A colleague came into my office today and stared at the posters hanging high up on my wall – motivational posters.  Every now and then I look up at them and they are just what I need to look back down at the task in front of me and dig in with renewed effort.  He then persuaded me to go to a website for demotivation.  We laughed together at some of the “posters” that came up, telling it like it is.  He preferred these over mine he said; he didn’t like being persuaded to move in a particular direction away from what was in his face.  Rather, he preferred naming that reality…calling it what it was…laughing at the inane truth of his circumstances.  From there he could move to make changes.

For example, I have a poster that says, “NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, EVER GIVE UP.”

He showed me a poster that says, “Give Up.  At some point hanging in there makes you look like an even bigger loser.”

I have a poster that says, “It takes courage to push yourself to places that you have never been before…to test your limits…to break through barriers.”

He showed me a poster that says, “Fear.  Until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore, you will not know the terror of being forever lost at sea.”

I have a poster that says, “It’s all about trying.”

He showed me a poster that says, “Humiliation.  The harder you try the dumber you look.”

Mmmm…

I went back to the website after he left and read them all and laughed at a bunch of them – they were a great comedic commentary on some aspects of life.  Some of them I had no use for – they were just downright cynical.  But some of them, as ridiculous as they seemed to me, also soon found their place with me.  Sometimes you do need to give up.  Sometimes you do need to let your fears stop you in your tracks – they might keep you from doing something irrevocably stupid.  Sometimes you need to recognize you are humiliating yourself and stop trying so hard to accomplish what clearly isn’t going to happen.

I won’t add these demotivating posters to my wall.  For the most part, I am helped by words that call me beyond what I can see or presently do.  I tend to pull back to safer territory a little too quickly, wanting to stick with the familiar and with what I know I can do because I’ve done it before.  Sometimes I need that nudge that moves me beyond my comfort zones to where I can discover I have not yet reached the limits of my capacity.

But there are also times during which I tend to bite off more than I can chew, or to believe for things that are the ideal and really should happen but are too far beyond reality right now.   I will remember these posters at those times…when I need my vision or efforts aligned a little closer to the boundaries laid out for me so as to not end up denying reality and being found a fool unnecessarily.