You are not lazy!

What motivates you?

I’ve been thinking a lot about this recently. Particularly since I resurrected this blog…

I’m a very goal-orientated person… goals keep me motivated and focused, day-to-day, week-to-week.

Without them I think I might drift and be a bit purposeless… But that’s me, and I know we’re all wired differently.

So, what comes first motivation or goals? For me, I need to understand my why, as that then drives me to set and work towards my goals.

I recently listened to a great podcast on Live More with Rangan Chatterjee… it was with Daniel Lieberman and I’ve since reserved his book “Exercised” at the library.

He wants to help people to live long, healthy lives, through the power of exercise, which of course resonates with me.

The podcast is entitled – “You are not lazy”. He talks about what motivates people to exercise or not. And it’s really fascinating.

Ultimately it all stems from how we’ve evolved as human beings. Without going into too much detail he shared that as humans we are either motivated by reward or by need.

It got me thinking about which type of motivation drives me and my goals, and I’ve concluded this:

I think my short-term goals are driven by reward – and the feel good hormones that the pharmacist in my brain dishes out when I do certain things!

I try to lead a healthy lifestyle 80% of the time, so that I can reward myself the rest – eating and drinking without feeling guilty!

I love crisps, chocolate, cheese, carbs – all the Cs! And I also love a glass of wine (mine’s always a large, so please don’t ask me what measure!) and never stop at one!

I’m often talking about the debit-credit philosophy, but I see this as balance.

The other reward for me is – I want to feel good in my mind and body, and look good in (and out of!) my clothes – another of my passions (or addictions 😉).

As much as this might seem superficial, this is a really important part of who I am and what I enjoy in life.

When I think about my long-term goals – I think these are driven more by need. And I’m sure a bit of reward too…

My long-term goal is to live as long and as healthy and happy a life as possible.

To spend as much time with loved ones and to experience as much as I possibly can on this amazing planet of ours.

This is a mix of reward and need-driven motivation. But specifically on to my need-driven motivation.

There’s a risk that I am prone to dementia in later life. It’s in our family genes. I suppose I could find out by doing the genetic testing, but I have so far chosen not to do this.

And with around 75% of all dementia patients being female, and more and more people being diagnosed with it, I simply can’t ignore this.

I read a lot about the research, the risks and what we can do to prevent it. Much of what we can do is of course around lifestyle (how we prioritise sleep, exercise, nutrition and social connection) so this drives me to pursue as healthy and social a lifestyle as possible, 80% of the time!!

So what drives you? Do you like goals? Are your motivations reward or need driven?

If you feel like you’re struggling to get motivated, have you considered thinking about what’s important to you and why?

A good friend Megan (who is a clinical psychologist) has also written a couple of insightful blogs for us on motivation which you can find over on POINT3’s website. You can read them here and here.

Thanks for reading. If you think this could help someone you know, please do share it on.