The Grass Is Greener

Now I have to say at the start of this column that I can’t stand gardening. (That little fact is just for my wife as I know she reads my articles.)
A little while back we moved into our new home and over the following months the other houses were built and subsequently more people moved into our street.
I have noticed over the months the gardens of each of the houses in the street starting to take shape. As my brother is a landscaper, I asked that he design something that was low maintenance so I wasn’t stuck in the gardens each week. Some of the other houses, however, have spectacular gardens.

I watch every week, some of my neighbours out in the garden tending to their lawns and their gardens. There is one person in my street (who shall remain nameless) that puts the rest of us to shame with his devotion to his garden. My wife every now and then makes comments that I should get interested in our garden but I have to say that it really doesn’t float my boat.
The point (other than reinforcing my position with my wife) is to show you that if you want to experience great results, you need to put the time and effort into the preparation and maintenance of the goal you are aiming for. It all comes down to what your motivation is first. Then you can progress towards an outcome.
Just like the gardens and lawns in my street, if you get out there, get your hands dirty and understand that time is a factor, your results will speak for themselves.

A lot of people just expect things to materialise in front of their faces when it comes to their desires. But just because you desire something does not mean that it will become a reality. We all need to take a close look at our motivation as to why we do things. Now I could be motivated to make my garden and lawns look good, but if it is just to keep up with my neighbours my results will suffer after a little while. I need to want to do it for myself otherwise I am only paying lip service to those desires.

I believe that Motivation comes in two flavours. You can be motivated towards something, that is what you will gain, or you can be motivated away from something, and that is what you will lose. This desiring to avoid can be confusing.
First of all we all must want what we want. Then and only then are you motivated towards reaching that desire.

Let’s have a look at the two different directions of motivation.

1. Motivation: Toward
If you are motivated by what you will gain you will find it easy to look ahead and see yourself reaching that goal. You’ll grab every opportunity that will take you closer, you'll respond to people’s compliments. You'll be in control of your life. You'll want what you visualise more than anything, and you'll do whatever it takes to get it. Every decision that you have to make will revolve around whether you will get closer to your goal or desires and not further away.

2. Motivation: Away
If you are motivated by what you will lose, you will focus on what you want to avoid. For example, you want to avoid dying early, you want to avoid being poor or with little money or you want to avoid gasping for breath when you climb a flight of stairs.
You don't want any of those things to happen, and you don't want it to happen so much that you will do whatever it takes to avoid these things.
If you ask these types of people what they want for dinner, they'll tell you they don't want Chinese, or pizza. If you ask them what they are going to do to reach a level of prosperity in their life, they will quickly tell you want they don’t want to do to get there.
It can be difficult to get someone motivated this way to actually say what they do want!

So what is it that you want? Just like my neighbours and their gardens, what are you willing to do to get the outcomes and results that you want or need?