“Motivation is like bathing, it isn’t permanent and should be done frequently”

I’m not sure where I heard this quote but I’ve never forgotten it for some reason.

I think it was because it revealed something to me that I previously thought people were born with.

I thought someone was either motivated or they weren’t.  They just won the motivation lottery or they didn’t.

I’ve since met many successful people that I look up to……They have bad days too.  They struggle for motivation just like the rest of us.

But they have figured out what many of us haven’t.

We have to find ways to keep us motivated.  I’m not talking about watching a youtube video and getting yourself hyped up (admittedly I do this frequently)

I’m talking about finding that thing that motivates you do to what matters.  The thing that motivates you to ACT.

Motivation without action is like trying to hit a PR without ever adding weight to the bar…..

Seems dumb right……that’s because it is.

We are usually motivated because of an end state that we desire.  

– We want to lose weight

– We want to get out of debt

– We want our first pull up

– We want that promotion

It doesn’t matter what it is.  What does matter is why we want it.  We want it because we have somehow tied happiness to it.

This is tied into last weeks email about the seven circles.

YOU WANT SOMETHING, WE ALL WANT SOMETHING.

We get derailed because we don’t feel that motivation anymore.   We were all hyped up and something went sideways and we lost our motivation.  Figure out what that motivation is for you.  It could be anything, a song, a picture, a saying or it could be a reminder of a failure.

When I was in prep school I made my screen saver what the Dean told me at my first (of six) academic review board.  He said “You’ll never graduate this institution”.  One of my strengths and weaknesses is my desire to prove people wrong (I”ll write more about that later)  I tempted fate 5 more times after that.  He just happened to push my motivation button.  Maybe he knew I hate doubters, maybe not.

Coach Cassidy hung his failed CCFT results on his refrigerator to look at every day.  He passed the next time because of that motivation.  That motivation led to him being in rare company when it comes to CrossFit coaches.

Find what motivates you and revisit it as many times as you need to in order to take action.

It doesn’t matter what motivates you.

It matters what you do with that motivation.