BCG Blog

Establishing Meaning and Motivation
​
​Guest post by Garrett Fisher

*This week’s blog is written by one of our former players, Garrett Fisher. There is no better way to wrap up the year than to have a player request to share their take-aways from being part of our program. Garrett’s willingness to embrace his role for our team continues to be a standard we refer current players back to annually.

Throughout my high school, college, and post-graduate years the idea of “loving the process” is the single greatest piece of advice I received. This advice details the need to appreciate the growth in the pursuit of aspirations rather than simply accomplishing a goal as means to an end. I also believe “loving the process” is intimately tied to finding meaning and motivation in your own life.

I recently read a book written by holocaust survivor Dr. Viktor Frankl, titled, Man’s Search for
Meaning. The book describes his observations as he survived three years in infamously horrendous
Nazi concentration camps. Aside from his descriptions of the atrocities committed, Frankl goes on to
discuss how humans find meaning even amidst terrible circumstances. Essentially, he concluded humans find meaning in three facets:

• Work – pursuing life goals.
• Love – caring for others.
• Suffering – showing courage through adversity.

Upon finishing this book, I noted the similarities between the mindsets that my coaches instilled in me
and Frankl’s description on finding meaning. In conjunction with Frankl’s three facets of finding
meaning, the ideal of “loving the process” means:

• Appreciating the meaning that work provides and finding gratification in getting your hands

dirty along the way.

• Understanding the significance in caring for others and embodying the value of, “being a

servant.”

• Realizing there is meaning in suffering and persevering through adversity.

Why should we care?
A life devoid of meaning and motivation is a passionless affair characterized by aimless pursuits of
simple amusement. I like to think of the drunken sailor analogy. A drunken sailor wanders in different
obscure directions ultimately ending up somewhere near where he began.
Establishing meaning and motivation helps provide direction so you avoid ending up like the drunken
sailor on an aimless path of simple amusement.

Action Steps
What did my coaches instill in me that made me “love the process,” not only applied to sports but life
too? There are two factors that immediately come to mind:

Hatred for Laziness: Ever since my time with Centerville Basketball I find that lazy habits
and low ambitions leave a terrible taste in my mouth, especially when I realize them in
myself. I believe my coaches did an incredible job at helping me form a habit of
continual self-reflection. That way I can quickly notice and change lazy habits.

Genuine Gratitude: “Be Thankful” was one of our core values as a team and the coaches
did an exceptional job at instilling gratitude in us. This is a necessity when finding a love
for the process. I need to be thankful I am of capable mind, body, and spirit to pursue
my goals. Also, giving gratitude to mentors in my life is a necessity. Without the
guidance of influential people, my achievements so far would have been impossible.

Garrett Fisher graduated from Centerville High School in the Class of 2015 and then attended the University of Alabama. In May of 2019, he graduated college with a degree in Chemical and Biological Engineering. Garrett currently works at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in a lab that researches topics on tissue engineering. In July of 2021 he plans to begin medical school.

For more information on building excellence in your teams, visit us at www.bluecollargrit.com. 
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