Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in Nature with me Liz Scott,
A daily reflection as I go out walking.
And this morning as I walk up onto Dartmoor it's a very grey day,
The clouds are low,
The green of the moorland is slightly dulled underneath this greyish sky and the wind is quite strong and blowy and blustery.
It almost feels like we're moving into autumn rather than the height of summer but that is the way of the weather where I live,
It really is very changeable.
And today I am reflecting on a conversation that I had with somebody about motivation and the conversation was this person was questioning their motivation and whether they needed motivation to do something or was bemoaning the fact that they didn't feel motivated as though motivation was a prerequisite for getting things done.
And as I listened to this person telling me that they didn't feel motivated and what could they do and how could they find motivation again,
It really occurred to me that motivation is overrated.
I mean it's lovely when you feel motivated to do something and you do it but you don't need motivation to engage with things in life,
That's not,
It's not something that needs to happen.
So for example when I was on my pilgrimage,
There were days when I was walking 630 miles across England following the Michael and Mary energy lines and there were days while I was doing this walk I didn't feel motivated at all,
In fact I felt deflated and defeated.
So the question is do you need motivation and my answer is well no you don't.
In that instance I just kept walking,
I didn't need motivation,
I just needed to keep walking.
For me there's an additional area that people miss when it comes to the conversation about motivation.
It's the question I would like to ask people is are you listening to and following your inner compass?
Are you listening to your inner compass?
Are you being guided by your inner compass?
For me when I engaged on the pilgrimage it took quite a while of planning and working it out and questioning and reflecting on whether this was the right thing and I knew in my bones,
Absolutely knew in my bones it was the right thing to do.
My inner compass was pointing me in the direction of the pilgrimage and that was useful,
In fact it was absolutely essential because there were so many days when I didn't feel motivated but I deeply knew it was the right thing for me to do.
If you've got children I bet there are days where you feel tired or you feel it's hard and you maybe don't feel motivated to go through the morning routine to cajole and to get them ready for school.
You might not feel motivated and yet you know it's the right thing to do so you do it.
I don't need to be motivated every day when I clean my teeth,
I don't need motivation to clean my teeth,
I know it's the right thing to do so I do it whether I'm motivated or not.
So the question I want you to reflect on for yourself is not the question am I motivated,
It's is this the right direction of travel?
Is this the right direction of travel?
You see if it's not the right direction of travel then you will get signs that it's the right direction of travel and they will ramp up over time.
When I was in my previous job I was there probably about five years too long and my whole system was giving me signals around stress and anxiety that I was in the wrong job and I didn't listen I just kept going.
So there are times and this is the discerning part where your system will give you information that you're engaged in the wrong pursuit or you're going in the wrong direction.
The discernment and the question to ask now which is the question I always ask is is this the right direction and I look within and seek that inner wisdom that quiet knowing and once I know that I don't need motivation.
It's lovely when it occurs but I don't need it to move forward.
So I'd love your reflections on motivation.
Do you see that too?
Do you see that you don't need motivation to get things done or are you the kind of person that feels that I won't do anything unless I feel motivated?
I'd love to hear how it turns out for you.
