Motivation vs. Inspiration

Let’s talk about the differences between motivation and inspiration. They’re definitely related—they just work in different ways. Motivation is essentially something that helps us get away from one thing and into something else. We can be motivated to grow, move, work, learn, and so forth. Motivation is essentially fear-based, which is not necessarily a bad thing. We can have healthy fears that help drive us to move forward in life.

Inspiration, on the other hand, is more spiritual-based. We draw inspiration from a deep belief in our higher selves, something greater than ourselves, or a combination of the two. In his book “Inspiration,” Wayne Dyer once pointed to the idea that the word inspiration contains the root of the word spirit, and that it is essentially “in spirit.” 

We Need Both

The truth is, we need both motivation and inspiration in order to reach freedom and fulfillment in our lives. There are times when we can get caught up in motivation and be more or less on a treadmill of “the grind,” without really developing or expanding ourselves. There are also occasions when we can get caught up in just solely inspiration, being the dreamer, having ideas and concepts without putting them into play.

So it came to me that there is a bridge between the two energies, where we can go back and forth between them. The bridge for moving from motivation to inspiration is letting go of fear, because as it is the fear that keeps us motivated, we have to get out of the fear in order to move into inspiration. The bridge on the way back from inspiration to motivation is letting in Love. This is because once we’re in the energy of Love, we are in a higher vibration, and our motivation then ascends to work toward the goals of our inspiration.

Try This Out

The next time you feel that you have one of these and not the other, try to see where it is that you can let go of fear or where you can let it Love, depending on which one you are needing more in that particular moment. When we let go of fear to access inspiration and we let in Love to bring in motivation toward our inspired goals, we can really do special things making an impact with our lives.

Much Love,
Noel Neu, The Songwriting Therapist™