Motivation and Macgyver

I was recently asked what my motivation is. Where do I keep it? I found that last bit to be especially intriguing. Where do I keep it? As though I take it out and use it like MacGyver and his pocketknife. I found I really didn’t know, and this could be one of the reasons my motivation flags from time to time. Often I just decide to do something, and I dislike not completing anything. This usually works until I come to something that is really difficult. Then what do I do because I’m no longer motivated . Can you imagine MacGyver patting himself down because he forgot where he put his knife? So, this made me think, what is motivation. According to Google Dictionary, motivation is the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way. So now I have to have a reason or reasons for doing what I want. It still doesn’t help because I’ve never really thought about. So, say I want to lose weight. Losing weight is hard. Oh, you can do one of those extreme diets, but the weight will just come back again because you don’t address the reason you put on weight. Learning why we eat the way we do and how to eat so we experience successful and permanent weight loss is paramount. Permanent weight loss needs steady gentle downward progression, or it will not be permanent. This requires motivation or reasons to continue. Once we learn how to achieve successful and permanent weight loss, we have to keep with it for months. Without daily reminders of why we want successful weight loss, we re-enter our fog and fail. So, what is motivation? Its different for everyone. To quote James Clear (https://jamesclear.com/motivation), “Motivation is a powerful yet tricky beast”. Finding that “carrot” for ourselves is a vital treasure in any endeavor. Plus, finding the reason for action on our part makes us more introspective and aware. Too often we walk around in a fog of just moving through the paces which leads to unconscious behavior. Thinking about why we do things forces us to take responsibility for our actions and can lead to choices which are more in line with desired outcomes. When I know why I’m doing something,  I can pull it out of my proverbial pocket like Macgyver’s pocketknife and use it to further my progress toward my goal. If it’s a strong “why”, the kind that I can feel deeply about, it is a multi-tasking tool which can be used for a very long time before it needs to be honed.