Last month, a friend asked if I was up for a half-marathon in November.
I've been taking some down time from heavy training this Fall, but the race is a trail run in the Marin Headlands. Hard to resist a perfect way to stay fit, have some fun, and hang out with a buddy. I was in.
As a way to gear up, we agreed we'd each do 100 air squats and 50 burpees every day for 30 days. The numbers aren't huge -- they're a push to stay focused and stay disciplined in our ramp up to race day.
Last week he texted me – "I’m having trouble motivating for more bp/squats!"
I replied –
"Motivation is for suckers and weaklings. Just f&cking do it. Once you get started, you’ll be fine and glad you did."
45 minutes later, he texted me back --
"50/100 - bring on the Elevator Shaft!"
None of us feel motivated to do hard things. Our brains are designed to find the easy path. If we want to do hard things, if we want to achieve big outcomes, hard things are a requirement.
We don't feel motivated to do prospecting when it's 9pm and we haven't gotten in our 20 touches for the day...
We don't feel motivated to go back and customize the slide deck for tomorrow's product demo...
We don't feel like calling our customer to tell them about a price increase...
We don't feel motivated to sift through 75 resumes for that next hire, knowing that 74 are going to be crap...
We don't feel motivated to sit down with a team member that's been underperforming for the last three months even after coaching and cajoling them...
We still need to do those things.
Whether we're pushing hard to hit that Q4 number we promised the Board or working to break through to the first $1MM, or scaling to $1MM a month, it's going to be hard. We know that.
Sure, sometimes hard stuff IS fun -- it's should be fun – that makes it worth doing.
But most of the time it's just hard.
And in the end, when you nail that goal you worked so hard to achieve, you won't remember how much the hard work sucked. Instead, you'll feel proud that you did it.
Most of all, I know that if I don't reach hit the outcome I set and I DIDN'T put in the work – looking back at those moments when I let a lack of motivation lead to a lack of effort – I WILL remember that I could have and should have just buckled down and did my 20...
Let's do this.
Do More, Be Happy, Surprise Yourself –
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BTW… If you want some help getting some structure, building some discipline into your startup’s sales process, I’d like to help.
Later this month, I’m running a completely FREE Sales Masterclass for B2b startup founders & CEOs.
Here’s the link to our next Sale Masterclass: https://www.salesqualia.com/masterclass
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