Motivation 101: Top 5 notes to myself to find the motivation.

With my first “real” attempt at a long distance race a mere 9 days away.  I have found myself struggling to keep the motivation…maybe it’s because I was really nervous early in my training and ended up completing it a month early or simply losing focus…  Whatever it is, this past week has been tough.

I initially began writing this to try to encourage myself to stay motivated for the 13.1, but have found that there is more correlation to other areas in my life.  Specifically, I have given thought to the similarities between the motivation in my running and professional career in the sales industry.   After a bit of reading and research, I figured I would share some notes I have taken for myself…as always in top 5 format.

5.  Keep the goals in sight and don’t forget the plan to get me there:   In my initial post, I commented that I always like to have a goal in mind when starting a project.  In running, that current goal is a half-marathon and in sales they call that a quota.   I can approach these goals in the same way; Break them down into smaller obtainable steps to tackle one at a time.   Recently I believe I lost sight of those end goals and lost focus on just hitting those small achievements at a time.   I need to remember to concentrate on winning each deal I can and completing every training run I have.   Spend my time doing those things and the motivation will come.

4.  View the success of others in a non-jealous way:  This one is a hard one to take on.  In my head I was trying to understand the balance of the ability to view others accomplishing their goals, while not achieving your own.  And that is the thought process that I needed to change, it’s not “not achieving my goals”…it’s “not achieving my goals YET”.   So I don’t need to be jealous of what others are doing, I simply need to look at them as a guide for what I will be doing shortly.  Using that line of reasoning I know I can be there to cheer on my fellow runners crossing their finish lines and encourage my teammates  to hit their quotas…confidently knowing that I will soon be doing that myself.

3.  Enjoy the benefits:  For whatever reason, this came as a revelation to me.   We put so much pressure on achieving a snapshot in time whether that snapshot is when you tear that tape at the finish line, or when you see the dashboard in Salesforce.com hit 100%.  But with months of work being put in to view those pictures you forget to look at yourself half way through and realize that there plenty of gratification to get out of the journey.   For whatever reason, if I can’t make it through to see those goals realized, I can still be extremely happy with the work that I have done to get me here. 

2.  Don’t let others down:  While running is an individual sport and I only have my own personal quota, it helps to know that I am part of a team.   Finding people who have similar goals, and banding together to meet those goals gives a sense of accountability and even more reason to push hard to achieve.   We have a team of people at the office all working together to help each other hit our individual goals.  And in running I have found that regardless if you physically run together you can still find motivation by sharing your goals and achievements with people to help cheer you on.  #ETrun comes to mind. (sweatbands required)
 

1.  Don’t look at this as the end…only the beginning, or at least a half way point.   For me, its always “what’s next”.   I find excitement and motivation by doing things I have never done before.   So I am already looking for that next objective to set my sights on.   In sales, the 2011 season will be here before I know it and I need to start filling the pipe now…and in running 13.1 miles barely holds a candle compared to 26.2 ….so I think I’ll try that.

As I wrap up writing this, I already find myself motivated by reviewing what can and will be done over the next couple weeks…time to focus and get going! Wooly Woot!