039: Motivation comes from Meaning
Manage episode 310669782 series 3067590
Imagine this for a second:
You’re forced to work like a slave day in and day out, living off a few scraps of bread, no showering, sleeping in your own filth, constantly fatigued, AND if you stop working hard you’re instantly killed.
Grim, I know, but this was the reality for the poor souls that went through concentration camps in WW2.
One of them was called Viktor Frankl, and he wrote a book about his experience surviving it called ‘Mans search for meaning’
As I was re-reading it the other night his message struck me once again. He discovered that the difference between those who endured and made it out of these conditions vs those who gave up and were killed was the meaning they gave to the situation.
Those who could find meaning in their suffering, a meaning for their existence and survival were the ones that actually did.
His core point is that the key to both a fulfilled life AND getting through whatever hard times you may be facing is to choose to give it a meaning.
To consciously find purpose in who you are, what you do, and why that matters.
It’s one of the key differences humans have over other species, we’re allowed to step out of matrix and choose the meaning we give to our lives.
I believe we all have a ‘calling’, but society and our conditioning blocks our ears.
When you find a meaning that matters to you, that gives you purpose, you will never run out of motivation. No obstacle will be too overwhelming. There is no more negotiating on your goals and mission.
I believe meaning IS motivation.
If you want to begin discovering yours or refine the one you have then you'll find that in the latest episode
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