Motivation

What exactly is motivation? People are motivated by all sorts of things…money, love, sex, prestige, body image, self image, power, etc. It can be something as small as one thought or as large as something that changes an entire nation. You have the power to motivate. You have the power to change what’s in front of you. I come into contact with negativity everyday. There are a ton of “I can’t” and “You can’t” people out there. I say to them “Why can’t you and why can’t I?”.  I call bullshit. What holds us back is fear. We have let fear become some sort of black shadow that hovers over us and guides us away from things we really want. Fear is a de-motivator. Fear is a crutch. Fear is why you haven’t reached your full potential. During my Sunday run, I thought about the difference between someone who is successful and someone who isn’t. What’s the key element that differs the two? The successful one made it happen. They stopped listening to all the “You can’t” that was thrown at them and said a big “F-U” to their crutch. I ran a marathon last September. I work a full time job and I have two full time little kids. There’s no messing around with marathon training. No one can train for you. You will absolutely not be able to finish that 26 mile run if you don’t put the effort and time into the training. My motivation for that process was to run a marathon and to finish it. Were there days that I didn’t want to train? Abso-freakin-lutely!! You think running a 20 mile training run in 80 degree weather is fun? We had (and have) limited amounts of time where people are available to watch our kids so we can train. It just so happened that the one day we could get in our 20 miler was a ridiculously gross humid day. Such is life. Suck it up and get it done my friend. I took the same approach to that run as I did during labor with my kids. Each minute that goes by is one less minute left but one minute closer to the goal. Being in labor, in my humble opinion, is the worst. Seriously. I hated everything about it. The doctors checking you, the hospital, the pain, the IV…pretty much the entire experience. What’s the end result to all of that? The baby, of course. That baby is the goal. So my advice is to look at your situations as they arise and figure out what your goal is and to figure out your path to your goal. What’s your motivation for getting there? How are you going to keep yourself going in the right direction? I’ll give you an idea of my fitness goal. I want to be 80 years old and still running. I truly believe that fitness and good nutrition are the true “fountain of youth”.  Today, I challenge you to do 20 minutes of exercise, in any form that you can fit into your day.  That 20 minutes is for you. Clear your mind. This is the medicine for the mind, body and soul. Really feel you body moving and remember that our bodies love motion.