Many humans are motivated by the thought of doing something they or others think they cannot do. They don’t want to do what they already know they can do. They are also motivated, as one commentator on this article wisely mentioned, by success. Succeed and then the motivation will arrive in bucket loads.
When I studied Taekwondo, most of the best students were slim, flexible and young. I was thickset and definitely not flexible! I was also over forty! The instructor asked me with some curiosity why I had decided to do something which did not really suit my physical makeup.
I replied that there was no point in doing something I was already good at or likely to be good at. I wanted a challenge. This answer seemed to make sense to him.
People climb mountains because they are big challenges and when they reach the top they will feel they, too, have grown in stature. Jim Rohn, the great American self-help guru, tells us to make a million pounds not so much for the money but for what making a million will make of us.
In the Contender reality show where sixteen middleweight boxers are pitted against each other, the prize is a final fight at...