Humpbacks and Motivation

I swam with two humpback whales on Monday.

Well… to be precise, I was swimming in the ocean and there were two humpbacks in the distance about 1km away. But we were in the same body of water, so I’m counting it.

I have been swimming, or, more accurately, dipping for just a moments, in the ocean every week since last winter. Some mornings it has taken a monumental effort to get out of a warm bed. Jumping into cold water before most people are awake has, at times, seemed fairly ridiculous.

Which has made me wonder: why do I keep showing up?

There is no obvious external reward. Nobody is checking whether I go. There are no prizes for attendance and, until the humpbacks appeared, very little chance of anything particularly exciting happening.

However, I do see that there is something about it that keeps pulling me back.

Part of it that it clears my head. I like starting the week having already done something that isn’t always ‘easy’. I enjoy the sense of accomplishment and the satisfaction of keeping a commitment I have made to myself.

There are other things in the mix too. I go with a good friend, so there is connection and just enough accountability. I like the routine and I am apparently much more motivated by the prospect of a cup of tea waiting on the shore than I might like to admit.

None of those things on their own explains it. Together, though, they give me a much better picture of what energizes me and makes me want to keep doing it.

I find motivation fascinating for exactly this reason.

We can easily assume we know what motivates us, or what is motivating someone else, but it is often not what we first think. The things that give one person energy can drain someone else’s energy. I also love the fact the motivation is dynamic.  What drives us can change throughout our life as our role, circumstances and priorities change.

Understanding what gives us energy at work, can give us data during our planning, prioritizing and why some parts of our work feel more satisfying than others.

The same is true for teams. Understanding what motivates people individually, and what motivates the team collectively, can make a real difference to how we communicate, allocate work and keep people engaged.

For me, that curiosity is a key part of self-leadership.

Some weeks, if I’m really lucky, the motivation comes with humpbacks.

If you’re curious about what motivates you at work, a Motivational Map® can give you a useful starting point for exploring what gives you energy and strategies to sustain or enhance it.

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Bio:

Suzie Read is a Certified Professional Leadership Coach and facilitator based on Vancouver Island. She works with established leaders and business owners, creating space and perspective to step out of the day-to-day, consider where to focus their attention and lead people well in changing conditions. She is the owner of Suzie Read Coaching and co-founder of Built for Change and is a member of the International Coaching federation (ICF) and a Licensed Motivational Map® Practitioner.

Sunrise on Vancouver Island