Friday, April 27, 2012

Motivation and Success

So often, we view success as something that happens to two types of people: the lucky people, and the motivated people.

What happens to those of us who don't fall into either category?  I'm not the most motivated person in the world. I make a good show of motivation for about two weeks, and then I lose interest in the attempted goal. Nor would I say I'm particularly lucky in the traditional meaning of the word (who really is?)

Have you ever met one of those people who can walk past a plate of brownies with out a second, wistful glance? Or that person who just seems to have the ability to work all day, and then take work home to finish over the weekend? I want to barf on those people. Seriously. If I ignore anything sweet, it is because there is a massive battle of will happening in my head at the moment.Working on the weekend (unless it is a few massages) makes me twitchy.

To be motivated, I have to be interested in something. If I am interested in being successful, I have to stay focused on that, right? What on earth is going to motivate me to focus on success?

I love running. It sounds weird, because if I had told me this two years ago, I probably would have looked at myself like I had donkey ears on top of my head. There was a point in time (and if I could distil this point into a specific moment and emotion, I would be the most popular running blogger ever) where I suddenly switched gears, started thinking of myself as a runner, and a little kernel of running love blossomed.

Sometimes when I'm running, I don't love running. Sometimes, I run just to burn some calories. I am always satisfied with a run when I am done though. The best moments are the moments I hit my gear, and I click along, cruising like it is nothing.

I'm getting to my point, I promise. Running takes practice. I've devoted a lot of miles to running (just check out my runkeeper profile). I'm still a work in progress, and I'm never going to win a marathon, but I'm considering myself a successful runner at this point, because I do love it.

Success takes practice. We find the motivation by having the mental image of what our success looks like: what we want out of our lives, what we need to have in place in order to be successful, the people who support our success. I frequently find myself stuck in a pattern of thought that involves the words "have" and "not have". For example: "I have clients this week" or "I do not have clients this week". My motivation wanes and waxes with the "have/not" moments.

Instead of getting wrapped up in the demotivating "have/not" moments, I'm going to treat this success thing like I treat running: sometimes, you just have to slog it out, even it is just for a few miles. At some point, the picture of success is going to come into a sharp focus, and that is when I will be able to walk past a plate of brownies with out a second, wistful look.

This success thing, we are in it for the long haul. Peter said it best last night: "In five years, we are going to be wildly successful" and I replied with "I'm holding you to that, and if we aren't, I'm suing".

Love,
Diana


1 comment:

  1. I love it all Diana and you are a motivation to many people and you may not even know it. Keep up the good work and dedication that I know you have.

    Wendy

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