Motivation

What motivates you? I mean what is motivation? I am feeling so fantastic at the moment: energetic, happy, buzzing with excitement, but due to no apparent cause. I went to the gym on Saturday, swimming on Sunday, the gym again on Monday and rock climbing on Tuesday. I am kicking, man!

In fact I'm so motivated I am itching to get out and climb again tonight, though I don't think there is much hope of that as I my usual climbing partners are all tied up in one thing or another. I have enough energy for ten people tonight. It's kind of cool, but I don't know what to do with it! I shall sit and jiggle my legs up and down while I type.

There's a kid I teach called Ben. He's a lazy SOB. He won't put pen to paper because he "CBA, Miss". (That means Can't Be Arsed, to the uninitiated.) I can see that this obnoxious child is going to fail his GCSEs by several grades. He could get a C, but he will probably get an E, and then he will blame someone else for it (me probably, for not making him work!).

So, what is it about people that make them achievers or CBAers? Are we born that way, or do we pick up habits like that from our friends? Do we change according to circumstances or do we get fixed in one holding pattern taught to us in our pre-school years? I don't know.

I'm generally a fairly self-motivated person, but I do go through phases where I just CBA about things. The bigger the task, the more likely I am to decide that the effort isn't worth it. Maybe it is like that for Ben. He realises he has such a massive task ahead of him, that he has given up before he starts. I mean, he's not the sharpest tool in the box, to begin with.

The secret, I'm told, is to break the task down into manageable chunks. Maybe I should just think about losing 2lb, instead of 3 stone. Maybe Ben should think about finishing a sentence instead of the next three years at school. Who knows.

So, if I'm breaking it down into chunks, maybe I need to do that by time, because I don' t think doing it by weight is going to work. Maybe I should just try to get through until lunchtime without sinning, and not worry about how I'm going to cope until tea time until I get there. Maybe I should even break it down into 10 minute sections: I won't eat anything calorific for the next ten minutes, and the next, and the next.

No, I don't think that will work either, because there is that 'end of ten minute' point where you rest on your laurels and say "Woohoo! I managed ten minutes! I can now eat the chocolate eclair!" I suspect this will be self-defeating.

OK, what about if I go for endurance instead. Let's see how long I can go without any forbidden food. Can I make it through a day, a week, a month? That might work. A challenge is good.

I challenge you: 1 week without anything weight inducing.

Ready, steady...... GO!