Finding my Motivation: Living in the Question

You can go backwards,
You can go back and forth,
You can rest and come back later,
But don’t ever back down.

How do you find motivation? In life, in work, in attaining your dreams?

Are you right now highly Involved, fully Engaged in what you are putting your time, energy, and life blood? Are you ripping off the covers to get out of bed in the morning?

This is something that has been coming up a lot for me this week: (see video blog)

For the past 6 weeks and counting I have been uncharacteristically highly motivated… I wake up early invigorated, invested, cracklin’ to get started. I do my morning health and wellness routine, eat a lite breakfast and then I set out doing whatever building my business calls for: the work, the visioning, the marketing, the critiquing, the billing, the emailing, the strategizing and scheduling.

What is making this month different than in previous months over the last several years of inconsistently following through on my plans and goals to build my business and follow through on a number of creative projects? Does starting something with a lot of flurry and eventually falling flat after 3 weeks sound familiar to you?

I don’t know the answer, but I ask myself: if I did know the answer then… I would say it’s one main thing and a constellation of little impactful things that add up big over the long run.

The little dipper of impactful things is composed of a consistent daily practice of Deep Self care- Cutting out the bullshit- Getting help & -Clearing the decks.

Specifically, I accomplish this through doing & being: eating right, exercising right, replenishing spiritually, connecting authentically with people, doing what’s most scary, tracking my time, following intuition, taking breaks before i need them, acknowledging my wins & what I am grateful for, setting intentions to be of service, asking for help, being held accountable, honoring my commitments, cultivating a sense of compassion throughout the day, and creating work routines. These are little, everyday practices that have helped me transform my relationship with work, minimizing the stress and maximizing the joy I feel throughout my day regardless of the deadlines, breakthroughs or set backs.

This last week was a great example. Everyday I had done my yoga practice before work and come Friday, the day of a big deadline, I had to really focus in and innovate a whole new system for how the client would track expenses and more succinctly measure profitability. I flowed through the work with no body tension and received just enough creative bursts that the project came together just-in-time, practically on its own with no “hard work”. The client was delighted and I remained at ease, in service and in awe with the process and my new levels of creative output and quality of work.

The one main North Star thing that is different in my approach to work and building The Green Bookkeeper Co. is that I am determined to do new things everyday and to do old things in new ways. Said another way I am committed to bringing heightened awareness to what I am doing and discovering new and improved ways of getting my work done. My whole orientation to work has shifted as I notice myself feeling fascinated about my work. It’s a shake up. I am not just going thru the motions- everyday is new and on the brink of another innovative creative explosion.

Ultimately, I notice I am living in the question, instead of living like I already know it all, asking myself: How could this be better? What else is needed to improve the quality and volume of my product and services?

It is exciting going through life curious with passion to learn more and at greater depth about what I am doing. This is a subtle distinction but the effect on my everyday life experience and work experience is astounding.

As a self-employed man with my own company I don’t have the luxury of a boss to keep me in line and light a firecracker under my ass everytime I show up late to my desk & sluff off in my duties. Its up to me and I am choosing to step up to the challenge and head out into new territory, everyday discovering a new piece to the puzzle called The Green Bookkeeeper Co. & the bigger Puzzle called Life.