Monday Motivation, 5.10.2021

Written by: Brett Hawkins

Every Monday, The Rogers-Long Team meets for one of its two weekly meetings. The Monday meeting always ends with “Monday Motivation” in which a few minutes are spent listening to one team member presenting a quote, a quick reading from a book, a scene from a movie, or anything else they find motivating to provide a “spark” to the whole team on a Monday morning.

As I’m sitting down to write my Monday Motivation following hanging out with my mom and grandparents for Mother’s Day, my mind keeps going back to a word that I’ve been wrestling with for the past few weeks, and that word is “contentment”. The definition of contentment is “a state of happiness and satisfaction”. It isn’t an excited kind of happy, it’s a peaceful state of mind. It’s being satisfied with what you have, whatever that is. I’m starting to realize that one of the greatest characteristics you can develop as a person, is that of contentment. Of being at peace with what you do have in your life.

So how do we find contentment? How do we find this peace?

1. Practice gratitude – Contentment and gratitude are inseparable. A grateful person is one who has learned to focus on the good things in their life, not what they are lacking.
2. Take control of your attitude – You have to ditch the “I’ll be happy when I get ______ mindset. Remember that your happiness isn’t based on acquiring possessions, it’s based solely on your decision to be happy.
3. Break the buying habit – Material possessions will never fully satisfy the desires of our heart. They may make you feel good in the moment, but discontent will always resurface.
4. Stop comparing yourselves to others – There will always be people who appear to have a perfect life and better things, but I promise you their life isn’t as perfect as your mind makes it out to seem. Stop comparing the worst of what you know about yourself, to the best assumptions you make about others.
5. Help others – When you start being generous with your time, talents, and treasures, you will start being content. You’ll start to appreciate who you are, what you own, and what you have to offer.
6. Be content with what you have, never with what you are – Never stop learning and growing. Take pride in who you are, and how far you’ve come as a person. Contentment isn’t the same as complacency. Complacency is being unsatisfied with how your life is going, but choosing to do nothing about it. Remember this, as soon as you stop growing, you start dying.

What you need to know today is this, contentment is a choice. It’s not an easy choice, but it’s a choice nonetheless. It comes from mindset shifts, habit changes, and taking hold of your thoughts and actions. Are you satisfied and content with who you are? With your family? With your career? With your health? And if you aren’t, what changes do you need to make in order to achieve contentment in that area of your life?

Born in Fort Riley, Kansas but raised in Colonial Heights, Virginia, Brett is a graduate of Colonial Heights High School and Longwood University. After graduating from Longwood University, Brett spent two years on the west coast playing baseball for Independent Minor League Baseball teams located in Arizona, Colorado, and Washington. Following his baseball career, Brett became a Certified Personal Trainer. Brett was also a committed youth leader at his church and the opportunity arose for him to step into a role as Youth Pastor for the church in 2017. Brett served faithfully as Youth Pastor at his church for over 3 years (where he is still actively involved) when the door opened in 2020 to pursue a career in Real Estate. Having known fellow RLT team member Kaitlyn Gwaltney through playing baseball with her husband Matt in high school and college, Brett eagerly reached out to Kaitlyn to inquire about Hometown Realty and soon after he joined The Rogers-Long Team. In his spare time, you are likely to find Brett serving at a church event, playing softball, enjoying coffee at a local shop, or out exploring nature.