Motivation is the Key to Success

Category: Motivation is the Key to Success

Many years ago I saw a placard in an office building that said, “Motivation is the Key to Success.” In the more than 40 years since seeing this its truth resonates with me on a daily basis. If you want to succeed at anything, you must have a high level of motivation to do it. This underscores the importance of keeping yourself motivated. Don’t let anything steal your motivation.

After many decades of life I realized I have a food addiction, and I cannot trust myself when it comes to eating.

I quickly came up with this program that has allowed me to lose a respectable amount of weight in my first week.

I have a Chrome book in the kitchen with a Google Sheet with 3 tabs… Daily Log, Food Choices, and Archive.

I went through my pantry and refrigerator and listed all the foods in the house along with their calories and then put the info into the Food Choices sheet.

I log into the computer everything I eat into the Daily Log Sheet (date, time, food name and calories). At the end of the day I copy the daily log to the Archive sheet to view trends and average calories (currently about 1,200 calories per day).

When I am hungry I make a low-calorie choice from the Food Choices sheet. I end up getting hungry 6-8 times a day. Sometimes I eat a piece of cheese or two. Sometimes I eat a few pieces of turkey lunch meat.

What I have learned so far…

You can’t trust yourself when it comes to food so you have to follow a program. It can be any program as long as it is not the “I’ll eat what I want when I want program.”
The concept of eating 3 fairly large meals a day is not helpful. You will end up consuming a lot of calories in at least one of those meals.

Screenshot from Renpho smart scale app

Those who bought TSLA or Bitcoin have seen gigantic gains in their investments. These gains are constantly touted by the news media. It appears to those watching that money is being created out of thin air.

Consider these bits from the Bureau of Labor Statistics report on December 4, 2020.

The number of unemployed persons, at 10.7 million, continued to trend down in November but is 4.9 million higher than in February.
The labor force participation rate is 61.5 percent — 1.9 percentage points below its February level.
The number of persons employed part-time for economic reasons was at 6.7 million which is 2.3 million higher than the February level.
14.8 million persons reported that they had been unable to work because their employer closed or lost business due to the pandemic.
Average weekly hours was 34.2
Average hourly earnings were $23.81 per hour

The downside to huge asset gains is that when someone compares the money being made owning assets that are exploding in value compared to working a job for $23.81, the calculus is such that someone feels like they are getting the short end of the stick by working. After all, why not just invest in high-flying electric car stocks that seem to double every month?

I was taught a long time ago that motivation is the key to success. The motivation level of the average worker is certainly not being enhanced when they compare what they are making to the gains made by people owning stocks and cryptocurrencies.