Motivation

For a variety of reasons I've been spending the past couple of days thinking about motivation and it makes me think of a story I sometimes tell people about my high school swim experience.
My high school coach - Neil - spent a lot of time telling us to 'be in the present.'  He always said that when we were at swimming, we should only be thinking about swimming.  When we weren't, we shouldn't think about swimming.  It was that simple. 
Our difficult practices always took place mid-season when we needed to build the most milage.  I remember one of those mornings when, after our warm up, we found ourselves staring at a white board with yet another difficult workout listed in full.  We began to complain.
"Come on Neil."
"We're tired."
"That looks hard."
He then told us, cool as a cucumber, that he had another easier workout for that day too.  Anyone who wanted to do something easier should get on the right side of the pool and anyone who wanted to do the workout on the board should get on the left side of the pool.  About 90% of the team, myself included, moved right.  We were tired.  We thought we deserved a break.  There was strength in numbers. 
Then turned to the right side of the pool and began to yell:
"GET OUT!  GET OUT OF THE POOL!  YOU GOT YOUR ASS OUT OF BED TO GET IN THE COLD WATER AT 5:30 AM AND YOU'RE NOT HERE TO WORK?  I HAVE AN EASIER WORKOUT FOR YOU.  LEAVE!"
No one moved. 
"GO!  GET OUT OF HERE."
"Awww, come on Neil.  We want to swim.  We didn't mean it.  We're here to work."
He wasn't having it.  We had to go.  We could have gone home, or headed to school, or sat in the sauna.  What we actually did was sit on the side of the pool and watch forlornly as the few souls who had come that morning with the motivation to succeed swam their workout.
I try to remember that day when I'm tired, sad, frustrated or distracted.  It's easy on those days to believe that simply showing up is enough when really it's the bare minimum.  After all, it may be hard to go, but imagine how you would feel if the option to go didn't exist.  That's motivation.
<posted on 5.9.12>