Let's expound on these ideas some.

Getting motivated can be very difficult, but the reason it is important in inherent. When you are motivated to do something even difficult tasks become simpler, and you overcome your personal objections as well as any obstacles or problems that stand in your way. If you are not motivated, then the first time you hit a road block you give up and turn the car around and go home instead of taking the detour in stride and learning from it. So, being motivated is essential to being successful because for most success does not fall in your lap, it takes some form of work, even people who win reality television shows like Survivor have to be motivated to play the game, make alliances, manipulate, and win. So, one could say that the underlying cause of success is proper motivation.

Being motivated is critical because you do things for a reason, that reason varies from person to person, but without a reason you would not do something. So children are motivated to do well in school because of the way they feel when they get a good grade on a report card. Others are motivated to do when in school because they like the monetary reward their parents give them for every good grade that is on the report card. The motivation is different, but the result is the same. So, as you can see, being motivated is a key piece in the success puzzle.

When you are motivated you use your time more effectively, so that you can do other things you enjoy, and still accomplish your goals and objectives. If you are not motivated, or you do not stay motivated, then it might take you hours to accomplish the same task because you could not or would not focus, and you had little drive to get it done other than you have to. So, instead of successfully completing something, and completing it well, then enjoying your spare time after, you dilly dally, take all night to do something, get stressed out about it, and then go to bed feeling frustrated and without accomplishment. So, you can see the way you feel is a huge reason it is important to get and stay motivated to do well.

You do not want to waste your time, or do something half way. How many people set goals at New Year's without the proper motivation, or without the proper support system to stay motivated, and find that they wasted their time, energy and money? Take the person who is determined to work out each day. They set the goal, buy the gym pass, the jogging stroller, and the right clothes, then they start. They go to the gym faithfully for one week, they are motivated. They feel the pounds peeling off and their body getting in shape. But then, a friend calls to hang out late, they know that if they stay out too late they will not want to get up and go to the gym in the morning, but they lose sight of their goal, and lose hold on their motivation. So what happens? They go out with their friend, the next morning they sleep in. The day after that they go, but then they miss a few days in a row, pretty soon they abandon it completely because they did not stay motivated. Now they have an unused gym membership, work out clothes sitting in a drawer, and a big stroller taking space in their garage.

As you can see, getting motivated is only half the battle, staying motivated is what gets you to the finish line.