 In June 2008, I made up my mind that I would leave school and venture into entrepreneurship and by July 24th I was already out of my parents' home. Everyone in my family wanted me to have a degree and live a normal life but because everything they call normal life seemed so boring to me, I decided to fight for something more exciting. I wanted to build a company, make a lot of money and become wealthy but something ironical happened. I became poorer immediately as I stepped out of my parents' home. Just a few weeks after I left my parents, I was in a place called Wumosha in Nigeria, Kareem Firewood. If you're not in my country, you may not understand what this means so let me explain. You see the poorest people in my country carry firewood but that's what I needed to do at the time to get to the next level. Several months and many years after this period, I got myself to do some of the most unbelievably difficult things. Then I had my first business breakthrough in 2016 which helped me defeat poverty forever. You see, Andrew Kanaji said people who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity. No matter how impressive, there are other talents. Today I see too many smart people who are broke. Why is this so? Well, I have some ideas. You see, getting rich almost always requires that you get poorer first. Just as we'll first dig the ground before building a tall house, your life will often need to go down before it can get up. Just as we weaken our bodies through an exercise to make it stronger, you must always have to become poorer before you become rich. This is where most people lose their motivation. So many people are just too weak to motivate themselves. Too many people are just so weak that they can't get themselves to do difficult things. What makes this even worse is that everything in our society was programmed for external motivation. Think about this. When you're in school, you probably didn't study because you liked to. You studied because you have tests, examinations, and grades. Those were your motivation. Test examinations and grades are the reason why you wake up early to read. When you're out of school and get a job, well, you don't necessarily wake up by 5 am because you like to. You wake up early because you have a lion waiting for you at the office. You don't do your work well because you love to. You're afraid of being fired, and that's why you're diligent in your work. When people decide to become entrepreneurs, start a music career, or become writers, they discover that nobody is there to force them again. Since nobody is there to force them, most people don't have the motivation to do difficult things required before success comes. People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents. Why would you keep on struggling with a small business when there is no one pointing a gun to your head? Why would you discipline yourself to practice your music 5 hours every day when there is no teacher to grade you? Why would you write every day just because you want to be a better writer since nobody is there to make you to do so? If you'll ever have a better life, you must learn how to get yourself to do difficult things without any external motivation. If the only difficult things you do are those that other people or things force you to do, then you'll never become rich or successful in life. Pain is your destiny. The years between 2008 and 2016 are the eight most important years of my life. This was the period I went unbelievably crazy with the world. I was out there suffering, I was the poorest person in my family, everyone rejected me and I still believed that I was important than all. I was fighting, suffering and pushing myself to move from one business failure to another. While I was doing these, most of my mates were having jobs. Their lives weren't easier than mine, they too were suffering. They wake up on Monday morning and hate themselves. They have jobs they hate and the boss they don't want to see. So they were going through similar pains as I was. The only difference is that I determined my own prison while theirs was by accident. This is what I mean. I was the best student at school when I studied accounting so I would probably have a nice job if not that I left school. So I chose my prison by myself. For my friends, they really wished to have it the other way. Now, this is where I'm going with my story. Even though my friends and I went through similar pains for eight years, my own pains led me into wealth while their own pains continued. People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents. Here is the thing. Every human is destined for pains. You can't escape it. Yeah, you can run away from some self-inflicted pains and have temporary pleasure but you still experience some other pains you can't run away from. What happens at the end of the day is that those who choose their battles are the ones who win. People who get to the battle they didn't choose almost always lose. If you lack self-motivation to do difficult things that can make you rich, I know what will happen to you and I will tell you. You see, someone also pays you to do even more difficult things. Now, because you're paid to do these difficult things you have to do it. You can't say no to the pains. So eventually, you'll still go through the pains you try to avoid. But you won't ever have the reward that comes at the end of the pains because reward only goes to those who willingly choose their prison. People who aren't able to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents. How I Destroyed the Fear of Failure More than anything, the fear of failure is the reason so many people lack the motivation to fight for their own dreams. So how do you overcome the fear of failure? This is what I did all my 20s as I was fighting the most difficult battles of my life. I always imagined a future where I would be poor. This is what I mean. Close your eyes and imagine that you're 65 and broke. Imagine that you don't have your own home and your landlord is about to evict you. Imagine that there's no power supply in your home because you couldn't pay. Imagine you only have $20 in your entire life at age 65. What do you see in your mind? Now, you see a scary scene which you'll never want to experience at 65. This scene makes you afraid and that's the goal. You see, the best weapon to destroy fear is a greater fear. Let me explain this. If you are afraid of something, the best way to stop being afraid of that thing is to create a greater fear that negates the first fear. For example, you're afraid of starting a business because you might fail. If you can get yourself to be afraid of being treated badly by a boss or being broke after working for another man for 35 years, then the fear you have about starting a business disappears. Use a bigger fear to kill your present fear and you'll become fearless immediately. That's how I motivate myself to do difficult things. People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents are. Create a few enemies When I started as an entrepreneur in the year 2008, my goal was to build a company and become wealthy. Five years into my struggle, however, my goal had changed. Now I wanted to prove a lot of people wrong. You see, almost everyone I knew told me that I was going to waste my life. They said this to me in different ways, but I got the message. Whether you successfully created an environment where nobody expects you to succeed, then you should have a new motivation which you should become, to prove them wrong. At a point in my entrepreneurial struggle, becoming rich was no longer my biggest motivation. I just wanted to prove my family members wrong. Because of this, there was no way I could ever give up because if I ever give up, then people would say, we told him that he wouldn't succeed. Now this is what you can do to become greatly motivated. Create some enemies for yourself. This is actually very easy. Just share your dreams with a few people in your family and listen to what they would say. Most times they won't tell you directly that you can't succeed. They will often tell you to take it easy. Remember your parents are poor or remember that government policies can destroy your dream. These are subtle ways of saying you can't succeed. In fact, some people will think you're just dreaming that you won't do anything about what you told them. Now, if you get out and try something, the longer you fail, the more people will be sure that you can't succeed, then the more blunt they would be with you. Now, when you've got a few people who bluntly tell you that you can't ever succeed, you'll have a new motivation. Now, you don't care that much about your personal success as much as you care about proving these people wrong. People who aren't able to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents. In summary, external motivation will make you go through pains just as self-motivation. You can't escape pains anyway. So, why would you be afraid of daring difficult things that can change your life? If you can't motivate yourself to do difficult things, you'll be poor forever. I hope this video helps someone. My name is Steve Courage. I'm an Nigerian entrepreneur based in Lagos. 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