I generally avoid motivation as a speaking topic because it’s often filled with clickbait headlines and arbitrary, context-free advice that isn’t relevant to anyone, anywhere. (I’m not angry). 

I do, however, find it frustrating to get good counsel when there are challenging things going on – especially when it comes to something as individualistic as motivation. Yes, everyone struggles with motivation from time to time, but everyone’s solution is going to be different. And that’s one of the difficult aspects of development, for me – finding a bespoke solution to a problem everyone is dealing with. Yet, it’s the only way that works. 

We all love motivation – we all want it, desire it, hope for it. We blame a lack of it for the reasons we don’t get what we want. It’s one of those intangibles that can be so elusive when we really need it. 

What I’ve found, though, in “re-finding” motivation to do things, is that it’s dynamic. I share some examples of triathlon, running and work on the podcast, but the things that motivated me before aren’t necessarily the things that would motivate me now. Those things might be the same or different – but regardless of that – I’m a different person with each new experience I encounter. 

Finding motivation to lace up shoes and go for a run is a metaphor for other things. While I recognize the benefit and joy of running (yes, I said joy) – there are just some days where it doesn’t click. And as we gear up for big change and big projects, motivation is at a premium and we don’t get many opportunities to “wait for it to show up.” 

So, I try to process it out. And for me, the two aspects that are generating the most motivation revolve around creativity and company. 

First, I need a “why” that impactful – and that comes from me being able to create something of value. This could be a program for work, it could be a training program for a race, it could be a new book or article. Creating value; something that’s generating a positive reaction and is helpful for other people, gets me jazzed and moving forward.

Second, though, is beyond me – it’s my ability to surround myself with other good, motivated individuals. While I can’t control what another person does, I can control who I surround myself with … and by surrounding myself with positive, motivated people, I’m inclined to circle back and get creative myself. 

More on the podcast, like how Eddie Vedder is making me motivated to do more triathlons … but finding out your people and your value are two of the fundamentals to true motivation. It’s not easy – it takes ongoing reflection and work – but the payoff will be big. 

Enjoy the week!

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Speaker 1 (00:00):3, 2, 1. Welcome to bellwether. Thank you for joining this week. We’re gonna talk about motivation. I’m talking to you about motivation today. I’m gonna keep it quick and short because I have a meeting in 12 minutes and we’ll see if I can get this recorded in time to do that. So I’m motivated to tell you about motivation in a very short and efficient time. Um, this week I talk about not just motivation. I want to talk about refining motivation. How do you get re-motivated? Because we all do things that we love. We all get jazzed about different types of things. We all get excited about, you know, new opportunities and new things. And, and we get older and we change and time goes on and, and we just kind of lose the spark as it were. And how do we find that spark again? And what do we have to do?

Speaker 1 (00:46):And what kind of reflective exercises do we have to figure out to say, is this still something I should be motivated on? Is this still something I want to do? You know, all of these types of things. So I generally avoid the topic of motivation. Uh, um, I mean, I talk about it in different ways. I don’t like using the term motivation because it’s such a, there’s so much BS advice about it. Uh, I Googled it right before I did this, just to see if there was anything I really wanted to, to drive home and all I wanna drive home is don’t Google it because it’s just a bunch of bogus, like Buzzfeed collect, bait, headlines, you know, focus on something you love and you’ll be motivated and you like, like, okay, pound sand, thank you. That’s just not helpful. Um, and so everybody thinks that they’re an expert on motivation.

Speaker 1 (01:29):They’re gonna tell you, oh, just go meditate and figure out what you love and, and follow your passion. And then they leave like they’re, you know, super coaches telling you what to do. And, uh, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t mean Jack. So, um, the focus on what you love, force yourself into a habit, um, it’s all BS. It’s just all garbage. And the reason it’s all garbage is because if you don’t wanna do something, you’re not gonna do it period. Right. That’s it. Right. So if you, whatever it is that you’re looking to do, and you’re trying to find motivation, uh, you’re probably looking in the wrong place. We’re probably focused on the wrong things. And I, I, I can relate to that pretty well. Um, and it was extremely relevant this weekend. So this weekend I was up, uh, it came a bit to a head.

Speaker 1 (02:16):I signed up for a 20 mile run, why I do these things, I don’t know, but I signed up for a 20 mile run up at Martha’s vineyard. And, um, some people sign up to do it as a relay. Some people sign up, do the full thing because they’re stupid. And, um, and a lot of us, we just didn’t wanna do it. Our heads weren’t in it. We were like 20 miles. It’s cold. It’s rainy. Like why, why we’re in our forties? We’re grown individuals. Why are we choosing to do these things? And the nice part about being an adult is that you could choose to not do something right. And I’m a big proponent of, you know what? I just don’t wanna do it today and I’m not going to, and I’m a grown man. And I could just tell you that I’m not gonna run 20 miles today.

Speaker 1 (02:55):So I ran 10 and that was fine. I still hated it, but I wasn’t, you know, and, and I was talking to my friend, Emily, who invited me up, she kind of coordinates this run with a bunch of her friends and she’s been gracious enough to, to invite me up. And, uh, her, her husband, Dennis, who’s been a friend of mine for over 20 years, um, is up. And we make like a big weekend out of it. And it’s a lot of fun and it’s great social interaction, but we were, were talking about, and she said, you should do a podcast on, on motivation. You know, it’s February Martha’s vineyard. It sounds like a cool idea. I don’t know when it does, but, um, but why aren’t we motivated to do this? We used to love it. We used to love this run. We used to be like RA RA, RA 20 miles.

Speaker 1 (03:34):Let’s do this. And now it’s like, eh, you know why? And, and it related to me because the same thing happened to me last year, I signed up for a triathlon with a buddy. We were doing a half Ironman up in upstate New York. And I woke up that morning. I’m like, it’s not gonna happen today. Like, I’m just not, I wasn’t in it. Like, it’s just, and I, and I left my bike there and I, I didn’t sign up to, I signed up to do the race, but I, I didn’t show up. I went up and saw him. I said, I’m not, I’m not going today called me a punk, but he did it. And you can’t take your bike out of a triathlon until it’s over. So I basically gotta sit there and watch all these triathletes do it. Um, which was awful. But so what I did was I sat and I reflected.

Speaker 1 (04:12):I’m like, why? Couldn’t like, I couldn’t get my head around doing a half Ironman that day. And I’d done a bunch of them before, and I reflected a lot on it. And why am I doing triathlon? And what’s the point in this? I’m spending all this money. I’m, I’m like, what’s why, why am I doing all of these things? And, and it was the same thing with the run this weekend. And, uh, my Tommy was actually pretty good. Cause I get triathlon magazine, triathlete magazine, one, whatever it’s called, they mail it to me. They still mail you a magazine, which is nice. And like, after I, two weeks after I had not done the triathlon, the headline article was, you know, if you can’t visualize yourself finishing a race, you probably shouldn’t do it cause you might hurt yourself. And I was like, all right, these people something’s going on in the triathlon world that other people aren’t motivated in the way that I’m motivated.

Speaker 1 (04:55):Um, and so it resonated with me and it was really important. And, and what I figured as I was doing the race, not doing the race, sitting, reflecting on why I wasn’t doing the race was I signed up for triathlon to see if I could do it. And that was my why. Right. And I, I started with a and started with a 10 K run and then I went to a tough mud. And then I went to a, I don’t know, a, a sprint triathlon, an Olympic triathlon. I did a half Ironman. And then last year I full ma a full Ironman, uh, or two years ago, whatever it was. And so I’ve done it, I’ve done it. And I was like, okay, so now I’ve got a half Ironman. I’m like, I’ve already did a full right. What, what’s the point? You know, like, you know, I, I needed something bigger.

Speaker 1 (05:38):Um, what’s next? And, and what I settl...