What best motivates you?
What fuels your motivation engine?
Is it the promise of something good, perhaps some reward? The threat of something bad such as losing a bet or disappointing someone? Maybe you’re motivated by your faith in a higher power? Or maybe it’s something else which pumps through your blood? Maybe it’s a poster of an athletic woman hanging on your bathroom mirror? Or maybe it’s a picture of our own David Fowler hanging on your refrigerator?
For me, nothing works quite as well as anger.
Well, at least when it comes to exercise.
Reward doesn’t entice me, as my goals are so far off as to seem nearly impossible at times. The threat of something bad didn’t work when I was up against public humiliation during my bet to lose in 2006. I’m not much on faith, either. While I want to lose weight for my family, it’s not the easiest motivation to tap into.
So for me, anger works.
It used to be anger at those who made fun of me in my youth. Growing up fat can be tough. Growing up fat with acne is like doing hard time in prison with a sign which reads “snitch” around your neck.
When I was younger, I used to focus on that anger as I worked out.
But as I get older, that anger has faded as have most of my memories of the jerks that poked fun. Now I focus the anger inward – at myself. Anger for not doing something sooner. Anger at failing.
There’s great fuel in that anger, but it doesn’t burn pure.
It’s a dirty fuel with lots of negative side effects.
Anger is not a healthy emotion. It only gets you so far before you start to run on empty. It only gets you so far before you start buying into the negative self talk.
My motivation now is partly BlogToFit. Other people who are going through the same things, other people who have tried and failed, other people who are seeking motivation.
If I can get in shape, surely you can.
And that should motivate both of us, right?
So, what motivates you?
Note: Thanks for all the food suggestions and recipes last week! The response has been amazing! From the people who commented to the people who emailed me privately, you all have been awesome! Thank you! I will be reporting the results of my experiment next Monday.
Want a bit of humor and motivation delivered via email every weekday? Subscribe to get each BlogToFit post delivered for free! Email not your thing? That’s okay, you can also subscribe via RSS – like all the cool kids do. It’s also free. Unless you really WANT to pay us.
15 Responses to “What best motivates you?”
Comments
Read below or add a comment...
Fear of disappointing people who are counting on me is probably my biggest motivator. The thought of letting people down (including myself) is crippling at times, but once I breathe it makes me go faster than pretty much any other thing.
Writer Dad’s last blog post..Sliding Doors
[Reply]
David Wright Reply:
December 16th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
I know that feeling all too well.
[Reply]
Motivation:
I don’t want another knee surgery any sooner than I absolutely have too. I’m hoping to put it off a long time (crossing fingers here: maybe forever?)- in part by losing weight, in part by keeping the muscles around the knee strong.
My husband’s grandma was an incredible inspiration and always fit. She could out walk me in her 70s!
Avlor’s last blog post..Breathing and Trying a New Recipe for Bento
[Reply]
David Wright Reply:
December 16th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Not wanting surgery is good motivation.
[Reply]
Biofeedback motivates me. In other words, I have learned to listen very closely to my body.
I have a 5 pound plus of minus for my weight, in which I feel healthy. Above or below that I am lethargic, brain foggy, and completely down in the dumpies. As for eating, I am hypoglycemic and, again, brain fog sets in if I am not careful. As for exercising, if I don’t keep my core stomach and back muscles in shape, my back and left hip (sciatica) is in agony.
I like feeling good. I feel alive and vital and sexy. That’s what motivates me.
Urban Panther’s last blog post..Complete job melt down
[Reply]
David Wright Reply:
December 16th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
Congrats on being so in tune with your body. So many people (such as myself sometimes) walk around disconnected to the cause and effects of their actions.
[Reply]
My mother and her father both suffered with angina and I absolutely do not want to follow that family trait.
So every time I reach for a biscuit I try to imagine the lard and fat creeping into my arteries and leaking into my body and it kinda helps putting me off!
[Reply]
David Wright Reply:
December 16th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
Sounds like a good anti-eating advert!
[Reply]
Health. I don’t want to be the old lady bent over with osteoporosis. I don’t want to be dependent on a motorized chair. I don’t want be unable to walk a flight of stairs without wheezing. I don’t want to be unable to keep up with my mind!…it wants to GO! I want to be the very healthy and active 90-year-old I see in my mind, interested in everything and being as active in those interests as I can be.
I LIKE the way my body feels when I’m lithe and limber, mobile and active!
And I want to fit into my favorite jeans.
Julie’s last blog post.."A Flower for the World"
[Reply]
David Wright Reply:
December 16th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Good motivations – especially the last one
[Reply]
Anger works so well for many people but not so well for me. I like the days I feel good the best and that is always when the weight is down and I can move faster and without pain or grimace.
I want to prove I can do this – I have experienced so much that I want to not be the first to have diabetes in my family or the first to have anything else go wrong with me, I don’t want to take pills…I believe they make it worse…I watched pills keep my mother living and dopey and that was not pleasant…but I also saw my 94 year old mother bone on bone everywhere in her body unable to get up and down from a sitting position and I thought if she had been a better exerciser that would not have been her plague.
An MRI just showed I have no arthritis any where in my body…this is a good sign. I have worked my BP down to normal and off medications by loosing weight and eating correctly…I am doing this for me, myself and I….I don’t wish to be dependent on my children or impoverished
Love those endorphins when they kick in…exercise is not my favorite but I just do it
Patricia’s last blog post..Waiting
[Reply]
David Wright Reply:
December 16th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
Congrats on the MRI and other results! Sounds like you are on the right track.
[Reply]