What Gets You Up in the Morning

I just finished watching a fabulous video clip from a multi-level marketing guru, which I found very exciting, as I believe it applies to EVERYone, not just those who are self-employed.
http://ht.ly/g9cX0  In the clip, Nick Sarnicola talks about having to have a "desperate why" in order to succeed at a multi-level marketing business.  "What gets you up in the morning?" he asks.  "What gets you to make those 100 calls?"  (I think that is a slight exaggeration...at least I hope it is).  That got me thinking along two lines.

Line one...in a throwback to my previous career as a school psychologist,  I have included in my "why" that I want to "help people", whatever that means.  I now understand that that statement is so broad as to mean little more than "I don't have evil intent", and it doesn't get me up in the morning.  I'm not even sure that my business, as much as I love it, gets me up in the morning.  It's at the necessary and unavoidable slogging along phase, and even though I absolutely believe in all it's potential and benefits, of course the majority of others won't.  That's the nature of the beast.  No, what motivates me to build my business is the anticipation of financial freedom, and with that, more time to indulge my love of writing.  And sleeping.  I love to sleep, or to be just awake enough to be aware of being warm and cozy.  And reading.  Love to read.  I understand that the pursuit of money is different from the pursuit of happiness, but having money can free one to pursue happiness.  That makes the "why" less immediate, possibly a little less sharp, but no less compelling.  What gets me up in the morning is the anticipation of....not having to get up in the morning!  And that's somewhere between a possibility and a certainty now, whereas at my previous time-for-money career, that never was going to happen.  Ever.  And that absolute certainty did NOT get me up in the morning.


Line two...from passion comes success.  At one point in the video, Nick refers to a woman in the audience who apparently gave a passionate statement earlier in the seminar and who also is very successful in her business.  Which came first?  I also have caught myself thinking that passion arises from success, but then, the question remains of how to arrive at success without a passion.  What would get me up in the morning prior to being successful? Defining success obviously has to be here in the mix.  Some might say that by leaving a dead-end job, I already am successful.  To me, cashing out the life-insurance policy to pay for the children's school doesn't really feel like success.  Fear?  Can fear substitute for passion until I reach "success"?  Of course.  It doesn't feel good, and it probably doesn't look good (giving off the whiff of desperation) but it sure can push one toward a goal or toward "success".  Anticipation?  Can anticipation substitute for passion?  Of course.  Anticipation is the mirror opposite of fear, pulling one toward success instead of pushing one away from the abyss.  Anticipation feels much better, but it is more difficult to maintain over time than fear.  The limbic system, the "old brain" will fuel fear until the perceived danger is past, but anticipation is a more intellectual pursuit and more of a mindset choice, and therefore requires more conscious energy to keep it going.

What fear and anticipation have in common is that they are responses to something that hasn't happened yet, in this case, success.  How much time do I want to spend in the future, as opposed to the present?  I think a little passion for something in the present keeps life "here", as opposed to "out there" or in the future.   Even if the passion I have at the moment isn't directly business-related, there likely is some business-related or success-related benefit to being just a passionate person in general.  This winding discourse seems to have arrived back at the starting point, that success is facilitated from having a passionate personality.  If a passion for...anything gets me up in the morning, I can channel some of that passion into any endeavor, whether it's a current quest or a an anticipatory goal.