Motivation is Like a Shower

Who doesn’t love a motivational video, live event, podcast, or story?

Over the years my wife and I have seen many great speakers. We saw one of the best motivational speakers of all time, Zig Ziglar, twice. We saw Les Brown at the Hershey Arena, Brian Tracey, and many other well-known and some not-so-well-known motivators.

How about some of the top Rocky movies – Adriaaaaaan! Great inspirations. And they always have a turnaround motivational scene with inspiring music in the background.

“Rising up, back on the street, did my time, took my chances, went the distance, now I’m back on my feet, just a man and his will to survive…It’s the eye of the tiger; it’s the thrill of the fight, rising up to the challenge of our rival.” Who didn’t just sing that?!

Just like those motivational movies and speakers, we’d walk away with all kinds of commitment, fire, and passion. Let’s do it!!

I often use motivational videos in my trainings. It might be something that fits with a particular topic or a way to start off strong. Most often it’s the last slide. We’ve always taught our kids: End on a Win.

And these are big wins - A video with Jocko Willink, Sylvestor Stallone or Les Brown will always feel motivating. How can it not? Background sports and workout scenes of high intensity.

So, why is motivation like a shower?

I’ll paraphrase Zig Ziglar’s answer. He shared a story of being in the middle of a 2-day motivational speaking event. He met an attendee, we’ll call him Jim, in the lobby after the first day and asked, “How’d you like the first session?”

Jim answered, with tremendous enthusiasm, “It was fantastic and I’m ready to go!”

Zig replied, “Just wait until tomorrow’s session. It’s even better than today’s!” Jim replied, “Oh, I’m going home tonight. I got all I need today.”

Then Zig said, “Jim, motivation is like taking a shower. You need to do it every day.”

That’s the rub. Showers can be amazing, but they don’t last!

Just like showers, we need motivation daily. Something to drive us, inspire us, remind us of what we are truly capable of – every day.

And the secret to our motivation is hidden in our daily routine.