A motivational speaker I often refer to said, “We generally change ourselves for one of two reasons — inspiration or desperation.” Since reading that quote from Jim Rohn, I’ve tried very hard to make sure that the changes I make are more from inspiring thoughts and actions rather than from desperation.
In the coaching profession — and this is probably true for many other professions — you put so much into what you’re doing, and the more you put in, the tougher it becomes to deal with the setbacks. This is common for high achievers. What I took from this quote is to keep things positive. Every day I go into work I remind myself how lucky I am to be a coach in the NBA, and more importantly, to be coaching for the Boston Celtics. And most important to me, I’m lucky to be working for Doc Rivers, a person I deeply respect.
Are there down days even with a team that has been in the championship hunt the last few years? Yes there are, but I choose to be inspired by the challenge of fulfilling my role to make sure that I’ve done my part to help us win. I choose to learn more about the game every day. I choose to learn more about motivation and productivity every day.
So if I want to change something, or get better, or go to another level, I work hard at keeping it inspirational rather than acting from desperation. The key becomes doing your job, continuing to learn, and continuing to improve so desperation just isn’t a factor.
Inspiration or desperation — which avenue would you like to take?
