits a certain speed limit. With my old model, after I hit around 15 mph, the gas engine comes on. After that, the inverter would simply assist the gas engine if more power is needed. The inverter is like motivation that finds you already working. If the gas engine runs out of fuel, the car would lose acceleration power so that the car may only go (in my case) 15 miles per hour. The inverter may have enough juice to allow me to drive MAYBE one mile until the hybrid battery (that powers the inverter) drains out. At this point, I'm stranded on the street!

See, motivation works two ways. One, it gets you started. Two, it gives you assistance. So when you're working on that dream and you start getting discouraged, faith would allow you to keep going. But along the way, something encouraging happens to you -- this is the ASSISTANCE that motivation gives you. First, motivation gets you started. Second, motivation gives you encouragement WHILE you're working. But for the most part, FAITH, like the gas engine, does most of the work.

If you want to reach a goal, work on building your FAITH, not on getting more motivation.

See, our problem is that we LOVE motivation -- we love it too much. In fact, we could make ourselves completely dependent on motivation, which is downright foolish. You know well that motivation never lasts. So, why make your activities dependent on the amount of motivation you have?

However, while faith is the most important thing to work on, if you're only running on faith with absolutely NO motivation, then you'll ultimately crash. So, let's go back to the Prius. While the gas engine does most of the work, it STILL needs the inverter to work -- and the inverter is powered by the hybrid battery. If the hybrid battery goes bad, then it cannot fully charge the inverter. The hybrid battery would overheat and the gas engine would actually shut off, so you'll lose acceleration and run only on the inverter. But when the hybrid battery is bad, the inverter may get you a few feet down the road before it shuts off, too.

Motivation is important when working on your goals. While motivation is short-lived, it does come every now and then to assure you that you're heading in the right direction. If you're working hard on a goal and you NEVER get any kind of assurance along the way, then maybe that goal isn't for you. If you keep at it, you'll eventually break down and give up altogether.

Some people think that faith is completely blind. I disagree. Faith is ALWAYS based on something that you've seen. If you see someone jogging every morning and losing weight, that's something you've seen. Once you start jogging every morning so that you could lose weight, you're running on faith. There is no guarantee that you'll get the same results as the other person. But once you start jogging and see some pounds coming off, then that motivation helps assure you that you're heading in the right direction. If you're jogging everyday for months and still see no weight-loss, that should be a sign that you ought to do something differently -- you know, like cut down on drinking 40 ounces of beer every night.

Life is very much like a Prius. You have motivation to get you started, faith that keeps you going, and more motivation to assure you that you're going the right way. If you're ALL about faith with no concern for encouragement, you'll eventually burn. If you're ALL about motivation, you'll go hard like a sprinter but burn out very quickly. If you see both motivation and faith as important, then you'll reach whatever goal that you're going for. Remember that it's FAITH that does most of the work, but FAITH also needs some assistance from motivation so that you could keep on moving.

Be careful not to love on motivation. While it's nice when it comes, we could easily depend too much on motivation so that our FAITH loses power. Faith would be the FIRST to get you through the tough moments. If my Prius is stuck in the mud, the gas engine (faith) is what would get me out, not the inverter (motivation). But when the gas engine can't produce enough power to get me out of a situation, then the inverter comes in to help out.

When a situation gets so tough that your faith starts to weaken, that is when motivation comes in to give you a little assistance. So on your journey, be sure to seek opportunities for encouragement, because your faith will eventually weaken. This might mean not going after your dreams alone. This might mean seeking support from others who are like-minded. This might mean reading books, or attending conferences, or watching YouTube videos. However you seek encouragement, do so while being careful not to make encouragement your main source of power.