How We Stay Motivated
"What motivates you to always want to take the healthiest, most disciplined and the most responsible path in most things?" I got this question from (one of our five) male readers a while back, and to be honest, the question kind of shocked me. He went on to say that he has good intentions but is frequently swayed by peer pressure and laziness.
The short answer is: I am fascinated by productivity and bettering myself, and Kelsey is a perfectionist and has always strived to do things well.
The Longer Answer
- Black and white. Every decision you make either helps you or hurts you. It's either good or bad. Right or wrong. That sounds dramatic, but it's true. You can try to muddy the waters with excuses, but every choice you make in life can be boiled down to that. Keep making choices that point toward good.
- It takes time. It could take 10 years for you to get where you want! But if you start now, you're one step closer. With a big goal, dream or vision in mind, you must boil it down to the very first step that needs to be taken. Then the next, then the next. If you constantly focus on the big goal, you will be overwhelmed and never get there. It will remain a dream.
- Grace. Keep heading in a general direction, but give yourself some grace to allow for change of course. Think of it like bumpers at the bowling alley, they keep you from falling in the gutter. We believe in a God who has sacrificed so much for us that even though we fall short, we strive to do the best we can to honor him.
We had another reader email us a few weeks ago regarding The Family Playbook we have for sale. She mentioned how the intentions that her and her husband had in January were no longer applicable (in May) because her husband took another job since then. What a great opportunity to chart a new course, and how great is it that they had the insight to know continuing down the same path they intended in January would no longer work.
That email caused me to look through our own Playbook, and I was actually shocked (we haven't looked at it since January...how quickly time flies). I was amazed on two levels.
- How much we have accomplished: Simply by writing it down, many of the goals had been accomplished without looking at them again. They simply stayed top of mind until they were done.
- How things change: Some goals we have no longer seem important or relevant, and don't seem like they are worth the effort anymore.
One of the hardest things for us being productivity driven and a perfectionist is getting stuck in the details. Not coming up for air to see if we are still swimming in the right direction. We're rethinking the Playbook, how we use it and when we look at it. For those of you that have the Playbook and responded to our survey awhile back, thank you.
If you would like a copy, you can pick one up here. If you purchase, know that you will get all future versions of the workbook when we release updates. We're looking at a major overhaul this fall.
I feel like I've rambled my way through 550 words and didn't answer the original question... What motivates you to always want to take the healthiest, most disciplined and the most responsible path in most things? That's a real good question and I wonder if we seem more put together than we really are. We were on vacation last week and made some pretty undisciplined choices in what we ate. That's part of the grace we allow ourselves. But I do think we have developed good dicipline over the years in most things and I think that can be summed up with the following quote:
“Champions are champions not because they do anything extraordinary but because they do the ordinary things better than anyone else.” --Chuck Noll, former head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers and four-time Super Bowl winner
We're certainly not champions yet, but we're just strive to do the ordinary things better every day. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose, but we continue to play the game...I think we're motivated by what we've accomplished in the past and the dreams and passions we have for the future. Writing a blog is a great way to document the good, the bad and the ugly.
Over to you: What motivates you to do better?