Motivation: Challenging normal. Designing remarkable
Why drift into the new normal when you can design a remarkable adventure with the right motivation?
Given the right motivation, we can adapt and overcome adversity. Even through disorganised chaos we, as adult human beings, have all the tools and experiences we need to get through. In what might be the simplest of ways, we have become more creative, found alternative ways of working, and even sought out the opportunity to have new experiences. The journey continues and the outcome is uncertain. One thing that we can be sure of is that many of us have made promises to ourselves never to return to the “old norm”.
Right now, we are in an unusual position. We have been persuaded if somewhat abruptly, to put our ‘normal’ lives on hold for a while in order to navigate a situation that none of us believed we were prepared for. We have been extracted from the familiar and mundane flow of everyday life that we depended on, threatening our sense of stability.
We have been thrust into a chaotic environment that has quickly unsettled and disrupted our everyday routine lives, leading us to scrabble from one mini drama to the next. We do not have a sense of how long this interruption in our ‘normal’ routine will last.
We have been asked, if somewhat forcibly, to modify the embedded, learned behaviours, calling into question our very sense of well-being. Maintaining social connections through physical closeness has been strongly discouraged. Physical distancing, incorrectly described as social distancing, has not helped and our solid state feeling of safety has been replaced with an uneasy sense of vulnerability and anxiety.
And that was all in the first few weeks.
But. And it is a big BUT. There is good news! We have started to adapt. After briefly reverting to the shared, very natural human instinct of survival mode, protecting those basic needs of security of food, family and home, we then turned our attention to our immediate personal predicament.
Close relationships with family and friends have been challenged in some respects and yet have drawn much closer in other ways. We have reconnected with people in a very different and profound way. You might say we have ‘woken up’ to the importance of strong and positive relations with others.
Yes, our confidence has taken a knock and we have, of course, re-evaluated many things in our lives. In just 6 weeks we have noticed the environment improving, the sky seems much bluer and the air cleaner.
Why is this do you think? Did something change?
Maybe it has always been that way and just maybe you have been paying more attention to it because you have been in a state of reflection. Is it possible that you have been paying closer attention to things and shifted your priorities about what is important in your daily life? Or is it that such incredible changes can happen in such a short period of time? Maybe it is a combination of both?
In just 6 weeks, for many of us, personal worlds have been turned upside down, values and beliefs questioned, priorities revisited and reorganised, promises made and new convictions subscribed to. We have renewed heartfelt connections with charitable causes and shed tears of sorrow and joy. We have resolved to change our ways and focus on what is ‘really important’ in our lives.
All in 6 weeks!
So, I ask you. Keep your promise to change things for yourself, and in so doing, have a profound and positive impact on others’ lives. Design the “new norm”. Plan it, focus on it. Invest your being into making it happen and enjoy the journey. Whatever you do resist the passive inclination to revert to the old way.
If you must promise anything, you might want to consider this as a starting point.
“I will consciously make every action I take a bold and decisive move towards achieving my ambitions.”
What is life coaching?
Life coaching is about getting you from where you are now to where you want to be – more effectively than if you went it alone. Your coaching experience is designed to be inspiring, rewarding, motivating, thought-provoking stimulating and energising.
Life coaching promotes exploration of your aspirations, helps you validate your priorities, inspires action drawing on powerful resources to keep you focused, passionate and accountable.