Quest for perfection

This morning, our family headed to a not-too-distant stake center to listen to Bronco Mendenhall (BYU head football coach). He shared his vision of BYU football and it was quite relevant to my life, despite the fact that I am not a superfan. (GASP!) Coach Mendenhall's opening slide was "BYU Football - quest for perfection". It made me think. He also mentioned that in a study of high achieving athletes, it was found that one thing they all had in common was that their area of achievement was once something they were not good at and they had to work and work and work at it until it became their strong point. It got me thinking about motivation and my own quest for perfection. Some people seem so motivated. Some don't. I feel more like those that don't, but I want to be among the motivated.

On a related note, I am participating in the beta-testing of web based weight loss program called PEERtrainer. It harnesses the power of positive peer pressure and makes me accountable to someone other than just me. I'm assigned to a group with two other women. Each of us has a goal - mine happens to be to fit back into my pre-pregnancy clothes. Every day, we log our food and our workout. We check in on each other and can leave each other questions and comments. This is only my second day, but I think it's going to be really helpful for me.

The idea behind PEERtrainer is that when you have to report to someone, you follow through on things that you have comitted to do. I think I have been missing out on something big. Prayer could be motivating. Morning prayer could be a goal-setting time for the day; evening prayer could be my report. This makes sense to me!

Where do YOU find your motivation? to workout? to improve yourself? to be "a little kinder", as Pres. Hinckley urges us to be? I love pep talks.