“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.” Zig Ziglar
What gets you up and going? In your day to day life, what motivates you to show up at your job, to go work out, and eat right?
It’s one word, it’s motivation.
I think this quote from Zig Ziglar summarizes what I’m trying to say, “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.”
Besides being a funny quote, I think it shows some real value. So many people, including myself need motivation to get the tasks and even the things that we enjoy doing done. The other day, I trained a couple and as they came in, I could tell that one of them was struggling a little bit. It was really early and they probably would have preferred to stay in bed and let this Monday kind of pass by.
But this individual showed up and I got them to laugh, showed them some new exercises and they had a great workout…and I great time. But here’s the thing, motivation doesn’t last, that’s why you need a daily dose, if not an hourly dose of it.
I think the real reason why WE need motivation is because we are HUMAN.
We as humans need to be motivated. That’s why leadership is such a huge asset and a timeless treasure. That’s why people who have Charisma can accomplish great tasks. Not because they’re phenomenal people, or that they’re even that smart, but they’re able to motivate and inspire others to accomplish much more than they could ever ask or imagine.
Because we’re human, there is something inside of us that always pulls us in the wrong direction.
And so often that direction is the bed :-). We as humans kind of dread or at least become anxious when we need to do something new. It’s even harder if it requires change. And the funny thing is, cognitively we know that this change, 9 times out of 10, is really good for us. Most of the time this change will even make our lives better and easier. But for whatever reason, we can’t get motivated and say, “No” and then we come up with reasons why we shouldn’t and/or can’t do it.
Here’s the amazing thing.
We are much stronger than that internal pull if we concentrate on the right things. So the question becomes what do you concentrate on? What consumes your mind? Most people dwell on the negative.
We dwell on our failures. We dwell on the things that we are not as successful at. In short, we are our own worst critics and instead of celebrating our successes, like my 3 year old daughter when she put on her own shoes, we choose to focus on our failures.
You should have seen Kenna’s face yesterday when she put on her shoes! She lit up and she was super proud. She told everybody that she put on her shoes all by herself. Why can’t we have that kind of attitude and focus? Imagine how much more we would get done and how much better we would feel if that was our outlook on life? It’s sad, but unfortunately we instead focus on the dark areas of our lives. Which, is not very motivating…:-(.
For example, as you know because you read my emails. My grammar is sub par and I’m not the wisest guy out there :-). Sometimes, I kind of dread writing these emails because I am afraid others will judge and mock me (and some actually do lol), but I choose to write them because I think they provide value to you and they inspire you to stay the track and to get results.
So what motivates me to write these emails? It’s the thought of you reading them laughing and making small consistent changes. That’s what motivates me to do it on a daily basis….. Or almost daily basis 🙂 minus the weekends.
A huge part of becoming motivated is being able to control what we can, learning to cope with what we can’t, and then concentrating on what’s important.
The reality is, our mornings and our day-to-day lives are filled with strife and the world is chaotic. So what you concentrate on, is what is going to motivate and inspire you. For me, my biggest motivation comes from acknowledging my Creator and my Savior and thanking Him for my awesome family. Every day, I pray and thank God for Beth, Axel, and Kenna. This habit enables me to feel inspired and motivates me to serve others, to work hard, and to accomplish the task that otherwise I might not feel like doing, but I do them anyway because I want to make an impact for my family and my clients.
As you can see, what you Focus on is key.
Focus on what motivates you. For some of you it may be faith-based like mine. For others, it might be just your family. The point is, try to find a consistent focus that will help motivate you to make small reasonable changes. This may sound egotistical, but that could just be showing up and putting in the time to train with me. I have numerous clients tell me that the reason they keep coming is because I motivate and inspire them. I do that by making them laugh, by lovingly challenging them, keeping them accountable and by making working out a fun positive experience.
Regardless, as always go be awesome :-).
KELLEN LAKE – If would like me to motivate you, reply via email or apply for a free session (click here) or go to https://winstonsalem.justyoufitness.com/ and let’s set something up where we will focus on Just You ;-).
PS – I was kind of inspired today lol.
