What's my motivation?

Today I met up with my good friend J_____, who’s a successful life coach. It does mean that he occasionally asks you questions that really make you think, but that’s all part of the fun- cheers mate! Anyway, at one point he asked why writing is my dream job. Sit back and find out why...

Like him or not, Tony Robbins has achieved a lot

Around 5 years ago, J_____ discovered a Tony Robbins course, which helped him to imagine how his life could look... before realising that his reality looked entirely different. That gave him the motivation to turn his life around. He treats his life as a second chance, one that he’s putting to good use. Right now, he’s remarkably successful and doing something he’s incredibly passionate about. And the bastard is a day younger than me.

He shared an image that really got me thinking. Imagine a line that represents the entirety of your life. Cut out the hours you sleep, and that line shrinks. Cut out the days you are ill, it shrinks again. Cut out those days where nothing seems to go your way. Cut out the time you have to do chores, or go to work, or are just sitting around wasting time, in traffic, or in front of the TV. What are you left with? Maybe a few years at most when you get to do what you want.

Right now I’m doing NaNoWriMo- or writing a 50,000 word novel in one month. Ouch. I’m not going to lie, it’s tough. I also have to write several articles a day for work, and at some point it can be hard to stay motivated. It’s at this point, you need to reconnect with your purpose, your motivation, your urgency.

This summer, I realised that I needed to get serious – fast. A few things happened: I turned 26. I had promised myself at 25 that it was time to get serious: quarter of a century, and a nice round number. When I hit 26, I realised that I hadn’t done everything I’d set out to do, and that I was now (gulp) in my late 20s. Then my sister got married. Thankfully that’s my older sister, but still. That’s grown up stuff. Then a couple of guys I know got novels published. Whoa, you mean people actually do this shit? People like me? Time to get serious. There’s my urgency.

Me walking down the street

J_____ and I talked about our motivations, why I write and why he helps people turn their lives around. Turns out we both wanted to help other people, to touch other people’s lives, to try and influence just one person positively by sharing our views and experiences. And you know what? The fact that I write articles that might help someone live a healthier life, the fact that I can share my experiences here, the fact that I’m writing a novel that addresses things I find important: that’s my purpose. Sometimes I forget that. But on days like today, when I realise that I have a purpose that I’m actually working towards, that I’m doing what I always wanted to do, I find myself smiling and laughing as I walk down the street. And you know what? That’s all the motivation I need.