Motivation??
So first things first… I actually don’t believe motivation is a real thing! Shocking I know. I believe that motivation is a modern concept created by people to give them an excuse “Oh I lost my motivation” is something we hear a lot. When I was asked to write this blog, the main point question was “What motivates you to live your lifestyle?” So let’s talk about that…
Everyone leads a busy life these days, working long hours along with hectic social lives and on top of that many of us are on our fitness journeys to become a better version of ourselves. I enjoy being busy and taking the steps necessary to move my life to the next level. For me, this means a few simple things, I work hard at my job, I work hard at being the best dad possible to my four children and the best husband possible to my wife and any time not well spent in this endeavours is spent training. My own fitness journey is a lot like most others, I trained for a time, following different “diets” and training plans, bouncing around, making beginner gains and falling in and out of love with training. It was never motivation that kept me going back to the gym, it was my intent and my drive that kept me going back. I was eventually lucky enough to find a form of training that suited me. I found powerlifting randomly on youtube and I decided to give the training style a try for a few weeks, working in the three big compound lifts that are integral to the sport. It wasn’t until around a year ago, I had ever even tried to deadlift. My form was awful and the weight was minimal, but something about the lift just stuck with me, so I stuck with it and now it is hands down my favourite lift. I have always wanted to be stronger and powerlifting allows me to work on exactly that.
So, why do I get up at 4.30am, drag my ass to the gym, lift heavy for two hours, then head straight to work, work a full day in a demanding job, then go home and spend my evening, cooking with my family, running around the house with the kids and all the rest of the work that is involved in having a larger family (by today’s standards at least) Am I motivated to do it by some great motivation poster or by some feeling of greatness within? No, I enjoy it so I do it. I will myself to do it. I get so many people ask me “How do you do it?” but why should it be any harder for me than anyone else? I enjoy training and being healthier allows me to play with my kids and my additional strength allows me to throw them around and for longer (my daughter is especially a fan of the Dirty Dancing lift so she can “fly”)
I do have a favourite quote that I believe well summarises my feelings toward motivation and my intent to work harder to make a better me.
“Give me a level long enough, and a Fulcrum on which to place it, I can move the Earth” Archimedes
Put in simple terms, if your will is strong enough, your body is just a moving point to help you achieve your goals…Mind over matter if you will. It is this that allows me to for longer, and work harder than people that search for inspiration or motivation to get them to work or to the gym. No matter how tired I feel, if my children need me, I will keep going, if my wife needs me, I will keep going and I will still train.
There you have it, no fancy tricks, and no great speech to light a fire in your belly. Just the notion that if you want something, you have to be one to make you go get it.
Now go ahead and move your Earth.
- Jack Duffell