Why You Don’t Need More Motivation to Reach Your Goal

What if the reason you haven't reached your goal has nothing to do with motivation? Would that make you happy or annoyed? ​

I'll be honest. I'm not motivated every day either. If you plan on only working when you feel inspired or motivated, it's probably not going to work out for you for very long.

In this blog, I’m sharing why you don't need more motivation to reach your goals.

Motivation is a Feeling, Not a Strategy

People might assume that because I'm a coach, I wake up every day motivated. Or that because I've been a competitive athlete, I'm always motivated to go to the gym. But I don't. 

I don't always feel excited to work out, record a podcast, write a blog, make a difficult decision, tackle a big project, or do my laundry.

If you've been telling yourself "I just need more motivation," I want to change your mind. You might not have a motivation problem at all. That could be a big relief.

There have been many times when I waited for motivation. It just never came.

One example is writing my book. I kept waiting to be inspired. I had the outline and the title. I kept waiting to be excited, to be completely ready to write it. But those feelings didn't consistently arrive.

What helped me move forward wasn't suddenly having more motivation. What I needed was to get clear on the next step. I also needed to decide when I was actually going to do it, and then have someone who expected me to follow through (AKA accountability). That's when I realized I wasn't really missing motivation. I was missing something completely different.

Motivation is a feeling. It's not a strategy.

You can't just say, "I'm going to be more motivated" any more than you can say, "I'm going to be happy." Motivation is wonderful when it shows up, but it's not always predictable. It changes based on our energy, our emotions, our sleep, our health, our workload, and whatever else is happening in our lives.

A feeling of motivation was never meant to carry a 6-month goal, a 1-year goal, a 5-year goal, or a really intense goal. When we rely on it, and it disappears, we often think, "I'm failing." But it doesn't mean you've picked the wrong goal. It doesn't mean you're lazy. It just means you're human.

Side Note: I'm going to let you know that She's Goaled™ Coaching Mastermind is coming back.  It's a speed course to reach your goals. The program is starting in September, 2026. Doors are open now. Read on because I’m sharing some other things you can bring in that are also part of the She's Goaled Coaching Mastermind program. If you want to learn more, click here.

What You're Actually Missing

1. Clarity
​Sometimes we say:

• "I want my business to grow."
• "I want to get healthier."
• "I want to make more money."
• "I want to have more freedom."

But those goals are just too vague to act on. Or even worse, you don't know what you want at all. Your brain needs to know what you're actually working towards, what it looks like, what it is.

When you say "I want to grow my business," what does that actually mean?

• Is it signing up five new clients? 
• Is it increasing your monthly revenue? 
• Is it launching a new offer? 
• Is it reducing the number of hours you work?

I've seen women work incredibly hard but still feel stuck because they haven't known what success specifically looks like. Once that goal becomes clear, it's so much easier to decide what to do next and to tell other people about it.

That's how I've been able to have the next stepping stones show up for me in writing my one-woman show, Chasing, because I've told people. I've been very clear about it, and people have filled in missing info or shared insights with me.

Inside She's Goaled™ Coaching Mastermind, when you have clarity, this is what you get:

• You’ll have clear goals that actually matter most in this season for YOU
  
• You’ll know success looks like for YOU. Not your competitor, not what other people want you to do, but what satisfaction looks like for you specifically
  
• You’ll stick to YOUR top priorities, so you stop trying to do everything
  
• You’ll have the next RIGHT steps instead of feeling overwhelmed by all the possibilities
  

2. A Realistic Plan

Once you have clarity, you can come up with a realistic plan. You may know exactly what you want, but your plan might not fit your actual life.

We often create plans for the fantasy version of our lives.

• In that fantasy, nobody interrupts us. 
  
• Nobody takes our energy. 
  
• It's perfect. 
  
• The kids don't need anything. 
  
• Neither does the rest of our family, friends, neighbours, or anybody. 
  
• Nothing unexpected happens. 
  
• We don't have to fight any fires.
  

That's not usually the life we're living.

When I was running a business and managing a family life with two kids under three, I remember talking to my coach about how others were getting ahead of me. I was looking at social media and feeling envious, jealous, less than. 

My coach asked, 

• "Do they have kids?" No. 
  
• "Are they married?" No. 
  
• "Do they have family around that helps them?" Yes.
  

Then she asked me how many hours I could actually work and have focus. I said maybe five hours a day. She walked me through it and said: "Maybe you have four hours a day of uninterrupted time."

Then she pointed out, "Diane, you can't build an empire on 20 hours a week."

No amount of motivation was going to change that fact. But the right plan can.

I always have to look at what season I'm actually in. It could be the season where I had COVID cough for eight months, my father passed away unexpectedly, my Facebook account was deactivated. AND it all happened within a year.

Inside She's Goaled™ Coaching Mastermind, you’ll have:

• A practical plan that fits YOUR real life, your real business or career 
  
• Clear action steps so you're not working through an overwhelming to-do list you never get through
  
• Priorities that help YOU focus on what will actually move the needle, not just busy work
  
• A roadmap you can actually stick to, even when life gets busy or you have to take a detour
  
• The ability to adapt the plan as needed without feeling like you've failed
  

3. Support and Accountability

This may be the biggest missing piece for a lot of women.

We're often willing to follow through when someone else is depending on us, when we’re committed to someone else’s agenda. But when we make a commitment only to ourselves, it becomes so much easier to miss, cancel, or never put it on the calendar in the first place.

Ask yourself: Who would notice if you quietly stopped working towards your goal? If the answer is nobody, that may be why it keeps slipping.

I remember tracking my food knowing my health coach was going to look at it. I'll tell you, I didn't let that slip because she was checking in with me every day. A lot of my clients do their homework the night before a coaching call. I've watched women make more progress simply because they knew someone was going to ask, "How did that go?"

I've experienced this myself through coaches, masterminds, and people who remind me of what I said I wanted. When I tell people about my one-woman show Chasing, every time I see them, they ask, "Now where are you at? What's happening?"

Support doesn't mean you're incapable of doing it. Support is there to help you get it done. It means the goals matter enough so you can stop relying on willpower and tap into the connection of someone else.

This happens inside the She's Goaled™ Coaching Mastermind because you get my coaching support and the mastermind support of the rest of the group. 

• You get regular coaching when you feel stuck and when you're killing it so that you can get further even faster. 
  
• You also get accountability that keeps your goals from quietly disappearing or adapts so that you can still fit things in and still reach your goals. 
  
• You're going to get a mastermind of women who challenge you, encourage you, and inspire you. 
  
• You have goal sister calls where you get to have check-ins and celebrate great progress with another one in the community. 
  
• You have a community that reminds you that you don't have to figure it all out alone. ​
  

The key thing is that different problems need different solutions. You get that customized approach in a group environment. Because more motivation won't create clarity. More motivation won't fix an unrealistic plan, and more motivation won't replace meaningful support. 

You can ditch needing to feel like you need more motivation. What I found is that women don't need more motivation. They just need these three things, and it's what the She's Goaled™ Coaching Mastermind is designed to provide. 

Motivation may help in the beginning, but support will keep you going through the hard times. It'll also give you a boost when you do well. The combination of these three is not just about keeping you motivated every day. It's about helping to continue moving forward, even on the days when motivation disappears. 

She's Goaled™ Coaching Mastermind

If you want all three of these things- clarity, a realistic plan, and accountability and support- doors are now open to my She's Goaled™ Coaching Mastermind program, starting in September 2026. 

Remember, you don't have a motivation problem. You have a clarity plan or support problem. Each one of us needs a different solution. I'd love to have you in the She's Goaled™ Coaching Mastermind so we can do that together. Apply now!

Listen to the full Dynamic Women podcast episode here.​
Or watch the full YouTube Video here. 

Until next time, stay dynamic!