what the hell is motivation anyway?
i just spent three days in a meeting. a meeting of everyone from my company in my group. it's one of those long meetings where people stood on a stage, talked at the group of 200 or so people for 45 minutes, showed us powerpoint slides of what they manage, and how awesome they are and how awesome we are as a company. they talked all morning, they talked all afternoon. they gave a scenarios of how much money we can bring in, how many people we can help in the future, and how we can all work harder to help get that vision.
it was a long couple days.
normally in these situations i fall asleep or struggle to concentrate on what people are trying to say to me. i hated school, and presentations just feel like one big boring classroom. but for some reason, this time i didn't drift off into daydream land. sure i doodled a little, and maybe checked my phone for whatever reason a handful of times each day, but, i was able to keep my mind on task. maybe it's because i'm exhausted or maybe i have finally 'grown up'. that remains to be seen.
this meeting was supposed to do a few things, mainly bring everyone across the globe together to meet, but also give the people who stand in front of people and talk for a living the chance to stand in front of people and talk. and they did. and they all did this with a few things in mind i'm sure, and one of them was surely to motivate us.
it didn't work. at least for me.
i met some people i work with via email and had some (too many) beers (still have an awful headache from last night) which was the highlight of the 3 days for me. but other than that, i feel no change. i am no more motivated to work hard or work easier(?)... or less hard from all the words that i had to absorb.
and it got me thinking about riding and words.
i read a lot of words on this site. pearl's, norm's, kev's, the heckler's. hell i even read utah's
they are all different and they have various reasons of why they write, and i'm glad they do. if they didn't we wouldn't have much to read and talk about here, which is definitely a major ingredient of the glue that holds this place together. and that glue helps to motivate a lot of people. look at mountainbike mike, a fine example of what reading the posts can do. there's a lot of people on the site that can probably relate to that. reading how insane someone is for riding in absurd weather, or at absurd times helps motivate people, including myself.
but then there's the other side of the coin. when reading this website can sometimes make you feel like you are sitting in a chair with someone talking at you, and it's not motivating you. sometimes, it's even saying things that aren't even meant to be said.
in fact, sometimes, it de-motivates you. but the writer isn't telling you everything. and they don't have to.
when you are reading what someone posts about their recent rides, you're in a relatively vulnerable position. it's not a conversation, so you can't get your voice in the mix. and as a reader, you're not getting a chance to see the full story. you are only getting a chance to read what is presented. and that content is chosen, whether consciously or subconsciously; it's chosen only to the point where the writer is comfortable letting you in. so the reader is reading with a serious blind spot, with whatever insecurities they may have in their head about their own riding, all in a universe where the reader can only apply their experience/time/ability.
some might be thinking, why the hell would that unmotivate someone? and they may even be thinking of names they could call such a reader and that the reader should man up just get a set. i would hope that they too would also admit to themselves that they have most likely felt that way at some point. i readily admit i have felt that way here. sometimes, from my position i see people with oodles of free time, or the ability to ride 9 hours daily, or more will than myself to ride in the worst of the worst conditions.
it sucks to feel like you don't have the time, or you've lost the motivation to find the time, or to see that you actually don't have the time to do everything in the world that you want to do and be amazingly awesome at it. and it sucks even more when instead of it being everything in the world you want to do, its just one thing, which is ride a bike occasionally, or a lot. and when the weather gets like this, its even harder.
i can sometimes get caught in a pity party when this happens. pity parties suck out loud. they make you want to hang up the bike, or just sit and drink beer, get fat and feel sorry for yourself.
and we all know feeling sorry for yourself feels only so good. but once you start listening to the joshua tree album for the millionth time you know its time to get over it.
so why the hell am i writing this entirely too long post? its definitely not to try to take the main writers of the site out at the knees. that's not what i'm getting at. you guys please keep on writing. i enjoy it. a lot. obviously others do too. i hope more people try their hand at it too.
but to sum it up, i guess i would say this: you may be stuck in a conference room sitting for three days, listening to people indirectly tell you need to work harder and you aren't doing enough. or you may be reading a thread on this site getting a lot less motivated and going deeper into your pity party. or you may be reading a thread and getting really pumped to try your new winter shoes. but if you're ever reading the site, and you find yourself not motivated by what you're reading, and you instead feel a little sting from what you just read because you aren't doing what the writer is doing, step back for a second. i know how you feel, i am sometimes in that spot, and i'm sure others are too. if you're there, listen to running to stand still one last time and get off the couch. if you're strapping on your winter shoes, post about it because i could use some motivation. and if you just sat through what i sat through for the past three days, you'll be very happy to be back home, see your wife and kids, and have the ability to ride your bike at 4:30am in the dark and cold tomorrow morning.
i just spent three days in a meeting. a meeting of everyone from my company in my group. it's one of those long meetings where people stood on a stage, talked at the group of 200 or so people for 45 minutes, showed us powerpoint slides of what they manage, and how awesome they are and how awesome we are as a company. they talked all morning, they talked all afternoon. they gave a scenarios of how much money we can bring in, how many people we can help in the future, and how we can all work harder to help get that vision.
it was a long couple days.
normally in these situations i fall asleep or struggle to concentrate on what people are trying to say to me. i hated school, and presentations just feel like one big boring classroom. but for some reason, this time i didn't drift off into daydream land. sure i doodled a little, and maybe checked my phone for whatever reason a handful of times each day, but, i was able to keep my mind on task. maybe it's because i'm exhausted or maybe i have finally 'grown up'. that remains to be seen.
this meeting was supposed to do a few things, mainly bring everyone across the globe together to meet, but also give the people who stand in front of people and talk for a living the chance to stand in front of people and talk. and they did. and they all did this with a few things in mind i'm sure, and one of them was surely to motivate us.
it didn't work. at least for me.
i met some people i work with via email and had some (too many) beers (still have an awful headache from last night) which was the highlight of the 3 days for me. but other than that, i feel no change. i am no more motivated to work hard or work easier(?)... or less hard from all the words that i had to absorb.
and it got me thinking about riding and words.
i read a lot of words on this site. pearl's, norm's, kev's, the heckler's. hell i even read utah's
they are all different and they have various reasons of why they write, and i'm glad they do. if they didn't we wouldn't have much to read and talk about here, which is definitely a major ingredient of the glue that holds this place together. and that glue helps to motivate a lot of people. look at mountainbike mike, a fine example of what reading the posts can do. there's a lot of people on the site that can probably relate to that. reading how insane someone is for riding in absurd weather, or at absurd times helps motivate people, including myself. but then there's the other side of the coin. when reading this website can sometimes make you feel like you are sitting in a chair with someone talking at you, and it's not motivating you. sometimes, it's even saying things that aren't even meant to be said.
in fact, sometimes, it de-motivates you. but the writer isn't telling you everything. and they don't have to.
when you are reading what someone posts about their recent rides, you're in a relatively vulnerable position. it's not a conversation, so you can't get your voice in the mix. and as a reader, you're not getting a chance to see the full story. you are only getting a chance to read what is presented. and that content is chosen, whether consciously or subconsciously; it's chosen only to the point where the writer is comfortable letting you in. so the reader is reading with a serious blind spot, with whatever insecurities they may have in their head about their own riding, all in a universe where the reader can only apply their experience/time/ability.
some might be thinking, why the hell would that unmotivate someone? and they may even be thinking of names they could call such a reader and that the reader should man up just get a set. i would hope that they too would also admit to themselves that they have most likely felt that way at some point. i readily admit i have felt that way here. sometimes, from my position i see people with oodles of free time, or the ability to ride 9 hours daily, or more will than myself to ride in the worst of the worst conditions.
it sucks to feel like you don't have the time, or you've lost the motivation to find the time, or to see that you actually don't have the time to do everything in the world that you want to do and be amazingly awesome at it. and it sucks even more when instead of it being everything in the world you want to do, its just one thing, which is ride a bike occasionally, or a lot. and when the weather gets like this, its even harder.
i can sometimes get caught in a pity party when this happens. pity parties suck out loud. they make you want to hang up the bike, or just sit and drink beer, get fat and feel sorry for yourself.
and we all know feeling sorry for yourself feels only so good. but once you start listening to the joshua tree album for the millionth time you know its time to get over it.
so why the hell am i writing this entirely too long post? its definitely not to try to take the main writers of the site out at the knees. that's not what i'm getting at. you guys please keep on writing. i enjoy it. a lot. obviously others do too. i hope more people try their hand at it too.
but to sum it up, i guess i would say this: you may be stuck in a conference room sitting for three days, listening to people indirectly tell you need to work harder and you aren't doing enough. or you may be reading a thread on this site getting a lot less motivated and going deeper into your pity party. or you may be reading a thread and getting really pumped to try your new winter shoes. but if you're ever reading the site, and you find yourself not motivated by what you're reading, and you instead feel a little sting from what you just read because you aren't doing what the writer is doing, step back for a second. i know how you feel, i am sometimes in that spot, and i'm sure others are too. if you're there, listen to running to stand still one last time and get off the couch. if you're strapping on your winter shoes, post about it because i could use some motivation. and if you just sat through what i sat through for the past three days, you'll be very happy to be back home, see your wife and kids, and have the ability to ride your bike at 4:30am in the dark and cold tomorrow morning.
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