Friday, I went out with some friends. We stayed out pretty late, 1:30 to be exact, but we had a great time because I hadn’t gotten to see one of them in quite a while. Plus, we were at a lounge that was playing some chill music I like. I didn’t drink more than 2 drinks on Friday night and I drank plenty of water but I woke up at 9:30 Saturday feeling sluggish, because I’m normally in bed by 10 and up at 5am. My rhythms were off, way off, from staying up so late.
It was difficult to get out of bed, but I did because there were quite a few things I wanted to do on my Saturday. I went to a nice cafe near my house, that’s as close to a European café we have here in Atlanta and had some of their delicious coffee and worked on reading some books I’m finishing up, A New Kind of Entrepreneur by Derick Sivers and How to Win an Argument Every Time by Gerry Spence. Then I drove to Jones Bridge by the Chattahoochee National Park in Johns Creek and did a 6 mile walk / jog with some meditative thinking and sprints too. I got a runners high.
After that was over, I went home and cooked some Baked Chicken, Steamed Spinach, Sautéed Mushrooms, a Baked Potato, and had some fruit for a desert. I took a 20 minute nap in my newly remodeled guest room after, to try out the bed. Comfortable!
My feeling of sluggishness was long gone by now. I made some phone calls, loaded up my shotgun and shooting equipment and went out to the Tom Lowe Olympic Shooting Center to shoot sporting clays. I shot horrible, but I wrote what I was doing wrong in my sporting journal. Hopefully, I will improve next time. I listened to an audiobook out there and back, about writing and business.
When I got back, I cooked another meal, an omelet with tomatoes and mushrooms. Then I had some Ginger Honey Green Tea. Afterwards, I went out and met another friend I hadn’t seen in a while. We went out and listened to a country band at Fado Irish pub. I danced with several people, and taught them how to two-step. Today, I got up and went to church. Now I’m going to write this blog post and get some rest afterwards.
I could have sat on my butt and watched someone else do things on a big screen. But I didn’t.
What is motivation? Motivation is movement, plain and simple.
The Latin root word for motivation is movement. The two words movement and motivation could be looked at as the same word.
For a classic INTJ (Architect) personality like me, who gets energy and rest from quite time, reading, thinking, alone time, and from analyzing things this concept of motivation as movement is VERY IMPORTANT. Bottom line: It’s good that we have a brain, and we can be logical, and reason, and think. But when it comes to motivation, we can think too much and stall out, or come up with excuses, or rationalize.
Yes, I’m an introvert. I LOVE people, and empathy comes natural to me, but I am an introvert who enjoys DEEP conversations with people, instead of shallow chatter. Banal group chitchat wears me out. I don’t care about degenerate American culture. But I can go the opposite direction to much. I can at times go too deep for too long and wear myself out and lose motivation.
So it’s important to remember:
We don’t need to think too much to be motivated. We need to move to be motivated!
Actually it’s important for anyone, introvert like me or not, to remember this.
When I first started my training business, I analyzed way too much. I wrote a long manual, roughly 150 pages, on Personal Training. I probably should have tried to sell it or publish it because to this day, it’s the best one I’ve seen. I did this all for my personal use. It was good, but it took me so long, that it was in some ways a waste of time.
Don’t think about motivation. Do motivation.
Don’t wait for the right time. It will never come.
If you’re not motivated, it’s because you’re thinking too much. Why are we thinking so much? We know what we need to do. We know what needs to happen. We know we need to get off our butts.
We know we need to feel the fear and do it anyway. We know we need to feel the fear and do it BECAUSE we feel the fear.
People play games. Games are easy and fun. We all do. Let’s argue about dumb stuff. Let’s fight. Let’s shame and berate. Let’s pontificate. Let’s shuffle around from one time waster to another. Let’s put off calling an old friend. Let’s not pick up the phone and make an effort. Let’s come up with another meaningless game, another meaningless shopping trip, let’s create some mindless work, or schedule another meaningless meeting.
Let’s take on a meaningless cause, or obsess over labels, or microbrews. Let’s stare at our phones.
Let’s figure out everything we can do, anything at all, to keep from doing something that matters.
Let’s do anything that’s not hard. As long as it’s not hard we might do it.
Let’s buy some more junk, stuff our face, or get wasted. After all, we’re not motivated to do anything better. Why not? Because we’re cowards. We’ve been beaten down and we don’t want to fight back. It’s easier to think and talk than it is to do. Isn’t it? Yes, it is.
There is no “try” there is only do. Failure doesn’t exist, because failure is cowardice. Cowardice is failure.
How about we criticize other people, or try to shame them, when they do something new. Why don’t we do that? That’s easy and everyone’s doing it. So let’s do it too. Let’s play that game. It’s a fun game and we don’t have to deal with our own shame. We can all join in and make ourselves feel so much better- we’re richer, we’re better looking, or we’re so much smarter. Ha ha look at them. So yeah, we’re all about that. Let’s make fun of other people, so we can feel better. But really we do that because we feel lousy on the inside.
That doesn’t take any movement. That doesn’t take any motivation. Being petty is an easy cheap thrill.
From what I’ve found, when I’m spending time criticizing other people, I’m not doing crap. I’m wasting my breath. As they say in the ARMY, I need to shut my cakehole. Criticizing is for losers. It’s easy and takes absolutely no motivation. Leading is hard, including leading yourself, so we don’t want to do it.
We’d rather not, not make the connection, speak up, attend the funeral, or compliment someone. That’s too vulnerable, takes too much swallowing of the ego. It’s hard. So let’s play games instead.
So what is motivation? Motivation isn’t playing games, or analyzing, or thinking. It’s getting out there and storming the field, writing the book, loving people and encouraging them, or having a long conversation with someone you love. Motivation is doing. If you aren’t motivated, it’s because you aren’t moving.
Motivation is moving. So let’s move.
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