Daily Truth Jan. 9, 2022
What you really need is a swift kick in the ass!
How’s that for motivation?
I was listening to a compilation of “motivational speeches” the other day while I was shoveling our driveway for about the 20th time that week. As much as I’d like to complain, the truth is I quite enjoy shoveling. The cold air on my face and in my lungs, the crunch of the crisp snow beneath my feet and the sense of usefulness and accompaniment I get when it’s complete. Not only does my family get to enjoy the clear path to the cars, but strangers get to walk freely on the sidewalk without falling or dredging through piles of uneven snow. Everybody wins! Sounds a lot like life huh? When you take responsibility for doing the hard work nobody wants to do, not only do you benefit but everyone else does too.
Anyway, in this compilation, listening to motivational speakers was referred to as seeking a temporary high. You hear someone speak or read some aspirational meme and get a charge, followed by a burst of enthusiasm to conquer your life. When you listen to some really powerful speakers, they can literally make you feel like there isn’t a single thing in life you cannot accomplish. And it’s true.
The trouble is, motivation is teaching you to apply a fresh coat of paint over old, delapitated boards. It makes you feel good temporarily and then you go back to the same old habits and life you’ve always lived. Motivation helps you make short-term changes that look good for a short period of time but never addresses any of the crap below the surface that needs to go. It doesn’t last long, because without doing hard work, nothing lasts. The hard work is exactly why most people don’t ever create the life they really desire. It’s much easier to slap up a fresh coat of paint than it is to clean out the ugly foundation and build something enduring.
I don’t believe in motivation in the typical sense it is sought out these days, which is why I don’t consider myself a motivator. I don’t sugar-coat my writings or my speeches to help pump you up. Screw that! I don’t want to help you put on a fresh coat of paint, I want to see you do the hard, gritty work and build a life that is solid from the ground up. A life that not only works for you, but one that benefits everyone around you, and the effects of which last for generations after you.
A life that great doesn’t happen through motivation, it happens through hard work. Period. It happens when we are called out on our bullshit and clear out the messy foundation of bad habits, self-doubt, guilt, shame, excuses and self-sabotage. All the things holding us back from creating a rich, abundant life representative of just how great we really are.
Anyone telling you, “you’re just enough the way you are,” doesn’t believe in you, nor do they believe in your potential for greatness.
I do. I believe in your potential for greatness and it pisses me off when I see you wasting it!
You can be so much more than you are right now, but you need a kick in the ass to start doing the work to achieve it.