I was talking to a friend last summer about motivation. About drive. About doing whatever it takes – in particular in building a practice. But what I’ve realized is my ability to build a practice was built on my drive to contribute to humanity, be a pillar in my practice, help my community and make a helluva life for me and my family.
When sharing my story of opening my practice, there was an instant rebuttal.
“But Tiff, you HAD to do it. I don’t.”
Says who?
“But Tiff, I’m not sure I want to work that hard.”
Then don’t.
“But Tiff, I want what you have and want to impact the amount of families you do.”
???
People may want what you have, but little want to do the work to get it. They want the end result, not the journey of ‘making it’. They want the joy, influence and peace; not the blood, sweat and tears. They want the character at the end of the story, not the broken one in the beginning. They want the freedom, not the chains of every morning, night and day of the week. They want the result, not the experience and resilience that was gained walking through fire.
We bought a house, had 2 little kids and Craig just started a new job. I opened a practice in a town where we didn’t grow up in.
You betcha, it was do or die. I get uncomfortable or else. I hustle or else. I am endlessly available or else.
Sure, my boundaries got fuzzed
The line in the sand wasn’t clear anymore
But I was willing to do whatever it took. I was never going to look back and regret that I didn’t do the work.
The desperation was to NEVER LET MY FAMILY DOWN. I made a promise to them, I made agreements with them.
I put dreams into a plan and committed to them every.damn.day.
…even when I was tired. Even when I was sick. Even when I wanted to be gone over the weekend.
I was intrinsically motivated, nobody needed to motivate me. It was deep within my soul to achieve.
Where in your life did you succeed out of desperation? Those are pivotal moments in your life and nobody can ‘get to where you are’ without going through what you went through. Hence, the beauty of our stories…how someone’s life looks on the outside is the journey of a million uncomfortable moments, where some were do or die.
What if you made decisions about your health and relationships as ‘do or die’?
What if you took your life as seriously as ‘do or die’.
How would it change?
Get to work ❤
Dr. T
