Motivate Me!

Michael Chamberlin wants to know why you need words when actions will do just fine.

Motivation can be a funny thing.

We've just come to the end of the season for the two biggest football codes in the country. In both grand finals, players talked all week about their various motivations. They wanted to win it for their family, their friends, their fallen team mate or their entire town.

I've always wondered though, what if they lose? If they talk all week about how they're desperate to win the title for their brother, crippled after being sat upon by a moody elephant, if they lose, does that mean they just don't love their brother enough?

The reality is when you're holding the ball and about be confronted by six 100 kilo men, the last thing going through your mind is the tragic brother/elephant accident.

It's this reality that makes motivational phrases confusing for me. I see them everywhere. On the fridge at friends' houses, on the walls of homes, on clipboards, on desks at the office and it strikes me: why not just be motivated?

If you are that keen on succeeding in life, surely you don't need a quote from an 18th century author to get you through your day. If you are actually intent on achieving your goals, are the words of a moderately successful singer/song-writer really going to get you through the night?

I sometimes wonder what truly talented people have on their walls. By logic, if you're the best at what you do, what's the point of having the words of someone less talented than you to keep you inspired?

Shakespeare would have never had a motivational phrase adorn his wall. I find it hard to believe the Bard getting through hard days and nights of writer's block with the words "If thou can't stand the heat, thou shalt go forth from the kitchen."

A number of players in the recent grand finals had motivational messages written on the tape on their wrists. All the basic stuff : "Run hard", "Tackle hard", "If thou can't stand the heat, thou shalt go forth from the kitchen."

But the strangest motivational phrase I've ever seen was on the wrist of an American solider in the early days of the Iraq War. Standing against the backdrop of the desert, on the tape on his wrist where the words: "Bringing them freedom".

I was amazed. Mainly because I would have thought "Don't get your freaking head blown off" would have been more appropriate.

When is fear of your own death not enough? I love the idea that this soldier is thinking, "The idea of having my naked, charred body being dragged down the streets of Baghdad doesn't really get me going but bringing them freedom, where's my gun? Let's fight a war!"

Motivation can be a funny thing.

- Michael Chamberlin