Motivation Vs Purpose
One of the biggest throw away comments I get is something along the lines of “I wish I had your motivation”. No, you don’t. People tend to look at my life and my career, and assume that I’m the most motivated person in the world. That it all comes effortless to me. Nothing could be further from the truth, in all honesty. I simply have purpose.
Of course, I do have a lot of days where I am motivated. I enjoy what I do and in the main, it isn’t a chore for me. But those days that I’m not motivated, those are the days that matter. If you have a purpose, those days won’t be a problem for you. If you don’t have a strong enough purpose, you’ll fail (and you’ll probably deserve to).
Motivation is fleeting. One day it’s there, the next day it’s gone without a trace and you’re left feeling lazy, tired, and not executing the actions you should be. Purpose is a deep rooted, powerful precursor to any real success. Purpose is what you call on when motivation eludes you.
It’s about finding your “why”. Sure, you want to go to the gym to get a bit bigger, a bit leaner, a bit fitter. Whatever. So what? What’s the point of that?
Finding Your “Why”
It’s not the fact that you’ll have a better physique that really matters. It’s the biproducts that having a better physique will bring. It’s the increased confidence, the higher energy levels, the improved strength – and it’s the carryover that these have to other areas of your life.
You’re fitter, so you’re more productive at work. The boss might notice this and give you a promotion, payrise etc (or maybe you’re self employed, and the work you’re able to put in directly correlates to the money you take home). If you have kids, you’re able to play with the kids in the garden for longer without feeling like you’re going into cardiac arrest when little Timmy chases you around the washing line. Shit like that.
You’re bigger and leaner, so you fill out your clothes better. This gives you the confidence you’ve always lacked to go speak to a member of the opposite sex, to where tighter fitting clothes and to generally feel better about your body. Believe me, this affects your life in more ways than you’d think.
Maybe the purpose is more short term. You have a wedding, an event or holiday coming up. You definitely don’t want to be a fat bastard for that. Photos of these things last for years, and you want it to be something you can look back on and be proud of – not embarrassed about. You also want to be able to take your shirt off around the pool which is perfectly understandable. It’s hot in Benidorm, ay?
Alright maybe I’m half taking the piss here but the point I’m making is serious. Purpose is what keeps you going in whatever you do in life. And it doesn’t have to be the exact same thing from one year to the next – purpose can be an ever changing, dynamic thing.
For me, my purpose from a ‘fitness’ perspective is way different now than it was when I started.
When I first started taking this gym lark seriously, my purpose was mainly to prove to myself and everyone that laughed at me when I said I was going to get in shape – wrong (and there were plenty of people that flat out told me I couldn’t do it).
A couple of years after that, my purpose became to get myself ready to get on stage. I did that, too (although looking back, I had no real right to be up there).
Nowadays my purpose is more professionally focused. My career is the most important thing to me right now, so my physique is simply a tool to show the people that I work with that I walk the walk as well as talk the talk. I will likely take this to it’s extreme once more in the next couple of years and compete on stage again, but only if it fits in with my larger purpose. Building a business and helping as many people as possible.
This purpose is so powerful to me that whenever I don’t feel like training, like going food shopping or cooking my meals, like getting to bed on time and waking up early in the morning, it kicks in and reminds me why I’m doing it. My physique, my training, is a vital part of what I do. If I let things slip in my own body, not only will I not be taken seriously by you guys looking for help with yours, but I will likely let my standards slip with clients and their results will suffer. And that’s just unacceptable.
So, circling back to how I opened this short article. When people say to me “I wish I had your motivation”, I say no you don’t. You wish you had my purpose.
Have a great day
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Andy
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