New Year, New Motivation

One of my new favorite questions to ask people is something along the lines of "What keeps you motivated" or "What motivates you in your life to achieve your goals?" I think of it like a pseudo interview/research study. I am gathering stories and data from people through conversations and random remarks. I am always curious to hear the responses of my friends and acquaintances... One of my favorites has been from a friend at my gym. 

After my question, he paused and thought for a moment. He remarked that he doesn't actually need motivation and that he does not utilize "motivation" to push him. He chooses to do things that he really wants to do and the things that he dreads or does not desire to do, he takes them out of his life. His is one of my favorite responses because it was so different from many that I had already heard. And though it is not the first time I have heard it; I enjoyed processing it with him again. 

Disclaimer: I do not know if it is completely practical for us to drop the things that are not fun or are not interesting at the time, but I also wonder if we could incorporate more impracticalness into our lives. 

What if we radically looked at the things we were doing and really figured out if they were what we wanted to do. If something is requiring a ridiculous amount of motivation and pain to complete it, maybe you shouldn't be doing it. 

A New Years resolution we should consider is not what we should start doing but rather what we should stop. If your workout/diet/etc.. makes you hate life and feel miserable, stop doing it. If you are constantly hoisting yourself up by your boot straps to complete projects, maybe you are not doing the right thing. I am not here to tell you to drop the big things (job, relationships, etc...) I am simply challenging you to consider the little things that make up your day. I think you should say no to the miserable workouts or tasteless food. Life is too short to hate the little things.