In this episode of the Daily Podcast, join Jonathan Doyle as he delves into the enigma of human motivation. Drawing inspiration from a powerful scene in the film “Ordinary Angels,” Jonathan explores the pivotal moment when individuals discover the driving force that propels them toward transformative change. He emphasizes that while information is readily available, it’s the clarity of one’s motivations that ignites action. Through personal anecdotes and insightful reflections, Jonathan challenges listeners to unearth their deepest reasons for change, highlighting the profound impact of love as the ultimate motivator. Tune in to uncover the key that unlocks the mystery of motivation and propels you forward on your journey of personal growth.
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Welcome Aboard: Introduction to Motivation
Hello there, my friend. Jonathan Doyle with you once again. Welcome aboard to the Daily Podcast. Are you ready for a little bit of personal growth? What we need each day is a little bit of motivation to get us moving in the right direction. And you are in the right place.
Let’s talk about motivation. Let’s talk about that mysterious force that guides us forward. We often talk about the metaphorical couch of life and the situation we get into when we’re stationary and stuck. What is this mysterious force of human motivation? Sometimes we know that there’s something we need to do. There are steps that we need to take, but we find it quite hard to get moving and to get moving forward.
Discovering Motivation: Insights from "Ordinary Angels"
I wanted to share something with you that jumped out at me yesterday, which can be quite useful. I went with two of my girls to see a movie, which I really liked. It’s called Ordinary Angels, and it’s really a beautiful film. It’s in cinemas at the moment, but it will probably be out online at some point pretty soon. There’s a scene in the movie where one of the key characters is trying to make a massive change in their life. They’re dealing with addiction. And there’s a lot of problems with that, and their friends are giving them feedback about how their life’s going off the rails.
You look at this kind of inflection point where they’re trying to change. But they’re not really making the change. I’m not going to spoil the film for you in any way, but there’s a particular thing that happens that throws this person into this massive, life-changing flurry of activity. What happens is that they discover the motivation that allows them to truly change.
Understanding the Power of Reasons and Motivations
It really struck me at the time because of what I thought. How do I express this? They know what they need to do, but they can’t do it until they find a reason. Tony Robbins used to talk a great deal about reasons. You can definitely learn skills, you can if you want to make a change. Your problem is never going to be information.
Let’s say you want to lose weight, start a business, get fitter, fix a relationship. If you just spent a few hours or a day on YouTube, everything that you could know or need to know about the change you want to make is available. Some of the projects I’ve done around the house over the years that would once have required an army of professionals take a few hours to complete on YouTube. I like to say to people that information is not a problem. You might need time accessing that information, could be challenging, but really there is not going to be too much trouble finding out what you need to do.
I’ve been looking at this particular training methodology for all of the training that I do. I ordered a couple of books yesterday, they are quite challenging, the information is available. What we’re really looking for is the motivation, the reasons. Once you have big enough reasons, you’re able to make the changes, sometimes it can be really dramatic.
It was really striking. It was based on a true story. This person goes from self-absorption and addiction into radical service to others and life-changing actions. It’s all predicated on this strange tipping point moment where they suddenly encounter something, and it just radically changes their perception.
The Quest for Motivation: Personal Reflections
What I wanted to suggest to you today is that there’s some change that you want to make. The magic is often going to revolve around the concept of motivations and reasons. It’s until you’re really clear on why something really matters. It can be difficult to make the change. We think we know, often you say to people. What do you want? – I want to be rich. What does that even mean? How would you define it and why?
I think over the years with personal development, people are just like, I guess this is what I should say because I’m supposed to want this, but sometimes we don’t, and sometimes we don’t want to make a change. You’ve really got to get clear on what motivates you to want something to be different. Then it takes some effort and time. It can be dramatic.
I remember reading some data that the average person, particularly in the developed world of an average male, carries enough energy stored as body fat to run two back-to-back marathons. The energy capacity is there, but obviously the motivation is often not saying that we need to run two back-to-back marathons, but my point is that energy isn’t the problem. It’s the reason and motivation.
I used to say to the audience, if somebody kidnapped one of your children and said, ‘We’re going to do something terrible to them if you don’t run to this place in a day.’ You would find a way, you would walk, run, crawl, skateboard, whatever’s necessary. Once the motivation is present, action will follow. We’ve just got to find those bigger motivations. That’s what I wanted to share with you today.
I wanted you to look into your life and identify something that you’d like to change. Then take some time to at least think, if not journaling and writing. Why does this thing matter to you? Sometimes it’s a list of; sometimes it’s a process of just writing a list of the benefits of what will accrue in your life. If you can execute on this particular thing, that is a simple message. Nothing changes until we find that deep, compelling reason.
Harnessing Love as the Ultimate Motivation
There’s things I’m working on at the moment where there’s motivation that I have for what I’m doing, which quite surprised me. It’s just too complex to discuss, and I don’t really need to go into detail about it. Some of you are really curious people. Come on, tell us. It’s just there are motivations that are pushing me forward at the moment that are quite deep, complex, and personal to me. But they provide the reason; they provide the motivation.
Just to finish, the highest motivation will always be love. Which I know is very easy to say and sounds very sweet on a podcast, but the highest motivations that drive us will ultimately be, I think, relationship-based, whether it’s our relationship with ourselves. Some people say, I’m tired of treating myself this way. I’m going to eat properly, I’m going to stop drinking so much, I’m going to do this. Because I’m going to show up for myself. You’re going to actually care for yourself once, but often it’s because of the people we love.
Often it’s when you want to get a promotion or make some more money, or you want to get healthier. It’s for the people that you love, you want to be a blessing to them. You want to give more to them. So tap into that.
Personal Motivation and Family Dynamics
I often think a lot of the exercise I do and the training is because I want to be fit and healthy for my kids to see. I want them to grow up. In fact, I forgot to leave the studio today. One of my daughters wants to go and do this 5K run, which for me isn’t very far. Because of the training that I do, She’s 16 and I’m not. So it’s going to hurt, but the motivation and to be fit and to model that is because I care about them and I want them to see it.
Conclusion and Call to Action
So find your motivation, my friend; find your reasons. Pay attention to your reasons. If you’re stuck, if you’re not moving forward, it’s because you don’t have a compelling enough reason or motivation; you find that. It’s like unlocking, it’s like a key that unlocks the mystery and moves you forward.
All right. That’s it for me. Please make sure you’ve subscribed. If you’ve got a family member, friend, or colleague that needs some encouragement, send them today’s episode. What else? Everything is on the website. jonathandoyle.co. Book me to speak live conferences, events, and training for staff, leadership development and consultancy stuff. It’s all on the website, and you can, of course, find me each day on Instagram. You can just do a search for @jdoylespeaks.
God bless you my friend, this has been the Daily Podcast. You and I are going to talk again tomorrow.
