Motivation.

What gets you out of bed in the morning? Why do you keep going to work? Where do you get the energy to run around the block every day? How come you're always on time? Why do you never wait for others to clear the dishwasher? Is it fear of losing your job, not wanting to get fat, your Mother told you never to be late, or are you just motivated? It's a question asked everyday in interviews, on the sporting fields, in the kitchen and talked about in thousands of self help books. Why do we do the things we do? Where do we get the motivation?

Motivation is what sparks you to action, it's a purpose to achieve, a behaviour to optimise and a psychological bent to act in a certain manner to fulfil wishes and desires. Yet if you asked people why they did things they would likely answer in two ways, because they want to do it or someone else wants them to do it. Does my wife want me to unload the dishwasher or am I motivated by it being the right thing to do? Do I run around the block because I know it's good for my health or because the trainer is shouting "move your arse slow poke" at boot camp? The challenge is untangling where your motivation comes from, because over time they merge and what started out as a motivated day at work slides into time you want to spend somewhere else, maybe making more of a difference. Sure you may enjoy your work but would you do it for free? Too often motivation is left up to others and you relapse into a state of limbo where your decisions are not your own.

Some say motivation is intrinsically built in, like the motivation to survive in a flight situation or the need to eat, others point to learned lessons from parents and family. Today an awful lot is left to others as trainers, counsellors, motivators, coaches, teachers, bosses, managers, reality stars and self help gurus are looked to for answers on laziness, goal setting, mile-stoning, saving, fitness, career advancement, social mobility and life directions. Along with all of those helpers is a library of inspirational and motivational sayings to get you out of bed and propel you to your next achievement, for if you don't run your own life, someone else will.

If you really look around, you'll find the really motivated people, those willing to do for others without agenda, those achieving in fields other than just going to work and the footy on weekends, those with knowledgeable opinions, those willing to put themselves up for criticism in their field of expertise and those open enough to accept change and also to affect change are few and far between. So the field is open for you to be someone different, be someone to look up to, someone who can change things and someone whose self motivation affects others around them. The decisions and direction in your life, should not be left up to the Richard Simmons and the Anthony Robbins of this world, so what are you waiting for, motivation?

As the great Zig Ziglar once said, "You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great".