Monday Motivation: Gotta Have Grit
This article was originally published on June 15, 2020 at https://gritdaily.com/monday-motivation-stay-gritty/
Monday motivation, we need it, let’s go! We see you, struggling to get your day started and in need of a pick-me-up to launch your week on the right foot. Studies show that your morning mood affects your productivity all day. Grit Daily is here to get your work week off to a good start. Pump your fists – it’s time for Monday motivation!
And guess what? We’ve revamped our popular Monday motivation podcast – stay tuned for that relaunch next week!
Stay gritty
The co-founder of Grit Daily News, Jordan French, signs off from his emails with the salutation, “Stay gritty.” It’s brilliant, motivational and instructional, all at the same time. Since this is a Monday motivation column, it made sense to make “staying gritty” this week’s theme.
At the core, it’s important to have grit. Fortitude. Chutzpah. It’s the shameless audacity to believe in yourself that you can get it done because of you have an invincible spirit and unyielding strength. That’s not to say that you don’t have down days. Or weeks. Or years. Shit happens to all of us, it’s all in how we deal with it.
Staying gritty is a key to getting to the other side of whatever mountain it is that we’re climbing. There are a few related themes that we’ve covered before, like resilience, adaptability, managing anxiety and the art of making forward progress by letting go, and not dwelling on what has happened.
“What’s done is done and cannot be undone.” ~Lady Macbeth, Act 5
Monday motivation tips to get gritty
Sometimes, you’ve got to dig deep. Really deep. And that’s easier said than done when your fuel reserves are already depleted. You have to lean on each other and on your tribe to make it through. It’s always okay to ask for help. Grit is all about mental toughness. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. It’s about sticking to your long-term goals even though you are faced with adversity. The daily slog through life is long, and not always easy.
Monday motivation constantly echoes the theme that we can’t get there alone. We have to do the work, there’s no escaping that reality, but we certainly don’t have to blaze the path all by ourselves. Grit gives us the power to know that we can make it, but self-awareness gives us the power to know when we need to ask for help to keep going.
#1 – connect to a higher purpose
Whatever that is, know that it is beyond you. There is a bigger picture at play. That higher purpose will guide you to give you the strength that you need on the bad days (of which there will be plenty). Monday motivation is all about connecting everything that you do to your purpose. Why do you do what you do? Remind yourself of this whenever necessary. Then dig in and keep grinding.
#2 – hope springs eternal
Without hope, there is no value to life. Monday motivation reminds you to really dig in, what do you hope for? There is always something deep down that you want to see realized. These are your dreams. Grit will help you make your dreams come true. You can’t give up. There is always a way – it just might take you 10 or 20 or 1,000 attempts. But you WILL do it.
#3 – practice, practice and then practice some more
You’re not going to get it right the first time. Or maybe not even the tenth. Maybe you’ll think you got it right only to realize that the situation changed and what was right no longer is, so you need to begin doing something differently and start practicing a new way of doing it. It’s all about learning, evolving and practicing what you learn.
Famous failures
Picasso painted more than 50,000 paintings until 9 of them were declared masterpieces. Elon Musk and his SpaceX team crashed ridiculously expensive rockets five times until they had their first success. Sir James Dyson – yes, he was knighted for creating a $5 billion bagless vacuum business – after his first 5,126 prototypes failed. Steven Spielberg and Walt Disney were rejected from the colleges and programs they applied to because they were “not creative enough.” J.K. Rowling was a middle-aged, broke, depressed, divorced and single mother of two before she created her tales of wizards and magic. Jerry Seinfeld was booed off the stage at the start of his comedic career.
The list of famous failures goes on and on and on. And the list of innovators who toiled day after day, year after year, often for a decade or more is infinitely long. All of them echo the sentiment that their “overnight success” was “the longest night ever.”
“When things go wrong, don’t go with them.” ~Elvis Presley
Wrap-up
The point of this Monday motivation is that you never, ever know what’s going to happen. Anything is possible. With grit, you can MAKE it happen. You just have to want it bad enough.
If you’re a podcast person, you’re in luck! We now have three to choose from: gain some inspiration and insights from our guests on my “Like a Boss” content: listen here on our Grit Daily podcast channel on Apple iTunes. Monday Motivation for quick tips column and podcast (Mondays, obviously) and our wine down and chill podcast and column (Fridays). Finally, if you like my writing, check out my new novel, The Battle for Humanity, it’s a thriller you won’t be able to put down. Have a fabulous week!
Like a Boss podcast, one of several available on the Grit Daily News podcast channel featuring host, Loralyn Mears
This image seemed so fitting for today’s theme about grit. You’re on thin ice and, as if that wasn’t bad enough to manage, there’s a mountain ahead. What are you going to do? There’s only one choice: stay gritty.
Image by mollyroselee from Pixabay