Motivational coaching is purpose coaching.  People who struggle with motivation, struggle because they don’t have a sense of purpose.  

In mountaineering,  the purpose always shined brighter than the pain.  The purpose was always stronger than the grind.  

Because of that purpose,  we would slog through anything.  We would research for months.  We would work seasonal jobs.  We would raise money wherever we could.  Then we would get to the expedition and shoulder 95 lb packs.  We would hunker through anything and everything to get to our goal.  

We never thought ill of the pursuit.  That was because the pursuit brought out everything in us that made us into the best version of ourselves.  

Mountaineering made me:

• More healthy
• A better Leader
• A person with a track record of accomplishment
• Happier
• More connected to high functioning people from all industries

Because of the tangible benefits, the motivation wa never hard to find.  There was never an issue with motivation.   

In other areas of business, purpose has been more elusive at times.  I’ve never been more directly in contact with my purpose than I was as a mountaineer.  

In online business,  I have to outline my purpose in order to feel its power because I am not as directly connected to it as I would be if I was outside in the mountain air.  

In online business,  My purpose is to unite with others over the concepts of coaching which have their basis in mountaineering.  I do this out of a sense of service to others. Because I am living in service, I am less in direct connection with service of my own betterment.  Because of this,  I have to work at defining my purpose more than I had to in the past.  

The link between Values and Purpose

The reason why purpose matters is because of how purpose intersects with my value system.  

What are Values?

Values are ideals that somehow resonate with your deeper belief system.  

Take two ideas.  Say the words in your mind and gauge the response.  Your body is neutral to some ideas and then it is not neutral to other ideas.  

One idea might do absolutely nothing to spark any emotion.  Another idea will be completely different.  The reason why some ideas are important to you and others are not is because of the values that are held inside of your belief system. 

Beliefs are automatically held values.  Beliefs are deeply held in the autonomic nervous system and they are connected to your emotional system.  

Developing a sense of purpose depends on tracking how ideas intersect with your value system and piecing together a picture of what is important to you and what is not.

Motivation comes from moving towards those things that intersect with your emotions.   

Value Complexity

When I coach people and see their life transform in front of me,  I know I am on the right path.

Why did I leave the life in the mountains where everything was right at my fingertips?  As united as I was with my personal core values there was a deeper sense that I wasn’t serving society in a larger way.  

I was serving myself.  I was bettering myself,  but I saw a giant world out there where my story wasn’t getting through to other people.  

As much as I loved enriching myself,  there was one internal value that I held that was not being developed in the mountains.  That was service.  

My life is perfect now because I had over a decade of time bettering myself and enriching myself.  And from that core of value, I am able to reach out and touch other people who need a boost on their own journey.  

I listened to my values and made a change to live a life of deeper service.    

How to develop a sense of Purpose

I was fortunate to have opportunities which exposed me to mountaineering.  I discovered purpose by being around purpose and was lucky enough to develop a strong sense of my values.

If however it is hard to have a strong sense of values,  the emotions are your key to purpose.  Start by exploring your emotions and doing inventory of what things spark emotion.  

Explore Fears

Things you fear hold a key to motivation.  If you fear something, something inside of you needs to confront that thing.  You need to answer the question of why you are threatened.  You need to address that idea of living always under threat or always in avoidance of threat.  

I am not saying to just go full steam in the direction of fear.  I recommend delving into fear with a competent coach.  It starts however by cataloging your fears.  Using a journal,  just write down a list of the things that cause you to feel fearful.

Explore Angers

Anger and fear are closely related.  It is possible to become angry at things that we can’t control or that make us feel out of control.  We can become resistant to those things right to exist.  

Same as fear,  take a catalog of the things that make you feel angry.  Coaching and journaling will help you transmogrify those fears and angers into forms of empowerment.  

Explore Excitement

The best list to make is a list of the things that make you feel excited.  Anything that gets your heart pumping.  Anything that you lie awake at night thinking about.  Your dreams and things that you aspire to belong on this list.  

But just as important as it is to make the list of excitement,  it is necessary to ask yourself why do those things excite you?

List as many descriptive words for you items as you can. Use adjectives and adverbs to illuminate what it is about these ideas that excites your inner emotional system.

Explore Happiness

What makes you happy?  If you had all the money in the world how would you spend your time?  Would you relax by the beach?  Would you run a massive company?  What sets you on fire?  What are you doing when you are in the zone of your highest skills?

Explore Past Success.

Your past successes are the best signposts of you when you are operating intuitively in your zone of purpose.  

Just like me in the mountains and later running small businesses. Before I had done work to outline and define my values,  I had an intuitive sense of how to access them. 

I felt better when I was running expeditions.  Then I translated that skillset into running small businesses. 

I didn’t know what my values were exactly,  but I had a sense of them and I followed that sense into situations that led me to success.

LAter in life when I felt less in touch with purpose and less motivated, Through coaching I examined those experiences of success to see what they told me about what my values were.    

Explore Role Models

People who exemplify where you want to go in life can tell you a lot about what your purpose is.  

Make a lis to role models and ask yourself why they motivate you.

Conclusion

If you lack motivation,  it is because you haven’t delved into your sense of purpose.  By fleshing out and defining values and beliefs, we discover how to connect with deeper satisfaction and more meaningful accomplishment. A strong sense of purpose infuses each action with meaning and deepens your determination. When the going gets tough and the path gets heavy and dark,  the values and emotions connected to our beliefs are what gives us the inner strength to push harder.  Without that ability to access our purpose, we may fail to push through difficult territory.