Motivation

This weekend I attended the wedding of one of one of my son’s best friends. It was a simple ceremony but there were a lot of emotions on display; as is the case with any wedding. And like all weddings there was a recitation of vows followed by the exchange of rings – the tangible reminders of those vows.

Outside of the marriage pact, you don’t see this kind of public commitment being made very often. Public servants (politicians, police officers, etc.) make a public vow to their new roles as they are sworn in; but the majority of us accept a job or promotion without much fanfare. In rare cases there may be an employment contract involved, but even those are typically confidential agreements. Most people simply accept a job after negotiating what they expect to receive rather than what they promise to give.

Nothing great is ever achieved without commitment. Until you commit yourself to a cause, participation is optional. Whether it’s a short-term goal, such as climbing a mountain, or a long term like marriage; it’s commitment that makes all the difference. Once you’ve committed yourself to the end game, then the path forward becomes clear. Decisions become easier to make. Every choice is determined by how it will impact the goal you have committed to.

Athletes committed to being number one are easy to spot. They follow the necessary training regimen, whether they feel like it or not. They avoid eating foods and engaging in activities that are extremely desirable because they would get in the way of achieving the goal. They fill their minds with information and imagery that propels them closer to achieving that which they are committed to.

Look around. Sales people, actors, chefs, musicians, service providers, medical professionals – the best of the best are those who have made a commitment to excellence. They are the ones who have identified what success looks like and refuse to settle for anything less. They are unwavering in their commitment, so they put in the effort. They go through the training, they put in the hours, they practice their craft to the point that they cannot fail.

The rest of us are merely bystanders. We’re Sunday drivers on a NASCAR speedway. We’re casual joggers on the Olympic sprint track, ready to bow out as soon as the going gets tough.

It’s so easy to bail on our commitments. It’s so easy to justify why we stop giving our all to the things we once felt were so important. The marriage hits a rough spot. The training gets tough. The job isn’t quite what we thought it would be. Maybe we made a mistake. Perhaps we should just coast for a bit.

Commitments are hard to keep. Vows are easy to break. Even those made in public often don’t stand the test of time. I guess that’s why there are so few people who ever reach the mountain top. Only one can stand at the top of the medal podium. So few know the joy of true success.

I’m convinced my life would be better if only I were more committed to certain aspects of it. Sadly, the list is far too short. Maybe I should fix that.

While out for a hike recently, I came across this stack of rocks. It reminded me of something I heard once about the Scottish Highland clans. According to legend, as armies would march to battle, each soldier would place a rock onto a pile. Those who returned home removed a rock, with the rest forming a memorial to the fallen.

Stacks of rocks like this, traditionally called cairns, have been around since the beginning of recorded time. In addition to memorials, assembled rock formations like this have been used to indicate buried supply locations or to mark trailheads and pathways, as in the case of the one I came across. The Inuit people of the Arctic in particular used them as landmarks given the vast, bleak terrain.

More recently, stacks of rocks have been used for more introspective reasons. Climbers add to cairns when they reach a mountain summit as a celebration of the accomplishment. Some people find the act of balancing rocks to aid in meditation. Others ascribe religious meaning to the practice. For some, it’s seen as a form of art.

We all stack rocks, don’t we? We all engage in labor that can feel like we’re just picking up stones and piling one on top of the other. Work can often feel monotonous. We answer the same questions. We make the same phone calls. We process the same transactions and have the same conversations with the same people. It can be rather frustrating at times, can’t it?

But regardless of which rocks we’re stacking, it’s important to periodically focus on why we’re stacking them. What we’re working for – and toward – is as important as the work itself. Take a moment and ask yourself…

• Are you building a memorial – working to continue the legacy of those who have come before you?
• Are you marking the path – working to make things easier for someone else?
• Are you leaving supplies – working to provide resources so others can continue their journey?
• Is work a celebration for you? A meditation? Do you see it as a work of art?

In Aruba, the act of stacking rocks became so prevalent that last year The Island Hotel & Tourism Association officially asked visitors to stop. Somehow the idea of stacking rocks became associated with making a wish. Beaches and trails have become littered with these formations, to the point that the natural habitat of indigenous wildlife is being disrupted.

In some cases, you see, stacking rocks is a meaningless exercise. It’s a waste of effort – just like making wishes. Pictures I’ve seen of the rock stacks in Aruba indicate that they were hastily thrown together. They aren’t very big and it looks like very little effort went into building them. No thought was given to the impact these cairns would have on the environment or those who would come after.

Work without purpose isn’t just an empty exercise for the laborer, it can actually be detrimental to the team and the organization. When someone else is simply going through the motions, errors occur. Details are missed. Repairs have to be made and work has to be redone. Everyone stacks rocks; but not everyone is building something.

I was recently asked to participate in a focus group at church; selected to provide input on a potential new ministry. Due to my background, my experience, education, and contributions to date; my involvement was seen as valuable. Yesterday, I entered a room and, with a handful of other men, gave my opinion on a variety of topics. For about an hour, we engaged in conversation about what this endeavor might look like. We shared dreams, fears, and asked questions of our own.

At the end of the conversation, the leader of the group asked one final question: “Are you in, or out?”

Have you ever thought about the number of decisions you make every single day? Most of them are fairly easy and have minimal impact. What we eat for breakfast, what we wear to work, what route we travel, or which radio station we listen to on the way – all of these decisions get made, typically without much thought. And there’s little danger in choosing one option over another.

But there’s another decision you have to make every day, and I hope you are much more intentional about it. Are you in, or are you out?

You see, most people get up every day and go to work. It’s once they get there that the decision has to be made. Those who decide they are “in” approach their work intentionally. They seek to their best, regardless of the circumstances and view their occupation as something important. They engage in work that matters – to their customers, their coworkers, and their teams.

Other people show up for work and engage in work that leaves them unfulfilled. They grumble about the new policy that’s been introduced, or the lack of good products, or the goals that are set too high. Even though they show up every day, their mission isn’t to make things better, it’s to make others just as miserable as they are. These people say they’re “in,” but their actions tell you they are decidedly “out.”

There’s a third group that seem to be on the fence. They need a paycheck, or they need insurance, and so they accept the best offer presented to them in the moment. They go through the motions day to day, but don’t really feel any attachment to the work they do. Their performance bounces up and down because they produce good work when they feel like it (or when they’re actually held accountable), and coast when they don’t. These people may not feel like they’ve made a choice, but they have. They are “out.” They just haven’t said it out load.

December is always a month of reflection for me. It’s the threshold of a new year, and my birthday occurs on the 22^nd. I always wind up thinking about where I’ve been, where I am currently, and where I want to be. And I make decisions, decisions that communicate how I will spend my precious time and energy going forward.

In the past couple of weeks, I’ve decided to opt-out of some optional aspects of my life. I’ve pulled away from commitments that I can’t get passionate about in order to devote myself fully to those that excite me. I’m also looking at the various aspects of my job and identifying those where I need to do a better job of being “in.”

I don’t want just a job. I don’t to just go through the motions. I want to be inspired, involved in control innovative, integral, and incredible at what I do. It all starts with deciding that I’m in!

Are you in or out?