Why Motivation Comes Last: The Secret to Lasting Success

Why do some people achieve success consistently while others keep waiting for motivation?

In this episode of Brave Moves, Julie DeLucca-Collins explores the powerful connection between identity, habits, mentorship, confidence, and motivation. Building on the previous episode about stories and systems, Julie explains why action creates confidence, why confidence creates motivation, and how mentors can dramatically shorten the path to success.

Through personal stories from her corporate career, entrepreneurship journey, and the mentors who shaped her growth, Julie shares practical insights on how to stop waiting for motivation and start becoming the person you want to be.

In This Episode:

•  Why motivation is not the starting point 
•  How action creates confidence 
•  The science of habit formation and embodiment 
•  Why the brain craves predictability and repetition 
•  The power of mentors and believing mirrors 
•  How mentorship shrinks the learning curve 
•  Creating your own invisible board of directors 

Key Takeaway

Motivation doesn't create action.

👉 Action creates confidence, confidence creates momentum, and momentum creates motivation.

Transcript

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Yesterday we talked about the stories we tell ourselves, and we talked about systems because goals don't change lives, systems do. But today, I want to talk about something that sits underneath both of these things, something that most people completely misunderstand, motivation. Because most people believe motivation comes first. They think when I feel motivated, then I'll start. When I feel confident, then I'll take action. When I believe in myself, then I will go for it. But what if we've had it backwards all along? What if confidence doesn't create action? What if action creates confidence? And before we dive in, if you've been enjoying the episodes, I'm so grateful that you're here and so glad that you are part of this community, my friend. Of course, please share this episode with someone who you know may be waiting for motivation to take their next brave move. And if you haven't subscribed, make sure that you do so. And I would love a review as well. I know I say it all the time, but it does mean the world to me. And I read every single review. It just takes a moment, especially if you're listening on your iPhone, just go and give me five stars or click review. And you never know. That might be something really fun in store for those reviews that are coming up today. Now, let's get into it because at the end, I'm going to share why mentors can shrink years off your learning curve. And one conversation can sometimes well change your entire trajectory of your life. Now, one of the biggest myths in personal development is that successful people are motivated. And honestly, most successful people aren't relying on motivation at all. They're relying on habits. This is why I love habits. I am a tiny habit certified coach and I love that. And I didn't become a tiny habits coach because I wanted to coach the world on tiny habits. I wanted to coach myself. I am my best client. And one of the things that I realized is that really relying on habits and systems help me rely on my identity because motivation is inconsistent. Some days you have it, some days you don't. So if your success is depending on motivation, you're going to spend a lot of time waiting and waiting. And waiting rarely changed lives, friends. Now, here's the neuroscience. Okay, you knew I was gonna say that, right? When we take action, even small action, the brain begins to collect evidence. Evidence that says, hey, maybe I can do this. Ooh, that evidence becomes confidence. And that confidence becomes the momentum, and the momentum becomes motivation, not the other way around. That's why I often tell people skills first, confidence second, motivation third. And by the way, I learned this from some of my mentors, and I want to get into it. But the real goal isn't to do the thing. The goal is to become the person who actually naturally does the thing. Think about it. Someone who exercises regularly doesn't wake up every morning debating whether they should go work out or not. They become the person who exercises. Someone who reads every day isn't relying on motivation to read. They just embody the identity of a reader. Somebody who builds a successful business doesn't constantly ask whether they should show up in their business. They embody the role of a business owner. And that's where systems help. You know, the more predictable the behavior becomes, the less energy your brain has to spend deciding on what to do. You know, the brain loves predictability. It's your brain is constantly looking for ways to conserve energy. It loves patterns, repetition, routines, predictability. And when you repeatedly perform the same action, your little brain is going to start automating it and it starts predicting it. And eventually, the behavior requires less effort, less thought behind it. And that's why consistency matters more than intensity. The other day I decided that I was going to do yoga because I am a girl who does yoga every day, right? But it wasn't about me spending 60 minutes doing all kinds of intricate yoga poses. I basically did a couple cat cows and a couple of sun salutations. And guess what? I was a girl who did yoga every day. And it wasn't about the intensity or the length of the task. It was just me showing up for the task. And here is the one thing. People overlook this so much in trying to become successful and achieving the things that they want in life. It's not just about the motivation, but here's the part even systems and even with consistency and even with action, there is still something that can accelerate your growth to success. Mentorship. There's a Forbes article that shared that about 37% of employees talk about having a mentor. And honestly, that number really surprises me because when I look back at my life, almost every major leap came because someone showed me what was possible. When I first worked at Huntington Learning Centers, and that's where I learned that skills, confidence, and motivation help you. I had the privilege of learning directly from Dr. and Mrs. Huntington, the founders of the company. And they became mentors to me. And because of that, I learned lessons that it would have taken me years to learn through trial and error. I watched them in the boardroom. I listened to what they said when we were in groups or even talking in the hallway. I asked questions. I learned from their successes. And more importantly, I learned from the mistakes the company had made. And that was what great mentors can do. They help you avoid the potholes you can't see. Now, this is my favorite thing about mentors. They actually shrink time. They don't magically give you more hours in a day, by the way, but they can help you avoid years of trial and error and unnecessary detours. When I started my business, I had a lot of knowledge, right? Because I had mentors like Dr. and Mrs. Huntington and Lillian, who is my other great mentor and boss and friend. However, right, when I started my business, all that knowledge, all that experience, all that expertise did not help me build the business. I didn't have the perspective that it needed from being in the seat of a business owner. That came from people who had already traveled the road ahead of me. Now, often in Casa de Confidence, I've talked about this concept. If you go back to Casa de Confidence, the first time I introduced this concept is when I heard of it from a girlfriend of mine, episode two, with Valerie Hager, and is the concept of a believing mirror. We all have someone who can see our potential before we fully see it in ourselves. You know, we need someone who can say, I know you can do this, not because they're blowing up smoke up our behind, but because they genuinely see what is possible. I think about the relationship between Oprah and Maya Angelou. Maya often served as that believing mirror for Oprah. And honestly, most of us need one. Now, today I have mentors, of course. I have a coach. Some of them are my colleagues, some of them I've met personally, and some of them I've never met. However, my invisible board of directors are the people whose books I've read, whose podcasts I listen to, whose ideas challenge me. One of these people is Pat Flynn. If you know me, I love Pat. I'm part of his community. I've been on his podcast a couple different times. But when I face a challenge, I often ask myself, what would Pat do here? And that is mentorship to my friends. And of course, be able to ask questions. Ask the right question can get you the right answer, not just from yourself, but from mentors. Now, here's the moment of truth. You don't have to figure things out on your own. And honestly, you were never ever meant to figure out things on your own. Here's your brave move for the week, though. Ask yourself who already has what I want? Who has built what I want to build? Who lives the way I want to live? And who embodies the qualities I want to develop? Then reach out, ask a question. Maybe you want to read their book or listen to their podcast and study the process because success leaves clues. And mentors helps us find those clues much faster if we were out on our own. And my friend, changing your story really matters. Building system matters, but eventually the goal is embodiment to become the kind of person who naturally does things they once thought were impossible or difficult. Well, sometimes the fastest path there is is not working harder. It's learning from someone who's already walked the road. Because confidence isn't something you're born with, it's something you build one action, one habit, one mentor, one brave move at a time. And that, my friend, is your brave move for today. Now, go and go confidently in the direction of your dreams. I'm always here and I love that you're part of this community. I love you so much.