For several weeks earlier this year, I struggled with
motivation, particularly motivation in my training. Up until a few months ago,
I was missing workouts or finding ways to limit them. My ability to manage my
job, life, and training felt out of balance. About a month ago, I made a conscious
choice to commit to do every training session. As my coach told me, I “get” to
exercise; it is never a “have to.”
Many of us don’t think about or don’t respond to the reality
that we are all temporarily abled bodied. We are temporarily able to engage in
rigorous activity and that ability could be lost at any time. The risk that one
day our mobility might no longer be as it is today, is real. Yet, even when we
know folks who have struggled with physical changes to their bodies, if it’s
not in our immediate foreground, it lacks any power to change our own behavior.
We know it could be, perhaps, maybe, kind of, but it isn’t right now, so why
think about it? I have endeavored to remind myself of this when my motivation
is slipping away to re-orient myself to my training as a choice and as
something I get to do. It isn’t an obligation, it isn’t something I drag around
with me like a ball and chain. It is something that has positive benefits and
gets me outside and away from the pull of the sofa.
Motivation is of course a complex matter. Sometimes we just
cannot motivate ourselves to get up and outside into activity and there are
very real cognitive and biological reasons for that. I think about this inner
struggle I have experienced with training – the “should I/shouldn’t I” conversation
that happens almost daily in my head – and compare it to my professional life. Motivation
at work is a real issue for many of us. I believe it is connected to the need
for change, intellectual stimulation, or something new and interesting. However,
I don’t think folks experiencing a lack luster work environment or a lack of
interest in their work always see it as such. Blah becomes the new normal and ceases
to be noticeably problematic. I have talked a lot about stagnancy in the
professional realm before now. In particular, how employees lacking in
professional cultivation by their employer stay at organizations for years and
cease to grow personally and professionally. This stagnancy impacts
organizational culture over time and slowly puts the brakes on innovation and
opportunity. Stagnancy can impede the forward momentum of your business as much
as stagnancy in training can impede progress toward your athletic goals.
Stagnancy and motivation are linked. When motivation is
waning among employees or there is a lack of energy about the future and what
could be, that’s an indicator that stagnancy has, or is about to take hold. The
responsibility lies with the employer to remove the collective hand from the
brake and inspire something different. Employers should encourage a culture of
constant professional development so that folks don’t fall into low-risk,
uninspired ruts. That is not to say that employees don’t have some
responsibility here. They have to pick up what their conscientious employer is
throwing down. Much like I have to work with, and listen to my coach as I
struggle through periods of low motivation. This body of mine is not
invincible, it is permeable and it is vulnerable despite what I can make it do.
I work hard to make it strong, but I must remind myself not to take it for
granted, not to get stagnant. In work, as in training, I must check in with
myself and be honest about when I am stuck. We should all strive to not take
work life for granted and simply sink back down into our sofas instead of
rising to the challenge and opportunity of something new. Put another way, I
must resist the urge in work and training to choose comfort over possibility. *
*credit for that last line goes to my fabulous work friend,
Trish.
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