Use your past success to motivate you now

Transcript:     Good morning, everybody. It is Wednesday and we are here for our motivational minute. This one’s going to be fun. Right? We’ve been talking about some things that have been a little challenging, I know, and weird, and maybe different, but this one, I promise, is going to be fun, and not like when my students say what I think is fun. No, I think everybody will think this one is fun, because we forget to do this. And so today, we’re going to talk about how to stay motivated by writing down your past success. Where have you been successful in the past and what’s going right? That’s why this one’s fun, because it’s so easy to focus on what’s going wrong. It’s so easy to focus on what is not perfect. It’s so easy to focus on all of the things around us that aren’t exactly like we want to be. But in order to make those improvements, we’ve got to do a few things.

                                The reason this is important, there’s a few reasons. First, it’s important because sometimes we need to remind ourselves of the things that we’ve done in the past that we didn’t think that we could do that we got accomplished. So, we forget. We forget. This kind of came up to me last night, too. I was talking to a parent and we were talking about the pandemic and we were talking about how it had been influencing the kids and their attitudes and things. But she reminded me, I told her that sometimes you have to retreat to grow. Sometimes you have to go take a few steps backwards to go the 10 steps forwards that you want. And she reminded me, because she’s been a member of our martial arts school for a long time. She reminded me that it isn’t the first time that I’ve done that, and that every time she’s seen me do it, I’ve gone beyond the goal that I’ve set for myself.

                                And see, I even had forgotten that because it’s something that I do and I don’t remember. That’s the first thing. Like, write down a time where you thought you couldn’t get it done and how did you win? How did you win? How did you succeed? What changed and what did you create out of that? And really remember. Remember how good it felt. Right? We’re trying to stay motivated. We don’t want to remember the pain. Nobody wants to remember the pain. But we do want to remember that we felt that, pain and that we made it through, and we got where we wanted to go and then some, so that’s why this is so exciting. Okay? That’s the first thing to do.

                                And then, the second thing is, what is good? Where are you winning right now? What is really good about where you are right now? There is something. There is something that’s really good about where you are right now. Sometimes we have to look a little bit, especially if you’re going through something challenging, or go going through something hard, or going through something where it feels like it’s not going in the direction that you want it to. There’s still something good about the direction that it’s going. Right? For me, I’ll just share. My business is changing a little bit and it can feel like a bad thing sometimes, right, because my business has looked a certain way for so long. But as a result of the things that I’m talking to you about here on Wednesdays and what we’re doing in our leadership program, I committed to getting my book written. And writing the book, getting the book written to help clarify what my true purpose is with martial arts.

                                I didn’t realize that a lot of our students didn’t get that martial arts is the carrot for me. It’s not the thing. The thing for me is growing my students into strong leaders and growing my students into being fearless about going the world and being who they are. That’s what we’re about. But I didn’t realize I wasn’t doing that great of a job at relaying that message to the people that come into my building. So, writing the book really helped me clarify that. But writing the book has opened up so many other opportunities. It’s scary freaky good. But if I had never stopped to take the time to write the book, and get the outline done, and put forth that effort, and get through all of the fear that had stopped me from writing it in the past, to be completely honest with you, and the fear of judgment that I was afraid of people judging me. Right?

                                Once I got through all that and I got the outline done, it has led to some really great things. I can’t wait for you guys to see what’s coming up in the next few weeks, really. Not in the next few months, the next few weeks. I’m really, really excited about that. That’s what was good about me realizing that my message wasn’t my message, because I took some steps to create something to fix it. That’s your step number three. Where are you making improvements? Or based on what you looked at, where can you improve? What action can you take to begin to take the step towards where you want to go? Even if it doesn’t look like it, it just looks like everything is on apart, and everything is wrong, and just, where is it good? Where can you improve? Where is that?

                                Now, I’ve been talking to the students, we’re getting ready for testing this week, and we always talk about the effort. We always talk about doing your best and it’s not about doing things perfectly. It’s always about just showing up and doing your best. Okay? That’s really where I want you to focus. It’s not about making it perfect. It’s not about, you know. There is no such thing as perfect. There isn’t. There is good and then there’s okay. In different areas in software, it’s updates, it’s patches, it’s second editions. Right? I mean, there’s always ways to improve it as you go, but if you wait for it to be perfect, you’re never going to do it. You’re never going to go. Some of the important thing is just to take the step to get you into where you need to be mentally and where people know what you’re doing and what you’re about. Okay? Very exciting. Okay.

                                And what can you celebrate? What can you celebrate right this minute? You’re doing something, something that you’ve done or you didn’t think, or some action that you took. It doesn’t have to be big. It can be small. My husband and I are kind of celebrating, kind of not. This morning, we’re having to use our other hand to lift our hand. Thank you, Dina, from Fit Body Boot Camp. Boone Trail! But we have been talking about, like most married couples, talking about it for years, about getting up early and working out together. And we’ve never done it. You know, getting up early and taking the dogs for a walk. But we decided to commit to the six week challenge that she has. So, we’ve been getting up at five o’clock in the morning and working out together at 5:30. And that’s something to celebrate.

                                We are doing it. We’re finally doing it together. That is something that we can celebrate. The fact that we’re both in pain is helpful, because we both, we can empathize with each other. One of us isn’t in pain in the other is, we’re both like, “My right arm. I can’t move my right arm.” You know? So, it is something that we are doing together, and that is a win. That is a win. Right?

                                The bigger win will be when we finish the challenge six week later and we have our buffer bodies. Whoa. Right? That’s a big win. But for today, the win is that so far this week we’ve gotten up, and done the workout together, and we’re helping each other eat better, and we’re helping each other be creative about how we’re eating and we’re holding each other accountable in a positive way. Those are all wins. Those are all wins.

                                So, where can you highlight a win? Where can you highlight a win and give yourself credit for that win? And just acknowledge the win. Sometimes it’s just saying, “Hey, I did win.””Hey, this is a big deal.” Right? “This is a big deal.” “I am going, I am taking steps and taking action towards what I want.” All right?

                                That is your motivation moment for today. I told you’d be fun. Right? I told you’d be fun in that you get a little juice, just a little juice to get your day going. In North Carolina today, it’s all rainy and blah. Find something that gets you excited, and gets you pumped, and makes you feel really good about where you are right now and where you’re going tomorrow. Okay?

                                And then Friday, we will see you when we’re talking about [inaudible] is what we’re talking about, but it’s really more motivating yourself to be the person and to be a professional whenever you choose. We’re going to talk about commitment. We’re going to talk about why it’s important and how to show up, how to show up and how to take those commitments in your life. I’m excited to see you Friday. I’m excited for you guys to have fun with this. The book is How to Punch Failure in the Face and it is on Amazon. I did do that scary thing last week, so that’s another win. I put it out there as the pre-order.

                                And I will see you guys on Friday. Have an amazing Wednesday, get motivated to get you through the rest of the week, and I’ll see you on Friday.