What you really need is a swift kick in the ass!
How’s that for motivation?
I was listening to a compilation of “motivational speeches” the other day while I was shoveling our driveway for about the 20th time that week. As much as I’d like to complain, the truth is I quite enjoy shoveling. The cold air on my face and in my lungs, the crunch of the crisp snow beneath my feet and the sense of usefulness and accompaniment I get when it’s complete. Not only does my family get to enjoy the clear path to the cars, but strangers get to walk freely on the sidewalk without falling or dredging through piles of uneven snow. Everybody wins! Sounds a lot like life huh? When you take responsibility for doing the hard work nobody wants to do, not only do you benefit but everyone else does too.
Anyway, in this compilation, listening to motivational speakers was referred to as seeking a temporary high. You hear someone speak or read some aspirational meme and get a charge, followed by a burst of enthusiasm to conquer your life. When you listen to some really powerful speakers, they can literally make you feel like there isn’t a single thing in life you cannot accomplish. And it’s true.
The trouble is, motivation is teaching you to apply a fresh coat of paint over old, delapitated boards. It makes you feel good temporarily and then you go back to the same old habits and life you’ve always lived. Motivation helps you make short-term changes that look good for a short period of time but never addresses any of the crap below the surface that needs to go. It doesn’t last long, because without doing hard work, nothing lasts. The hard work is exactly why most people don’t ever create the life they really desire. It’s much easier to slap up a fresh coat of paint than it is to clean out the ugly foundation and build something enduring.
I don’t believe in motivation in the typical sense it is sought out these days, which is why I don’t consider myself a motivator. I don’t sugar-coat my writings or my speeches to help pump you up. Screw that! I don’t want to help you put on a fresh coat of paint, I want to see you do the hard, gritty work and build a life that is solid from the ground up. A life that not only works for you, but one that benefits everyone around you, and the effects of which last for generations after you.
A life that great doesn’t happen through motivation, it happens through hard work. Period. It happens when we are called out on our bullshit and clear out the messy foundation of bad habits, self-doubt, guilt, shame, excuses and self-sabotage. All the things holding us back from creating a rich, abundant life representative of just how great we really are.
Anyone telling you, “you’re just enough the way you are,” doesn’t believe in you, nor do they believe in your potential for greatness.
I do. I believe in your potential for greatness and it pisses me off when I see you wasting it!
You can be so much more than you are right now, but you need a kick in the ass to start doing the work to achieve it.
Your happiness is not a gift given to you by others.
Create a mantra for your life. If you aren't writing your story, someone else is writing it for you.
Listen: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/eml-radio-talking-truth/id1498113483?i=1000558947971
Hello my friends!
I'm finishing up the transition away from Locals onto Substack and wanted to be sure each of you have made the necessary adjustments to your accounts. For those of you who have remaining months left on your paid support here, I have comped you the balance over at Substack.
This will be the final week I post content here.
I will resume the live recordings over there, starting with our first call on Friday, March 3rd at 9am/12pm. Invitations to join the Zoom calls will go out on Substack. Mark your calendars!
Also, be sure to download the Substack App! I love the app and find it so helpful in organizing content I want to read later by keeping it on my dashboard.
See you on the other side!
https://eviefatz.substack.com/
One of the biggest challenges in writing my book is not being able to share any of it along the way. Given my narcissistic need for constant approval and attention, not having any feedback is killing me. Even negative attention is better than no attention at all (which explains a lot of my behavior in life), so not only am I missing the praise but I also miss my haters.
I need to break out of this cave. Thanks to Chuck Palahniuk who writes Spoiler Alert on Substack, but you would know as the author of Fight Club, I got the idea to share some excerpts and things that won’t make the final edit. This will give us both what we need. I get some attention and you get some thought provoking words to make you think (and possibly laugh, cry or both.)
Today’s snippet is from the first draft of a chapter titled, Remove Your Kindergarten Name Tag. I am currently on my third revision and we can all be thankful for this. As I walk my readers through the dark hallways of my earliest years, and attempt ...
Wanted to pass this short video along. We think of health in very limited ways. Faith, nature, love, communality, shared human experience…all prove to be just as necessary, if not more so, than going to the gym.
I’ve always viewed and taught health from this perspective. It is my belief the lack of these essential elements is as big an issue in our culture as poor diet and lack of movement.
The takeaway-we can do better🙏🏼