As I write this brief article, I’m enjoying not only my first day back in the office after an AMAZING Spring Break with my family but also the first Monday of the 2nd quarter of 2016. Quick note: The 2nd quarter of any year is important. It is here — in April thru June — that your efforts are either “doubled down” to meet your goals, or you start making excuses, and “dumbing down” your goals to meet your efforts.
TODAY, I began with a 45-minute “download” session, jotting down everything I had to accomplish today. Here’s an incomplete snapshot of what’s on my list:
**9 days worth of email responses ** writing/editing WOW’s print newsletter ** respond to editors/journalists/producers who are part of my upcoming MEDIA training ** PAYDAY for my team ** food menu for upcoming PJ Party ** details for Chris’ surprise 40th birthday
Of course, having been largely off of social media for 9 days, I peeked in on twitter to see that there are nearly 60,000 tweets with the hashtag #MondayMotivation. 60K, and counting. My immediate thought is this:
Why do all of these grown ups need to be motivated?
Don’t get me wrong… I LOVE some of the tweeted material. The quotes (some below, for your — ahem — motivation) are inspirational… challenging even. I grabbed snapshots of some of my favorites.
But, why do we feel like we need to be MOTIVATED to do what we need to do?
The uncensored truth is that you can do all sorts of things without FEELING excited about doing them. You can go for a jog when you’d rather watch a rerun in your pajamas. (In fact, the only time I’m MOTIVATED to run, is about 1/2 way through a run!) You can write that article… follow up on that lead… check in with your clients… even when you feel unmotivated to do so.
In short, you can do it anyway.
We’re not five anymore. We don’t need to be tricked into eating our veggies or cajoled into visiting Grandma or bribed into doing our chores.
We can feel completely unmotivated, uninterested even… and do it anyway. In business, marriage, fitness, and life — in my humble opinion — the most exciting changes occur when we “do the thing” we need to do… consistently… without taking our emotional temperature to decide if we FEEL like doing them or not.
So, maybe this completely un-motivational Monday post will actually motivate you to “do the thing, ” — whatever that is for you today. IF NOT, well… I offer you my favorite motivational Monday tweets:
