Find Your Personal Motivator Whatever That Happens To Be And Exploit It To The Max

Hi folks,

Oil field in the US. This can be a pretty dirty and oily place to work. From: http://goo.gl/q7uy7

I was struggling with my workout philosophy, which became the FitOldDog Training Wheel, when it occurred to me that motivation is a key aspect of exercise. So I chose motivation as the second spoke of my wheel, after mind and body awareness. Let’s face it, if you don’t know why you are doing something, why are you doing it? You then might say, “Well, isn’t it obvious, because I want to?” But stop and think about it for a while and then you may have doubts. For instance, why did you choose the profession or career that you did? Because you love it, it makes money, your parents or another authority figure told you that you should? Or maybe you wish that you had done something different, when the question becomes, “Why didn’t I do that?” Because I was told I couldn’t or I had self-doubts?

Working with oil can be dirty, dangerous work requiring protective gear. From: http://goo.gl/umh3z

I think that with a little introspection you will find that the answer to the question “What motivates me?” is not so easy. And then, here you are still doing it 20 years later, but you’ve changed a lot due to life experiences. Do you ask yourself, “Am I still in the right career for me, or is it time for a change with all the difficulties that that entails?” Change is difficult, especially later in life, but it is often worth the effort if it results in greater happiness and satisfaction, which reminds me of a story.

A friend of mine was sitting on his porch, just enjoying a quiet evening, when a neighbor three doors down came out of his front door in a rush. He hurried towards his car, looking a little desperate, opened the trunk, looked inside briefly, and then sprinted back into his house and slammed the door. He did not appear to have taken anything to or from the trunk of his car. A week or so later, the identical performance was repeated, and again a little later in the pouring rain. My friend was overcome by curiosity, and seeing his neighbor in the street one day he plucked up the courage to enquire as to what was going on, and his neighbor replied as follows:

“My Dad worked in the oil fields for years, and then so did I. I kind of accepted the idea without question. It was what we did. However, in my mid-forties I started to really resent and, in fact, hate the work. I interacted with good people, but I just didn’t like the oil, grease, noise, and lack of time to think and reflect. After some encouragement from my wife, I decided that I wanted to go into research, using my field experience. I managed to finally get into a graduate program, and now I am writing my research dissertation. It is the hardest thing that I have ever done in my life, even though I love it. Writing doesn’t come naturally to me – how much time do you get to read and write in an oil field? Sometimes I feel like giving up, and when I do I go out to my car, where in the trunk I have my old protective gear from the oil field. One look is enough to send me back to writing.”

He found his motivator, and he exploited it effectively. When it comes to safe exercise for better health what is your motivator, I wonder?

-k @FitOldDog