It’s amazing how you can go from the high highs to the low lows. I just can’t be effed today. Ever since that interstate trip where I drank myself stupid I’m having trouble getting up in the mornings and I’m in a bad mood.
Next week my diet and routine needs a good kick into gear. I need my fruit smoothies every morning, and lots of veggies, I need my sleep, and I need my exercise.
Can’t wait.
Do you ever just need something to get you motivated again after you’ve been in a bit of a rut for a while?
Admittedly I haven’t been in a rut lately, I’ve been much more awake and “with it” than normal really. However over the last week or so it’s been raining a fair bit, and it’s been hard to sneak in a quick ride to get my fix. I made the decision yesterday that after I spend this week getting organised, I’ll be back on my riding schedule regardless of the weather.
This morning I woke up and decided to ride to work anyway. Usually if I’m in a rush I will ride half way, and then jump on the train to get to work as quickly as I can. It’s still enjoyable but it’s all a bit hectic and you don’t get to take in the world around you as much. Today I rode the whole way and just took my time. Got a few “good mornings” from others and said “hi” to a few passers by. It was a nice ride in, and after an hour and 15 minutes of riding to work I was really happy.
Sometimes we plan a lot for the future – major plans. Some people are overweight and want to get completely buff. Others are just finishing school and want to be rich enough to have a mansion and a Ferrari. Clearly these sorts of plans are big tasks and are going to take some time and effort. But what about in the mean time? You might be happy once you’re buff but are you going to be happy in the mean time while you are trying to get there? Will your attitude in the mean time sabotage your long term goals?
The quick wins are the small things that can put a smile on our face.. Even if it is just for 5 minutes! They keep us happy and motivated, and ready to tackle something else.
My example for today is riding to work. I was having trouble getting motivated to ride to work up until now, but on the bike today I’m just so re-energized and ready to go!
Make sure in your life plan you include some quick wins. Who knows what they might be… It could be a goal to cook a new meal. Maybe a challenge to do an extra 5 push-ups. Anything!
Use your quick wins to stay positive and motivated, and keep you moving towards your long term goals.
I’ve mentioned my life coach a fair few times lately, and since posting last I have had two separate things prompt me to write something on what to plan for.
My friend emailed me the other day saying how it’s interesting that people always write business and career plans but never life plans, and how it fits in well with my beliefs. I couldn’t agree with him more to be honest. Everyone bases so much on their career, assuming that a happy life will naturally compliment their successful career. While for some people this may be the case, often for a lot of people the rest of their life is neglected and in the long term things don’t go as well as they thought they would.
The second “prompt” was while watching a show on TV called Insight. It was about people reinventing themselves, and evolved largely around their careers. Many of the people on the show had been laid-off because of the global financial crisis, and have been forced to find work in other industries, while others had changed careers to give them more time with their family, or for similar reasons. The rest were people that wanted to reinvent themselves, but had no idea how.
What struck me during Insight was the very clear split between the people attending the show. Some were so content with changing direction and not concerned at the least, while others were terrified by the thought. Some were able to adapt without much thought at all, and the others thought they were able to adapt but in reality never left their comfort zone at all.
It made me realise how much emphasis people place on their career. How many times do you hear your friends say that they are unable to do the things that they really want to do because of their job?
“I had to work back late, so I didn’t get to see the kids before bed time.”
“By the time I get home from work it’s dark, so it’s hard to stay fit.”
“I try to eat well, but I just don’t have time in the morning to have a good breakfast and make a healthy lunch.”
There’s plenty of examples, but the underlying cause is that we place such a great emphasis on our career. It’s interesting though, as the only reason that we work is so we can live our lives outside of work. Ask anyone – unless you have the best job in the world (professional downhill mountain biker), there are things that you’d rather be doing than working. I’m not suggesting that the answer is not to work at all, but work should just be a component of our life plan.
Life plan? Yep. Imagine if you wrote a plan for our life. Where do you want to be in 2 years? 5 years? 10 years? What are you going to do to get there? What wouldn’t you sacrifice to get it?
Rather than just aspiring to be rich or have a great job, actually define what you want from life. Do you want to be a really great father one day? Your career might have to take a bit of a hit so you get to spend the maxium amount of time with your kids. Do you want to live a healthy life? You might need to spend less time at work so you can exercise and have more time to eat well.
Now right now it sounds as though I’m going on my usual “money isn’t everything” rant. Life planning still works for when you want to be rich. If you want a mansion and a nice car and so on, you should still plan for it. While you’re career might be going perfectly, and money is rolling into your bank account, with some simple planning you might be able to get the mansion faster, or pay it off outright within a few years. On Insight there was a man that was earning over $200,000 a year and was worried about his home loan after he had been laid off! Surely some forward planning could have avoided this problem, but he failed to plan for the future.
I’ll write more on this, but when you get some free time actually have a think about what you really want, and how your job can help you with this, rather than just what your job can yet you.
It’s amazing what it takes to make different people happy. The other day I was saying how some people like to buy things and that makes them happy. I’ve met people that just “need to be rich” to be happy. Then others just need simpler things to make them happy.
I had a really bad start to the week as far as my happiness is concerned. I’m usually a pretty cheerful person, but after a less than ideal weekend as far as my diet and excercise goes, I was down in the dumps. I don’t really get depressed as such and wouldn’t consider it an “issue”, I think I’m just quite hard on myself. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I had no energy and just wanted to sleep. Even this morning when I woke up I just wanted to keep on sleeping and chuck a sickie. I hadn’t gone for a ride for quite some time, taking the soft option to get to work, either by car or public transport, and I haven’t had a fruit smoothie since Saturday (I’m no good at eating fruit, so having a smoothie is my way of getting a decent intake of fruit every day).
After being disappointed at myself for slacking off, I forced myself to ride this morning. I got up, had a glass of water, made my smoothie, had some toast, and packed my bag ready to go. Up until walking out the door I felt drained, yet as soon as I started pedalling my energy levels picked up.
I’m convinced that excercise actually generates energy in our bodies. It certainly does for me. I find that if I just go to work by car or bus, sit at my desk all day, go home, eat and lie down on the sofa again, I just feel like life is just one big waste. I have no energy to get motivated and go and do something. Watching another episode of The Sopranos seems like a better option than going and riding my pump track.
It doesn’t take much to snap out of it though. Today I rode to work, I’m full of beans, and keen to ride home. When I get home, I’ll swap bikes, and go for a cross country loop up to my fiancee’s parents’ house for dinner.
I’ve come to the conclusion that three things make me happy in this world.
I’m glad that I know this. Not many people know what makes them happy. I just need to keep the ball rolling now to stay motivated.
It’s very easy to make me happy, but I find it hard to stay motivated. Without that motivation, I end up unhappy.
I’m the most complex, simple person I know. I’m cool with that though.