TheBanyanTree: understanding motivation

[Julie Anna Teague]

I have pretty much always been motivated to do something with myself, 
in different areas of my life.  Right now I'm working through the 
training course to become a Certified Personal Trainer, and I'm giving 
a lot of thought to motivation.  What motivates me?  What propels me 
out the door for a run when it's 90 degrees and 80 percent humidity?  
For that matter, what motivates me to work hard, pay my bills, eat 
right, try to be a good person?

Husband thinks that fear is the biggest motivator.  I agree, but only 
about some things. Some fear definitely motivated me to do the things 
it took to support myself and my kids--get through college, get a 
decent job, live within my means, save some money.  I didn't want to 
repeat my parents' situation.  My childhood gave me an ingrained fear 
of being financially insolvent and it has been a powerful motivator.

And although I could look at exercise and life style motivators from 
that angle--God knows most of my family serve as examples about what 
not to do to avoid avoidable heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and loss 
of mobility--it is something more powerful and positive than fear of 
these debilitating diseases that keeps me going.  It is joy.  Sheer 
joy.  Joy that I can move and run and feel good in my body and heart 
and mind.  The very act of moving makes me happy.  Throw in a deep 
woods hike, a swim in a cold lake, a run through a green canopy with 
deer ahead of me and an owl overhead, or rollerblading on a trail 
through a green wildflower meadow with red-wing blackbirds flitting and 
trrrrreeeting from stalk to stalk.  Throw in a purifying sweat and the 
clearness of mind I feel when I'm working hard.  Throw in an 
opportunity to be with my husband when we can actually talk (and walk, 
or peddle) without the idiot box blaring at us or the computer 
distracting us from each other.  Throw in a hard challenge and the 
sense of personal power and accomplishment from meeting it head on.  
Throw in (and all of!) these things, and it makes my whole self, my 
whole life, happier.

This stuff that comes from inside me are my intrinsic motivators.  But 
there have to be extrinsic motivators too, things outside myself, 
reasons to do it when I don't want to do it, basically.  Because some 
days I really don't want to get out there and run in the heat.  Or the 
cold or the rain, the humidity, the bugs, you name it, it just all 
seems awful and not doable.  Some days I'm too tired after a long day 
of work to throw in a dvd and hoist some weights around.  Maybe I don't 
feel like going to yoga class and doing vinyasas until my arms and legs 
are screaming.  But there are those extrinsic motivators that come into 
play: health and mental well being, a muscular body, better functioning 
organs, a good poop (sorry, but s'truth), a better night of sleep, the 
ability to indulge in a little ice cream or pie without thinking about 
it too much.  These are good things.

And how does understanding these things about myself inform my ability 
to motivate others if and when I become a Certified Personal Trainer 
and get a client or two?  I can certainly share my intrinsic love for 
it. If you hiked with me, or did some other workout, or just listened 
to me yammer on about a good run, I think you would see that it is what 
I deeply love doing.  But probably no one who naturally feels this way 
needs a personal trainer.  They are most likely out there doing it on 
their own for their own heartfelt reasons.  And if there are only 
extrinsic motivators, if working out is absolute grudge work but they 
know they have to do it, then that gets into the whole fear thing--fear 
of not being healthy, fear of being obese, maybe even fear of dying?  
Too much fear is not a good long term motivator.  Fear causes stress.

How do I become a motivator who can help people develop their own joy, 
either through learning to love running (or whatever) or through the 
experience of improved health and well being?  This is a rhetorical 
question, and something I'll be studying more about in my course work 
as well as giving some deep thought to, but of course, if any you have 
thoughts on this, I'd love to hear them!

I am clear on this one thing: that I have a strong desire to help 
others.  And after evaluating my own strengths and where my own joy 
lies, I think this is a way I can help people lead healthier more 
energy-filled lives.  I have the passion to do it, I just need to 
figure out how to share it in an effective way without being an 
evangelist (which some of you know I have a tendency to be ;)

Thinking out loud,

Julie