Motivation is an odd thing...

Staying motivated is a full time job for many, self included. Staying motivated about work. Staying motivated to put in big miles. Staying motivated to be "ON!" 24 X 7, no matter who I am in front of. Staying motivated to learn.  Staying motivated to be a good human.  I could continue, but I think you get the drift.  Staying motivated is a must in my current world.

Why on some days, do people feel ultra motivated or ultra unmotivated?   It is a puzzle to me.

Like yesterday, I woke up feeling unmotivated.  There were no external triggers.  I live a Top 1% life on about every scale you can think of.  Health, relationships, lifestyle, financial...you name it, I have nothing to feel unmotivated or down about.  Yesterday, I could pinpoint no issues that made me feel like ditching everything, hanging out in bed and watching Judge Judy all day (Oh yeah! Judge Judy kicks major ass in my book!  Watching her is like getting a daily dose of a smart, no b.s. old school grandma!  Everyone needs one of those in their life!)

Fo the last 15 years, my job has been to lead others in the software industry.  I cannot be the guy in the corner office feeling uncharged up.  People look to me to get some energy.  If my battery is too low to give others a jump start, it can have a real impact.  I watch myself closely in this regard. 

As a guy who is gearing up to run 2,500 miles over 60 days, I also cannot afford the luxury of being unmotivated.  So, stamping out that monster yesterday had to happen fast!

Lucky for me, I usually can get myself out of the ditch pretty fast by...

...Cranking punk or bluegrass on my Zune full blast...
...Running or biking hard for a long time...
...Reading about people who have over come some amazing odds can usually get me moving.  (Check out this guy if you ever start feeling unmotivated Kyle Maynard)
...Reading about people who really do have a reason to be unmotivated.  (This shames me into action mostly.)

And if all that fails, I usually pull out one of my journals from the last 12 years and read notes/emails/cards others have sent me (I save them for this purpose) saying thanks for something I have contributed to them or helped them with.  These always remind me why I need to stay powered up. 

Not sure why motivation ebbs and flows...I guess I will have plenty of time to think about it on my 12 hours of planned running this weekend.

On target for a 130 mile week.  Only 20 miles a week off my peak training plan milage.  No pain.  No strain.  All systems go!

Oh yeah...if you want to see something just crazy...watch this for about 1:40 minutes...




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