#16: Motivation.
Attitude — Discipline — Motivation — Enthusiasm.
Good ol’ Zig Ziglar used to joke about people complaining that motivation doesn’t last. “But neither does bathing,” Zig would reply, “that’s why you have to apply it daily.”
NetApp’s Tom Mendoza was blunter about this when asked how he motivates an unmotivated person. “I fire them.”
Tom says it’s not a leader’s job to motivate unmotivated people; leaders take motivated people and lead them to do something great.
And that boils down to my belief that motivation is intrinsic, and it is my responsibility to get motivated.
Accepting responsibility is the attitude I love to apply to everything; because once you do that, you’re actually saying things are within my control. And once you’re in control, you only need some discipline.
Discipline is something that gets me through the days when I don’t get up on the motivated leg. Days like today, when I’m a bit under the weather, and not feeling like writing another edition of my Sunday newsletter. I could easily blame it on the writer’s block and blow it off. No consequences, it’s just a hobby, nobody’s paying for it, who cares. But I decided to get my lazy ass behind my desk and start typing.
The best way to push through writer’s block is by writing. And the best way to push through low motivation is by being disciplined to show up with the right attitude and get things rolling.
Don’t fret about what keeps you up at night — turn towards what gets you up in the morning.
For me, it starts the evening before. I found out that the thoughts I park into my head just before falling asleep create some overnight magic, and they help me wake up in the right mood.
Then my morning routine is the autopilot that takes over. Turkish coffee, hot lemon water with turmeric, surya namaskar, journaling, followed by a morning run/workout. By the time I take a cold shower I’m bursting with motivation, ideas, and energy.
A small discipline/attitude trick when working from home, which came handy during the pandemic, is dressing up. I don’t work in sweatpants. I dress like going to the office on a casual Friday. Some people frown at the fact that I wear a dress shirt (US!) every day working from home. But I feel that I work better in proper attire. It’s the attitude. And another simple thing totally within my control.
So if you want to be motivated, don’t expect others to motivate you; take control and choose to motivate yourself.
Show up with the right attitude, sprinkle it with some discipline, and then motivation will boil down into enthusiasm.
Rinse and repeat daily to snowball yourself into a successful, joyous life.
Kevin Kelly said that being enthusiastic is worth 25 IQ points. —Ponder that.
Stay Hungry; Stay Foolish.
🧘♂️☕️⌨️🏃🚴🛠🌱👨👩👧👦📖🧠🛌