It's Tuesday at 2:00pm! (PST Time: I live and work from Southern California)
Greetings to you!
Each week I send out a short leadership blog that's called "Tuesday at 2:00pm". The purpose of this is simply to provide a brief thought on leadership that you can read and think about in just a few minutes. I send it out every week at 2:00pm (PST) and encourage you to make an appointment with yourself to pause and think about the thing I'm writing about.
Russ...
LEADERSHIP QUOTE:
"Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going. Jim Rohn
What does this stir up? Either write me HERE or comment at the end of the blog post HERE.
A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:
This is the final post addressing Motivation.
You can read the other posts this month HERE if you missed them.
I'm going to actually give you 2 quotes today, I'll close with one of my favorites...
We've been talking about some different things that might motivate us... we've talk about others, we've talk about God's voice in our life, and we've talked about our own voice.
Motivation is tricky because it will constantly be changing based on the task before you or the goal you're aiming for.
One time in High School, our Basketball Coach gave us a workout plan to do over Christmas Break in preparation for the start of the new season. I went into the break ready to work out every day, but quickly that motivation was lost when I saw the waves of the ocean, tasted the shrimp at our favorite beach spot, and somehow that motivation was lost on me until the day before school started when I finally got through the workout plan one time.
It's the same way with my teeth. If I have a cleaning coming up, I'm even more disciplined in my flossing. I'm motivated to attack these gums, then the day after the cleaning I relax back into a normal routine of flossing.
Motivation provides the SPARK to do something, but as the quote says, it often requires healthy habits to keep moving forward, especially when that motivation slows down, or when we get distracted by something else.
I want to encourage you to take some time to identify the motivating things in your life...
When my kids and grandkids are coming over, I'm motivated to clean the yard and be ready for them.
When I'm feeling tired, I'm motivated to change my eating, sleeping and movement activity because I know this affects my energy.
When my wife asks me to do something, I'm motivated to respond and act in love because I want to please her.
When I'm distracted, I need to figure out what's going on in my mind and heart and address that before finding a way to focus.
When I'm stressed out I need to look at the big picture of what I'm doing and remind myself of my purpose and my passion.
Identifying our Motivation helps us to act!
What is it that regularly motivates you to action?
DEEPER STILL:
If you're having trouble figuring out what MOTIVATES You, here are some tips:
#1). SLOW DOWN. It's so difficult to see clearly when we're running at a pace that is not sustainable!
#2) PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU WANT MORE OF. Identify what you find yourself longing for regularly, and dig into that. I often ask people, "what do you find yourself thinking about constantly?"
#3) ASK OTHERS THEIR PERSPECTIVE. Ask those closest to you what they see, what they experience with you. They will often see things that we sometime overlook.
#4) LOOK BACKWARDS FIRST. Sometimes its easier to find and define things that once motivated you by looking back. This might help you to recognize those things that are currently motivating you.
#5) We talked about "INTRINSIC" and "EXTRINSIC. Are you doing something because you really enjoy the activity or are you doing something for the reward our the outcome of the activity? Here's the question: "Would you still do this activity if no one found out or there was no payoff attached?"
Here's the final thought from Nelson Mandela:
"It always seems impossible until it's done."
Motivation helps you reach for the impossible!
Which one of these 5 things might "motivate" you to dig into your motivation a little more? (That's a loaded sentence!)
Things I'm Reading, Listening To and Watching This Week:
Check out my friends website, Cross Bible. If you want great tools to help you study the Bible in a new way, check out his free site!
This past week at my Convene Forum, we had Andrew from Time Boss give us an overview of the framework. Really valuable session and I learned some things that I'm applying already to my life and schedule. Really good tools!
OK, big announcement here. I have a NEW FAVORITE TACO in San Juan Capistrano. Try Mary's Taco's at El Maguey. Life changing for sure. Not sure who Mary is, but her taco's are great! Second only to El Molino De Oro in San Juan.
If you want to engage in a 2-Day LifePlan, reach out to me. We dive into motivation among many other things in taking a deep look at your life and where you want to go!