If you hadn’t noticed, I have a soft spot in my heart for motivational memes. I put them up several days a week over on FaceBook. I have a regular Wednesday post (that you just so happen to be reading now) that I try to make as motivational as possible. I try to inspire with the Instagram images I post. There’s a whole category of motivational posts right here on the blog!
I’d like to be able to say I do it all just for you. But I don’t. I do it for me too. Getting and staying motivated is one of the things I’ve found all successful people in any field to have in common. I regularly find myself in need of inspiration. I try my best to share a lot of it with you.
[tweetthis]You can have all the skill in the world, but if you aren’t motivated to get off your butt and use it, it’s wasted.[/tweetthis]
The problem with motivation, as Zig so accurately points out in this week’s meme, is that it doesn’t last. When I read one of Paul McBeth’s FaceBook posts, I get super motivated to go practice every day. Two days later, I’m playing rounds instead of practicing. A couple of days after that, I’m telling myself there are too many mosquitos out to go play today.
What’s the solution? Daily motivation. The key is that you have to actively seek it out. As much as we’d all like to think that all the motivation we need comes from within us, it just doesn’t.
In a really great book called the War of Art, Steven Pressfield talks about “the resistance”. The resistance is that little voice inside that tells you how much better it would be if you just hit the snooze button. It’s the little devil that sits on your shoulder and seduces you with the easy path through life. The resistance isn’t looking out for your best interest.
How do you fight the resistance? First, get Pressfield’s book. It’s really short and honestly one of the best books I’ve ever read on getting things done. I use the concepts it teaches almost daily.
Second, seek out daily motivation. Get yourself fired up. Play the theme to Rocky as your alarm in the morning. Watch great movies. Read motivational books. Follow people like McBeth who you can’t help but be inspired by. I would humbly say that following Mind Body Disc here and on Twitter, Instagram, and FaceBook would help too.
Surround yourself with things that rev your engine. Intentionally get yourself pumped up. Add motivation to your life on purpose.
At the end of your days, you’re going to look back on your life and say one of two things. “I wish I had.” or “I’m glad I did.”. The difference between which of those you end up saying could simply be how motivated you were.
Are you going to go out by saying “I wish I’d practiced more”, “I wish I’d played more”, or “I wish I’d spent more time with my friends on the course”? Or are you going to go out saying “I gave it my all”, “I spent every moment doing the thing I loved”, and “I played exactly as much disc golf as I wanted to”?
Make motivation like bathing. Do it every day. It’s not always the easiest thing to do, but I promise it’s the most rewarding.
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