Self-discipline it is not 10 So we called a staff meeting and decided to run a series of evening workshops to motivate people to come along and keep coming – we wanted to capture that unusual animal in our business, the membership renewal! As the budding psychiatrist of the group, I was expected to introduce the core concept of motivation.‘ No problem,’ I said naïvely. We managed to get a venerable motivator and author to come and talk, along with a former professional footballer turned sports psychologist. The presentation team was rounded out by a marathon-running psychiatrist. So off I went to the library to research motivation. Familiar with the power of a university library, I said to myself,‘ This’ ll be easy; just pull out the wisdom of the great minds of the world along with the latest research and deliver it in a tight, entertaining, one-hour talk’. At first I thought that I must have been using the wrong search terms, but after two hours of digging through the databases it was dawning on me that there was no controlled research into the area of what motivates people to keep up their exercise routine. This was not going to be easy at all – in fact it was a disaster. I had put my hand up to do something that I knew nothing about and my only plan for procuring expertise was in tatters. It was Larry who finally gave me some material. He was a top-notch computer salesman at the time and had just attended a sales training seminar. He told me this story that I later used in the gym’ s motivation workshop: Two salesman, Bill and Bob, have to make an early morning, out of town call. It’ s the middle of winter and to make the sales visit they have to be up at 5 a. m. Bill wakes up and thinks,“ My God it’ s cold out there( as he lies warm and snug in his blankets) and I have to get up into that cold bathroom with its cold floor and when I get out of the shower it’ s going to be cold … and it’ s so warm here in bed. I can make the visit another day” – as he turns off the alarm and goes back to sleep. Not far away Bob wakes up to his alarm at 5 a. m. He thinks,“ My God it’ s cold out there( as he lies warm and snug in his blankets) and I