Finding What Motivates You

This month my goal has been to settle on my One Word, that one little word that I am going to focus on for the rest of the year.

I'm getting close.  Narrowing it down.  My bestie Nancy has picked out three words, and they are pretty awesome, but still I kinda feel like I need to focus on just one, maybe.

I love hearing about your words and your goals too.  We've been sharing them back and forth  in the face book group Gratitude Girls Cheer League please click the link to join us, we'd love to have you.

Hand in hand with finding my word and setting my goals are my Power Buttons.

What is a Power Button?

It's that switch that gets me out of bed, gets me going when I don't have to be at the beck and call of anyone else, motivates me forward, out of the house, and into the world.  It a passion that energizes me.  An idea think about all the time. It's a dream I want to make real and a hope that won't die. Its that thing I really want to finish, just to say I did it.  It's the coffee for my soul.

Yes.  Even my soul drinks coffee.

(that only sounds really odd if you don't drink a pot of coffee a day and love it so much you actually smell it in your dreams)

In the world of business they call it your Why.

Why are you doing this?

But, unlike only wanting one word, I have a several Power Buttons.

 I don't do things for just one reason. a Power Button may be something that is always there on the switchboard, just waiting for the moment of activation.  It may be a bright green light that always shines behind every action. Or it is my task driven motivator, that once accomplished, leads me to a new task and a new button.

A little doodle from my art journal.

As a woman, I have lived through a few different seasons.  Moments when my why was all about the children or work, or just making it through the day.  Things happen that alter what I can do and which power buttons can be turned on.  I figured this out when my kids were young - a baby, two toddlers, and a preschooler, that while some women (mostly on television) could seemingly do and be everything, I could only have a few things activated at a time.

I was not doing creative things.
  I was not holding down a forty hour a week position.
   I was not even taking a shower everyday.

But now that season is over and while my kidlets motivate me toward lots of things, that power button is no longer dominating everything.

Some of my power buttons are found by answering the questions:

I've always wanted to....
I really need to..
When people look at me I want them to see...
I want  my story to be about....

This all sounds a little self involved, like I'm standing in-front of a mirror pondering questions about me and throwing in a few daily affirmations while I'm at it.   I want to know my power buttons so that I don't set my sights on goals that are so totally self serving, so that I don't loose moments of real importance along the journey.

Because there are negative power buttons too.  Motivators that serve nothing and can possibly hurt someone, cause pain, or get in the way of living the kind of life I've already chosen to live.

So...This month, along with making lists, and lists of lists so that I can break my BIG GOALS  into doable goals, 

I am finding my Power Buttons

And settling on my One Word...

How about you?  What motivates you?  What are your Power Buttons?

Another little messy art journal page.