Motivation

What motivates you?

Motivation can mean so many different things to so many people. for intstance, My motivation for writing this post, came from someone asking me why I haven't updated this blog in a few days. (thank you... you know who you are)

It got my butt moving into my chair and my fingers on the keyboard, but what was the motivation behind getting me to act? was it "wow, there are people who actually look at this blog", or was it simply a reminder to me of what I was already planning to do? Or was it deeper than that, something that can't quite be explained, but it tugged at me in such a way that it made me act?

Well here i am... discussing motivation, so whatever it is... worked.

I'd like to invite anyone to share with me their own personal stories of motivation. what motivated you to do something about your health?

I'll share with you 3 different instances in my life that "motivated" me to make a change for the better.

Story #1: In my full time job, when i'm not obssesing about fitness, I am in Advertising. We do TV/Radio commercials and print ads, as well as media buying etc. (Full service Ad agency). I had a client who wanted "talent" or people in his commercial, but didn't want to pay a talent fee. That gets you "In house" talent. It was my client and the deadline was too close to get someone else, so I stepped up and was the "Talent" for the commercial. About 2 months later, I received a phone call from my mother. she said she had just gotten a call from my aunt Babe, who
I hadn't heard from in years. The phone call went something like this. "You tell that son of yours Jackson, that I saw him on TV and he's gotten really Fat!" Well the instant motivation was to go Eat and drink my weight in burritos and Taco Bell Sauce. But overall, it motivated me to get busy, hit the streets, weights, and lay off the boston creams, and lose some weight. Which I did, and was eager to film another commercial very soon after, in the hopes that my Aunt babe would see it, and retract her prior outburst. - I lost 20 lbs in 8 weeks with Chicken, Rice, excercise, and a little thing called Xenedrine. - Waht was the ultimate motivation? Was it really my Aunt Babe who no offense, I really didn't care how I looked to her, or was it deeper, and the an underlying feeling, that "does everyone think I've gotten fat?" If she noticed... why hasn't anyone lese said something about it? The momtivation came from the reality, that I ghad indeed porked up.

This photo wqas taken about the same time as that TV shoot.

Story #2: For me... one of the greatest motivators in my life is competition. So when my family decided to do our own version of "The Biggest Loser" I was in, and new I had a shot at winning. Even though i was already down about 20lbs from my heaviest point, I knew I had more to lose, and could really get into this. The Motivation was to me in it's purest form. Competition. In 12 weeks with Weekly weight ins (which helped with the motivation to stick with it. aka, accountability). We formed teams, had weekly prizes for weight loss, and 12 Weeks later, I was down 40 lbs, and looking good. It was a weight i hadn't seen since High School. My Family did another competition not one year later... i was no longer motivated by the competition, primarily becasue I knew i wouldn't win. I had kept off Most of the weight from the 1st biggest loser, and my motivation was severely hampered, by the fact, that I would lose. a Shot at winning brought motivation, the Exact same competition, without the ability to win, brought out no such feelings. Was the key, Losing weight, getting in shape, or was it beating my sibling and cousins, aka... Winning?

The 3rd story is an easy one for me to determine where the motivation came from. one of my good Friends Cory Driggs, invited me to sign up and train for my first ever Triathlon. this was back in January '03. So i did. i thought why not, I need an "excuse" to workout. So I paid the $120 fee for the triathlon, and got to it. We had 4 months to train for an Olympic Distance Triathlon, and we were both starting and basically zero. My first run took me less than a 1/2 mile before My lungs felt like exploding. Weel, after only 2 months in, my wife had our 2nd Child and that did not make things easier, but i more or less stuck with the program, becasue i had already spent the $120 on the registration, another $80 or so outfitting my Mountain bike with road tires, and otehr equipment, plus some decent triathlon clothing and good running shoes, I was in this first Triathlon at least $400-$500. That alon was enough motivation for me to continue training so i could finish. In this case the majority of the motivation came from $. Cash money honey, it makes the world go round, and can be highly mnotivating. That's why people who go to a personal trainier work out 3-4 times a week... They have already paid for the training. now simple Gym memberships i don't think fall into the same category. It's not a sginificant amount of money to make one feel bad if they miss and don't go. In fact the clubs are counting on you NOT using your membership.

My advice... sign up for something, Pay the Fee, a Race, a Tri, a Trainer, a boot camp, something that is out of the ordinary. Or invent your own time in creating things to use at your home. (more to follow on this topic soon)

It's sad that for even some of the more motivated out there, it takes an outside force of mitivation to get most of us off our butt and onto the track, or into the gym. but reality is most of us need it. so find a partner, be needed somewhere, or pay the fees up front to make sure you'll go.

motivation comes in all types, what we really want is to get to the point where the real motivationcomes from within...

Some times we need to create our own motivation first, to see the results and what can happen when we stick to something "Fake it to make it".

It gets easier to motivate yourself, when the results have already made an impact in your life.

Story #3: