Dogs can teach us a lot about motivation.
I’m reminded of my favorite commercial of all time:
Bacon! Bacon! Where’s the bacon? I smell bacon. It’s gotta be bacon. There’s only one thing in the world that smells like bacon and that’s bacon! There it is! It’s in the bag! Chewy, yummy smokey bacon! Oh boy oh boy oh boy, num num num num num, it’s bacoooooooon!
That’s motivation.
And what’s interesting is, human beings have their own version of this moment. Each one of us has a collection of currencies that, when sniffed out, override our excuses, tap into our natural motivations and drive us to do things we don’t want to do.
I have a client who’s obsessed with personal improvement. As a recovering academic and a higher education advocate, learning isn’t just what she does, it’s who she is. She even warns the people she works with, if you want to get me to do anything, I better be learning something new.
Learning is her bacon.
If you want to uncover yours, plug yourself into the following statements:
I can rationalize anything, as long as it has something to do with blank.
I can feel like I’ve achieved a return on investment, as long as blank.I can trick myself executing something, but only if I get the chance to blank.I can accomplish anything, as long as the organizing principle of blank is installed.I can do things that I don’t want to do, providing blankcan be a part of it.I can stick with a new behavior, as long as I can find a way to incorporate blank.
That’s your bacon.
The one thing that freezes time and makes your left eyelid twitch and taps into your deepest cravings and human hungers.
Find that, and you’ll unlock your ability to motivate yourself.
