This episode, we're talking about Motivation. We all know what motivation is. We all know when we feel it as well. Some days you just can't wait to get going, can't wait to make things happen. You’re full of buzz and energy and it’s catching and contagious.  It feels great. Whatever it is you're doing, when you have that sense of motivation, it can be the most boring task ever. But when you're motivated to do it, it just flies by. So the trick to this, then, is how can you create an environment where you make yourself motivated, where you can create that level of motivation you need.

In this conversation, we discuss understanding what and where motivation comes from and then how to take ownership of it. As usual, there's a simple model that Stephen talks us through: We have got Dangers, Opportunities, we've got the Comfort Zone, and how we move ourselves out of the comfort zone.

One of the things I think is important about this model is The Motivation to Move. Basically, this is creating the tension that makes you move, that allows you to move, but you're choosing the direction, you're owning it, you decide it. instead of letting motivation be something that happens to us. Sometimes we wake up, we don't really get why it is that this is the thing that we're really excited about, or looking forward to.

What's simple about this model is we get a choice. We can decide where is it we really want to move to. That's great. That's a superpower we talked about during the self development talk. So there's understanding it. First of all, how the motivation works, how the comfort zone works, how the danger and the opportunities work, and we get to manipulate it and make it work for us. It's so simple, when it's spelled out to us. It always makes me feel that that's where the power is. You know, that joyous surprise when you realize, aha, I get this. In fact, sometimes I already do this. Sometimes I have made this work for me in the past. This is just a way of getting there more often, more quickly, more powerfully.

A theme of self development is owning and determining for yourself what is going to happen.  Self development.  Self Ownership. Self Determination.  I think is a really important thing.

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We're going to publish more transcripts and detailed notes to go along with the episodes - we know some people like to read as well as listen.  Below are some notes - full transcripts will be available online as well.

Transcript Notes

So today, Stephen, we are talking about motivation. Now, you framed it particularly as motivation to move. And I'm really curious about this topic, or interested. It's not just these times, but sometimes it can feel pretty flat, boring and dull, stuck in lockdown and under curfew. So I think this is going to be a good topic. So, motivation to move? Should we start with that? Why motivation to move?

Yeah, well, this is a big topic, whether it's in the situation we’re in just now or forever. the motivation to move is understanding basically, why you do and why you don’t . So it's understanding the motivation that you have to do something and also the the level of motivation to not do something. So it's about understanding where that motivation comes from, how that process works. So that you can take more ownership on the things that you really want to do. And the things that you then make more conscious decisions not to do. So is owning that motivation to move.

So that's basically isn't it, we understand that motivation. It's a word that we use, and we hear lots of times it's the underlying reasons we get out of bed to do something, or we spend time or energy on it. And I guessing what we're going to cover today then is a little better understanding of what it is, but then also how we can control it or how we can build it or how we can maintain it or how we can turn it on and turn it off. Is that the win we'll get from today?

Yeah, it's understanding that this is a process by which you make all your decisions and choices. And it's an ongoing process by which you then decide to see things through or not, so that we get beyond the ‘Why am I still saying that I want to do that and haven't gotten around to it. Or why is it I start things off, but I never really see them through. it’s to give us that more control and empowerment on it to make those decisions consciously. Rather than saying I’ll leave it to how motivated I am to make that decision for me it’s actually making the decision and then driving that motivation to see it through. So rather than your emotions making that decision, which is your your energy of motivation, you're consciously making that I'm self determining that this is going to happen, this is what I'm going to do, and knowing how to then create a level of motivation, and continue to recreate that level of motivation, not just to start, but to see it through.

Like that, you're right, because sometimes you, it does feel it's outside of your control, you know, you sometimes you somehow feel motivated to do something and, and other times you don't, sometimes I've got particular ways, which will motivate me to, you know, hit an exercise goal or something. But other times, I'll try the same thing, and it doesn't work. You know, there's good habits I've created, there's bad ones I can't kick and I've tried to use different methods, but they don't always work. So yeah, that makes sense. So this is going to help me with understand this better, okay, I like this. So literally, then this is about owning and controlling what I want to do what I want to spend my time on or and what I don't want to do,

yeah, and if you really want to do it, then knowing how to make sure you've got the motivation to do it and see it through. And not just saying it's another thing on the list that I just never get to.  And equally also for the things that are taking up your current levels of motivation, are those the things you really want to be doing? Or are those just the things you've always done. You know, if there's things you continually do, without a great deal of motivation, all they're doing is draining. But there's also some things that you keep saying, I keep saying I'm going to do, I'm definitely going to do that at some point. It's understanding that unless you have that level of motivation, you're not going to do it. And that's okay. If it's not okay that you don't do it, it's then creating the motivation so that it's done. So it gives you that level of self awareness gives you your self confidence, because you're determining it, it's about self management, so that you're getting the best out of yourself and, and investing that motivation into the things that matter most to you, you'll generate greater results, you'll be successful by being you, and you'll be happier with your decisions.

This is great, okay, because some of the things we talked about before such as imagining better future selves, whether in terms of habits, even vision and purpose. And that's great to have that picture. But then this is going to help us get there. This is going to be creating an engine to get from today's place to that place that you've already decided you wouldn't mind getting to this is going to build those extra levels of motivation to help you get there.

And it's understanding how your engine works. And your engine may work differently to mine.  Your motivations might be different from mine. Because if you don't take control, and this is all self development is about is that conscious self determination of you being the best version of you. It's finding out where your motivations are. Otherwise, you're trading off what other people are telling you, you should be motivated by. And nowadays, there's no shortage of other people, particularly social media, situations or circumstances or your past telling you what you should be motivated by. And therefore you're not in control of that. And therefore it's a variable. sometimes you're beating yourself up saying why is I'm just not finding the motivation to do that. And so this gives you that empowerment to take control of that self determine that. And make sure therefore, that you're putting the motivation into the things that matter most to you.

you’re right because that's it, we are all being told this should be important to you, therefore, do this, or this should be your motivation. But this is a personal thing. And so we've talked about before, about personal ownership, this isn't something people don't give you, their motivation to you and you, you swallow it and move on. This is about you figuring out what is, as you said, your own personal engine, okay.

And importantly on that, you're able to define your motivation, rather than it just being a thing. So one of the best examples of this is people in sales jobs, it’s always assumed that there's going to be motivated by money. And that is a quite one dimensional motivation for most people, unless you've defined what you're going to do with the money. And that's by being able to define actually what that money means to you and makes possible and the difference it makes, then you start becoming more motivated that the money becomes a means towards an end that means something to you, rather than it being an end in itself. Therefore this allows you to take things that are the sort of formal motivator, but being able to expand and amplify that level of motivation by what you’d really want to do with it. So it's by understanding that we can then create a level of motivation, find that level of motivation that works for us, what pushes our buttons, rather than being told you should be motivated by this. And sometimes that's not a boss, that's telling us sometimes that us saying to ourselves well, I always said, I would want the house the car, the money, therefore, that’s what I should keep going for. And there becomes a time, maybe that doesn't motivate you as much as it used to, unless you then understand how to find and create more motivation, you're going to have less motivation , it's going to dwindle away, as you continually chase things that no longer excite you.

This comes back to what we've talked about in the past about relationships, how relationships change, how these things will have a natural deterioration or evolution. The same is exactly the same for motivation. And that emotional management piece we talked about as well, in previous episodes, where we layering up of different reasons, that why to the power of seven, all these things, I can hear the echo of these back in this, which is great, because then it feels to me, it is part of this wealth of work that we're building, okay? This is good. So this motivation, this owning this motivation, the strength of the motivation, this is going to help move us to where we choose to go. And that that self determination. I mean, we all want that, we all want to be able to choose what you know where we are going to, and lovely to be feeling we can move there. Okay, this is good. So what should we consider first?

Well, that this is a fantastic model. And it's one model that we can then go into in depth. So we're not sort of moving around from one to another. If you can imagine a timeline because we're all on a timeline. And at one end of the timeline, there's dangers. And at the other end of that timeline, there's opportunity. And where we tend to sit is in a circle right in the middle, halfway between the dangers and the opportunities, and that's our current comfort zone. And we tend to sit in that comfort zone, weighing up the opportunities against the dangers, or weighing up the pros and the cons.

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