Motivation. It’s a tricky concept. We seem to have moved away from an internally motivated society, to an externally motivated society. In psychology we call this intrinsic (internal) vs. extrinsic (external) motivation. Drive and motivation are concepts that have always been fascinating to me. I see people training for triathlons, running on extremely hot days, bearing extreme temperatures…just to pursue the thing they love. And my first question is always, “why are they doing that!” What drives those behaviors?
Many of us are motivated more by how we feel than anything else. We do what we feel like doing. Period. We have the mindset of, “I don’t feel like doing that so I’m not going to.” Not to be harsh, but that is a very weak mindset. We will never, always be motivated. We have to find the fire, the fuel and the discipline within us to do what needs to be done regardless of how we feel. If I’m honest, I rarely feel like doing the things I need to do to be better. But once I am engaged in the behavior I’m really glad I started.
We have to learn to live beyond our feelings. We have to develop the daily discipline of showing up when we don’t feel like it. We have to stop looking around us for motivation. Every single thing you need is already inside of you. You have what you need, you just need to remind yourself of who you are and what you are made of.
That grit, that fire, that drive…it’s already there, it just needs to be reignited. Sometimes we need to remember why we started in the first place and pursue that thing with the enthusiasm of when we started out. Our coworkers, our spouses, our students, our athletes…they need to be surrounded by people who have come alive. People who are fully engaged in the pursuit. People who are in love with their lives. Light the fire sweet friends, you’re holding the matches. Much love and passionate pursuits sweet friends.
