I was simply
taking out the trash…It’s no big deal, we all do it. However, on this day taking out the trash
would transform itself into a blog for you, Lovely Souls.
As I was taking
out the trash, a few of my neighbors happened to be also doing the same.
We all wished
each other a “Happy New Year” in doing this task, for one had been gone for the
last several weeks actually traveling for business not holiday leisure. One of the other neighbors stated (in a tired
state) that they were bombarded with visitors enslaved to hosting guests,
cleaning, cooking and never seeing the light of day. The third neighbor was sick with this year’s
nasty flu for three weeks.
Wow. As I took
in what they had put out there as their own life wheel spinning in the
directions it was spinning, I was floored to see the common thread of all three
of them depleting their energy tanks like most people in every neighborhood
across the globe who are fighting the good fight of existing vs. living.
Then it
happened….
When I asked
the loaded question again with a different inflection and tone, “How are you?
My neighbors
know me well enough to know I do not ask this question for simple social
convention. I actually prepare myself for an answer that goes beyond the simple
with “I’m fine.”
However, the
reply I received from my neighbors ended up being a 25 minute conversation of
now ‘not fine’ their world had become from the holiday break, realizing they
did not wish to return to their workplace.
While one
neighbor said, “Oh, that’s the thing with vacation… it makes it hard to go back
and that’s why most people don’t bother to take one.”
This
interesting comment was supported by recent conversations echoed at a few
holiday gatherings, where I had heard the same thing.
The question is…
- Do people deliberately avoid vacations in order to stay motivated and ‘in the groove’ for their output?
- Or are people lacking daily self-care to where when they do get vacation breaks, they realize how deficient they have become in order to create their own motivational input to go back to work for their output?
Thus, here by
the garbage cans “Happy New Year” was more of a wish, affirmation and goal that
took on a greater context than the greeting itself when talking to my neighbors.
It was in that
instant I had to ask another batch of loaded questions…. One which I have decided
to ask all of you in this moment…..
- How much do you rely upon recognition within your workplace for motivation?
- Are you able to take care of yourself and cultivate your own well-being if you do not receive it?
- Do you believe motivation is actually needed from the external in order for you to feel it internally to exceed your status quo?
- Or are you well-conditioned enough to just keep going as you create that for yourself?
- Is motivation like a cardio workout to get ‘revved up and pumped to take on the week?
- How differently do you feel in contrast, if you don’t intentionally psych yourself up?
- What are your expectations of yourself to continue to initiate your own self-motivation?
- Do you see a difference in your performance?
For people like
my neighbors in this particular case, they are simply wanting to know they are
not fighting this fight ALONE, thus prompting our 25 minute discussion, but they also didn't speak up to declare their own refueling time for their own self-care, to sustain motivation. They simply kept going to the point of internal resentment, which in turn is not healthy in the long run.
Humans who keep churning and burning, going without knowing, ultimately will at some point crash and burn.
Yeah, I said it
and I said it to my neighbors, as well… so I could dig deeper into the psyche of
what was really going on as all of us took out the trash, and they all verbally vomited near the trash receptacles about their individual proverbial 'crashes.'
- How often (frequency) do you need external motivation to keep motivated to do your work?
- Does your own intention drive your motivation?
- Did self-motivation initially exist within you from the get-go when you started your day – and did you find by the end of the week it died somewhere?.... In other words, do you experience constant ‘end-of-the-week burnout?’
- How does your definition ‘motivation’ differ from others? Has it changed with time?
- Does your own personal passion drive your inner natural mojo that gets you pumped and motivated to get up in the morning to do what it is you do?
- Why is this so nor not so?
These are the
questions I continued to shoot out of my mouth like a tennis ball machine ….
And my neighbors looked at me both with the face of ‘awakening’ and the face of
‘earthly reality’ like a cartoon character contorting their facial muscles.
It was amazing
to watch, but I could see the wheels turning and that was my intent – to get
the wheels turning, like I was Tina Turner doing that signature head flip
singing “Big wheel keep on turning” from Proud Mary.
The bigger
question is ….
- Are you turning the wheel? Or is the wheel turning you?
- Or are you just the hamster on said wheel with tunnel vision?
As you look at
your INPUT and how it affects your OUTPUT… this is important for you to ponder
as you examine your next page or even your next chapter in your life.
How you choose
to move forward is up to you, but more importantly it is necessary for you to ensure
said wheel is moving in the direction that most resonates with your own soul.
Much like
illness and disease, or should I say dis-ease – when your soul is in conflict
with your own motivation, it is time to examine where your energies are
expended.
Human
expectations of external to constantly feed the internal is like building a
castle on quicksand, because the foundation of motivation can truly only be
cultivated from what is in our hearts, minds and souls to grow, and may not
always be in alignment with the external expectation.
While taking on
your New Year, it’s a good time to regroup and rediscover what truly lights you
up inside to propel yourself into a place where motivation can grow.
- Does your INPUT affect your OUTPUT?
- Or is it the other way around, where what you do further drives your own internal excitement?
Once you
establish what is feeding your motivational LINK within, you’ll soon see a
place where you can self-sustain your own enthusiasm for whatever it is you are
doing.
From here, your
own motivation has a place to develop into something that takes on a life of
its own as you gain momentum in taking on all of the new goals you have put in
motion for yourself.
Keep your INPUT
and OUTPUT in balance as you spin your wheels of creativity to develop better
habits in recognizing when you are wearing yourself down vs. how you are
lifting yourself up.
If you ‘keep
going’ – you will miss it. Sometimes it
is in the breaks we take we see how we keep the wheel in motion with healthy
motivation or if we are simply spinning our own wheels into depletion and
exhaustion.
When you go to
sleep at night, ask yourself – “How did I sustain my own motivation today? What can I do to make tomorrow to help myself
stay in better balance?”
When you wake
up in the morning say to yourself, “I will slow down enough to recognize my own
depletion and take moment to prioritize my energy to sustain my motivational
energy.”
Staying in tune
with yourself in order to recognize where your energies are going, will help
you better gauge where you spin the wheel to the point where you fly off of
it.
Stay healthy
and in balance, Lovely Souls!
Namaste,
