In this book summary of The Motivation Manifesto by Brendan Burchard, you’ll find my notes, valuable lessons, and important action steps.
The Motivation Manifesto Summary
“Humankind’s main motivation is to seek and experience Personal Freedom.” In other words, all humans want to be free to follow their desires and find happiness, without oppression or fear.
Our heroes have taught us that often pain and discomfort is necessary to achieve a greater purpose and transcend higher.
Either fear or freedom wins over your life. And it’s all a choice. What do you choose?
“A hallmark of those who achieve greatness is the discovery that they can control the level of motivation they feel by better directing their own minds.” Motivation is a choice. Don’t wait for lightning to strike or a personal crisis to get you motivated.
Declaration 1: Meet life with full presence and power.
The only life you have to life, and that you should focus on living, is the present. That’s where you’ll find joy, love, passion, and laughter.
Declaration 2: Reclaim your agenda.
Design your day for what you’re really after in life. Each moment counts. If you’re able to master each day to make progress toward the destiny you want, you’ll reward yourself with freedom and greatness.
Declaration 3: Defeat your demons.
Contrary to popular opinion, your problems aren’t external ones but internal. Conquer your self-doubt, inconsistency, and procrastination to live with courage and become the best version of yourself.
Declaration 4: Advance with abandon.
Be swift and a little reckless in pursuing progress and your goals because your reality and circumstances are bendable. You’re incredibly more powerful than how much you give yourself credit.
Declaration 5: Practice joy and gratitude.
“Perhaps the severest requirement of the good life is to have the constancy of mind to maintain our joy and gratitude even amid hardship, pain, and injustice.” Life is full of blessings if we choose to see acknowledge them.
Declaration 6: Do not break integrity.
Our present integrity and values leads to our legacy. Always have integrity in life’s little and big decisions to remain true to ourselves.
Declaration 7: Amplify love.
Giving and receiving love is the ultimate experience of personal freedom. Without giving or receiving love, our quality of life dramatically suffers.
Declaration 8: Inspire greatness.
Are you living a great life that will inspire others to greatness? A great life is one that has honesty, responsibility, intelligence, excellence, courage, respect for others, vigilance, service, and unity.
Declaration 9: Slow time.
“Life is meant to be a vibrant, deeply felt, growing mosaic of meaningful moments. It is to be a grand, fully engaged, and unconditionally committed love affair with our daily experience.” You’ll miss out on these moments if you’re distracted and always onto the next thing.
Mini Summary
If your life is a combination of random decisions and reactions to impulses, you’re going to feel, accomplish, and be average. But if you commit to personal freedom—through setting clear intentions and working hard —then you’ll live an extraordinary life.
Motivation is a choice. You choose to act and by doing that you gain more motivation and reward down the road, which pushes to act again in a cycle that keeps repeating.
Happy people realize that life’s all about the freedom and process to the destination, not the destination itself. And they find joy by bringing joy to others, plus practicing gratitude daily instead of always wanting more from life.
Three Favorite Quotes
“Without making the actual attempt, without trial and strife, there can be no true knowledge, no progress, no high achievement, and no legend.”
“But we all know that the seeds of greatness grow faster in the hearts of those doing work they love than in the bitter hearts of those enslaved by work they despise.”
“Are you not more than your tiny worries about inconvenience? Isn’t a better life worth some struggle?”
Action Steps For You
You must make a serious commitment and promise to yourself to prioritize personal freedom.
You have all the motivation and power in the world inside of you if you choose to activate it each day.
Plus, no one can give you the life you want to lead. It’s up to you to take ownership and choose it.
The path to a great life requires motivation and hard work. The good news is you can choose to be motivated and work hard at any moment. It’s up to you.
You take the first step and keep going. Eventually your progress and results are going to motivate you further. And later on the rewards will motivate you.
But again, it all comes down to a choice. How bad do you want personal freedom? If you want it, read The Motivation Manifesto and put the wise advice into practice in your life.
You’ll be amazed at how much you can achieve for the people around you and yourself with a little motivation and purpose inside you.
If you put this into action, this book is life-changing.
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