Motivation. We chase it, we crave it, and we curse ourselves when it seems to vanish.
How many times have you started a new project bursting with energy, only to see that enthusiasm evaporate after a week? How often have you set a bold New Year’s resolution only to watch it fade by February?
It’s easy to believe motivation is fickle, like a mood that comes and goes. But what if there was a predictable way to generate and sustain it?
After studying the world’s best thinkers on motivation—Napoleon Hill, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Carol Dweck, Daniel Pink, Angela Duckworth, and more—I’ve found a simple formula that explains why some people’s motivation burns bright and endures, while others flicker out.
I call it The Motivation Equation:
Dreams/Needs × Beliefs = Motivation Intensity and Duration
In this post, we’ll break down the equation, explore the science and stories behind it, and—most importantly—show you how to apply it to your life so that you never again have to wonder where your motivation went.
The Spark: Dreams and Needs
Dreams are the sparks of motivation. They’re the visions of what could be—the promotion, the marathon finish line, the book deal, the thriving business, the debt-free life. Needs are their close cousins: the things we feel compelled to pursue, whether out of survival, dignity, or love.
The bigger and more emotionally charged the dream or need, the larger the multiplier in the equation.
David Schwartz put it bluntly in The Magic of Thinking Big: the size of your success is determined by the size of your thinking. When you give yourself permission to dream bigger, you increase the “spark” of your motivational fire.
Think of Elon Musk. Whether or not you agree with his methods, his dreams aren’t small. Colonizing Mars. Transitioning the world to renewable energy. These dreams generate a force of motivation that keeps him pushing through ridicule, failure, and obstacles that would crush most mortals.
Compare that with the person whose dream is simply to “get by.” The spark is so small that even if they believe deeply, the resulting fire of motivation is weak.
Takeaway: If your motivation feels flat, you may not be dreaming big enough.
The Oxygen: Beliefs
But dreams alone aren’t enough. A spark in a vacuum dies instantly. Dreams need oxygen—and that oxygen is belief.
Belief is the conviction that the dream is possible and that you have a role in achieving it. Without belief, even the boldest dream fizzles out.
Napoleon Hill, in Think and Grow Rich, placed belief side by side with desire: “Faith is the visualization and belief in the attainment of desire.” Desire without faith is just daydreaming.
Carol Dweck’s research on Mindset reveals that people who believe they can grow—those with a “growth mindset”—bounce back from failure and try again. Those with a fixed mindset, who secretly believe their abilities are carved in stone, often give up at the first stumble.
Belief is what kept the Wright brothers tinkering in their bicycle shop when everyone else was betting on Samuel Langley, the better-funded, better-connected scientist. Langley had the dream of flight, but the Wrights had something more potent: the belief that, through grit and iteration, they could actually do it. And so they did.
The Power of Words: Planting the Seeds of Belief
Bill Britt once said:
“Show me how a person lives today and I will show you the words they used in the past. Show me how a person speaks today and I will show you how they will live in the future.”
It’s a profound reminder that words are not just sounds—they are seeds. The words you spoke yesterday created the life you are living today. And the words you speak today are quietly sketching the blueprint of your future.
I’ve lived this truth. From the very first meeting where I was introduced to Network Marketing, I began speaking a declaration:
“One day I will travel the world visiting my businesses.”
I said it over and over, year after year. For 11 years, I carried those words with me, long before they looked possible. Then, in July of 1991, the words became reality. I boarded a plane, began traveling the world, and I haven’t stopped since.
Today, 88 countries and more than 500 major world cities later, I continue to watch those words come true. Every stamp in my passport, every stage, every handshake with a leader across the globe—none of it was an accident. It was the harvest of words planted years before.
That’s the power of words. They don’t just describe your future—they create it.
The Multiplier Effect
Here’s where the equation gets exciting: dreams and beliefs don’t just add, they multiply.
• A big dream × weak belief = frustration. You want it badly, but don’t think you can get there.
• A small dream × strong belief = progress, but limited impact. You achieve, but never soar.
• A big dream × strong belief = unstoppable motivation.
This is why Lisa Allen, the subject of Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit, was able to transform her life. After a divorce, she set the dream of trekking across the Egyptian desert. It was a wild, oversized goal for a woman who was overweight, in debt, and addicted to smoking. But she paired that dream with a belief: “To do this, I must quit smoking.” That belief fueled a cascade of habit changes—running, healthier eating, saving money—that reshaped her entire life.
Dreams multiplied by beliefs generate not just temporary bursts of energy, but enduring, self-reinforcing motivation. And words are the daily tool you use to build that belief.
The Fuel: Habits and Action
Of course, even dreams and beliefs need a third element: fuel.
Motivation without action is like a fire with no wood—it burns hot and fast, then disappears. That’s where habits come in. Charles Duhigg shows us that when we create “keystone habits,” they reinforce our belief that change is possible and keep feeding the fire.
Angela Duckworth adds another layer in Grit: perseverance over years and decades matters more than flashes of talent. Habits keep the fire alive through storms, setbacks, and long nights when passion alone isn’t enough.
Flow: Where Belief Meets Joy
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s research on Flow adds one more wrinkle. Flow occurs when our skills match the challenge before us. But here’s the secret: belief is what allows us to enter flow. If you believe the challenge is too big, you panic. If you believe it’s too small, you get bored. Belief that “I can do this, if I stretch” creates the sweet spot where time disappears, effort feels effortless, and motivation renews itself.
Practical Takeaway: Speak Your Future Into Being
If your life today reflects the words you spoke in the past, then your future will be built from the words you speak today. Here’s how to make that work for you:
1. Audit Your Words. Notice how you talk about your goals. Do you say “if” or “when”? Do you speak with doubt or conviction?
2. Adopt Empowering Language. Replace “I can’t” with “I can learn.” Swap “I’ll try” with “I will.” Words train your brain to believe.
3. Declare Your Dreams Aloud. Saying them out loud transforms vague wishes into commitments.
4. Speak Life Into Others. Influence multiplies when you use your words to strengthen someone else’s belief.
Final Thought: Becoming the Fire
Motivation isn’t something you wait for. It’s something you create—through the multiplication of dreams and beliefs, and the steady fueling of action.
Big dreams ignite sparks. Strong beliefs provide oxygen. Words breathe life into those beliefs. Habits add fuel. Together, they don’t just create a motivational fire. They create an inferno that lights your path, warms others, and cannot be ignored.
So ask yourself today:
• Am I dreaming big enough?
• Do I truly believe I can make it happen?
• What words am I speaking that will shape my future?
• What habit or action can I take to feed the fire?
Because here’s the truth: you don’t need to chase motivation when you are the fire.
EN 
ES