Finding Your Motivation

What is it that gets you out of bed in the morning? No, I'm not asking about your alarm clock or the coffee maker. But seriously...what drives you to get up and go? One of the coolest things about our brains is the amount of power that they have over the rest of our body. Sometimes a simple blog post, article, or book can tell our brains that we need to do something and then our body actually does it! Think of motivation as fuel to a car. Fill up the tank and you're good to run for quite a while; overfill and you will burn out. The real beauty of motivation lies in the fact that we are all motivated in different ways by different things. My challenge to you today is to check what really drives you. Then see if that driver should ever be in control in the first place.

Think about someone attempting to lose weight. They have finally decided that they are sick and tired of the way they look and start putting in the hard work to look the way they want. Sounds good, right? Wrong. Here is the issue: That person trying to look better is partaking in a lifestyle choice that is only motivated by a shallow view of themselves in the mirror.

This means that one of two things are bound to happen. That person will either cease the lifestyle change once the desired appearance is reached, or quit. Why? While looking better is a goal for many aspiring gym-rats, they eventually come to find that it is not worth the work required. That is why so many New Year's resolutions to lose weight quickly fail. When the goal is based around something temporary, it will pass and the motivation passes alongside.

Contrast that with someone who wants to get healthy and get in shape. Immediately we can see that the goal has more long-term benefits than just looking better in the mirror. Just from the wording, we know that the results will be worth the struggle. I also want to point out that this is a goal that will not simply pass away. You will always need to eat clean and exercise in order to be healthy.

That example illustrates why it is so important that the focus of your goals, objectives, living, etc. be actually being the right person, not on doing the right things. What's the difference? The former is person-focused. It enables you to set daily objectives to reach the long-term destination. It realizes that the growth comes from the journey and not the destination. In contrast, the latter is task-focused. It is complete once the task is complete; nothing more and nothing less. It is something that can be easily pushed to the side or avoided because there is not enough time or the goal-setter simply does not feel like it that day. Be the right person and the right things will fall into place. Change the direction of your motivation and you will change the outcome to a better one.

"You've got to be before you can do, and you've got to do before you can have." - Zig Ziglar

Find what motivates you and the reasons you set certain goals and think about if they are focused on building a better you or on completing a task. Drive is important. Actually arriving at your goal is not where the person-building comes in. That comes with the striving for something. So pick something you want to do, anything at all. Find what drives you. Make sure it is something that will stick and is person-focused instead of task-focused. Then, above all else, quit gathering information about it and just do it. I'd love to hear about the journey sometime.

Stay classy,

Andrew