During November, we put on our fitness trackers, and then we ran like Usain Bolt and cycled like Lance Armstrong (without the steroids, of course). Why? We wanted to raise as much money as possible for Kältebus München e.V. Positive side effect: an active lifestyle during this cold corona-home-office-time. As you’ll read in this blogpost, it turned out to be way more than just moving to donate.
MOVEmber: Raising awareness and giving to those in need
In the past couple of years, people have established November as a month to raise awareness or donations for specific causes. Likewise, at Motius we’ve always made sure to give back to those who aren’t as lucky as we are.
This year, we do it during November — we call it MOVEmber. The basic idea: the more steps Motees take and the more they cycle, the more Motius donates. In addition, on every weekend during MOVEmber, there was a challenge that, if conquered, would double the Motee’s donated amount for that day.
Together, we chose to donate to Kältebus München e.V., an organisation that provides homeless people with basic needs during winter.
Against all difficulties — highlights from MOVEmber week #1
It was just two days into MOVEmber that Motius co-founder Sören shared a piece of life-changing advice for the upcoming month.
Over the course of the month, this has led to countless invaluable calls with our families, friends and other partners in crime. Try it out for yourself!
But of course the first week wasn’t all puppies and kittens. Just one day later, Tech Specialist Sebastian had a near-death experience as he took up the MOVEmber challenge. His learning in his own words: “f*** this bulls***.”
That’s also what other Motees thought from time to time. Mostly it was due to physical exhaustion, sometimes due to missed goals. Take Mysara as an example. Sending screenshots of his tracked bike rides, he explained:
Then it was time for our first weekend challenge, the Gipfelstürmer challenge, in which we had to climb a summit and take a selfie on top.
Might not sound easy to you but here’s how Sören described the challenge: “Either a random summit in the alps or a Munich summit, i.e. the olympic park hill, the Nockherberg, the Luitpoldpark hill or the Monopteros.” Or the Monopteros. The Monopteros. Just in case you don’t know, the Monopterus is literally 15m high. In other words, becoming a Gipfelstürmer wasn’t too hard which meant extra money to donate. So, we started climbing summits.
While some went to climb proper mountains and show off their paragliding skills, others climbed whatever hill-like bump there was. One of us even climbed the Monopteros. Just have a look at all those beautiful photos.
Getting used to it — highlights from MOVEmber week #2
As the second MOVEmber week started, one thing became clear: we as Motees went all in. Just take Project Owner Marcel as an example. MOVEmber got him motivated to pick up running again. While that itself was a good idea, running in the pitch black English Garden at night without a headlamp wasn’t.
In fact, it resulted in our second near-death experience within two weeks because Marcel almost crashed into a sheep. No worries, we’re not gonna think about a joke for that situation — that would be to sheep.
Avoiding such risks, PT manager Lena simply made moving her morning routine. That did not just inspire fellow Morgenmuffel Motees but also her flatmate who, in her own words, “never was so energetic before 9am”.
With all that energy, it was time to move towards our second weekend challenge. Instead of climbing something, the second MOVEmber weekend challenge was all about walking around something — that something being a lake.
Powered by the beautiful autumn sun, we got outside, explored our surroundings and circled the Kleinhesseloher See, the Deininger Weiher, the Germeringer See and many more. Still being motivated by his almost-sheep-crash, Marcel even rounded two lakes on one day.
Embracing the challenge — highlights from MOVEmber week #3
As the third MOVEmber week started, one thing became clear: we began to embrace the challenge. We didn’t just make moving part of our daily routines, we also joined forces to enjoy moving together — all while enjoying the most beautiful places in and around Munich. Here are some impression of what that looked like in our Slack channel:
On another note, beware that “embracing a challenge” can be different from “enjoying a challenge”. We definitely noticed that some days were easier and some were harder. Oh, except for Sebastian — he had a hard time every single day.
But what matters here is that despite increasing pain levels, he managed to get in the steps every single day. With the third weekend ahead, it was also time for the third MOVEmber weekend challenge.
As small local businesses like coffee bars or restaurants struggle with the current corona situation, the challenge for the weekend was to support local businesses in our neighborhoods.
The challenge did not only support local businesses and get us moving but — as it turned out during the weekend — also revealed hidden gems. The best example for that is Marcel’s story:
Obviously, this example was just one of the many awesome experiences that Motees had at local businesses over the third MOVEmber weekend. Combined with the great weather in Munich, all the coffee, Glühwein, pizza and co. put us in perfect conditions to enter the last week of MOVEmber.
Finish strong — highlights from MOVEmber week #4
As leadership expert Robin Sharma says: “Starting strong is good. Finishing strong is epic.” So of course, our goal for the last MOVEmber week was to finish strong.
While the week flew by with Motees moving all around Munich, we were all seeking the last weekend challenge. Not a surprise, based on the post that Sören wrote to get us hyped:
What was the last challenge about?
Well, as we climbed summits, orbited lakes and supported local dealers, we noticed one thing over and over again: too many people do not care about their environment. According to their actions, they prefer the scenery on the side over the scenery below.
Right, we talk about waste. With the last weekend challenge, we wanted to do something about that. Obviously, we couldn’t clean up all of Munich by ourselves but we could all do our part to contribute to a cleaner city. So, we set out to move and collect as much garbage as we could.
As the photos show, we (unfortunately) didn’t face any difficulties in conquering the last MOVEmber weekend challenge — it was just too easy to find trash in nature.
Yes, we finished strong. And yes, this time finishing strong did not make us smile that much.
However, we don’t want to end this blogpost about our MOVEmber with a disheartening message. So before we wrap up, let’s enjoy the view that Flo and Marcel enjoyed during their sunset hike on Sunday. There’s no way you look at that picture without at least one second in awe of nature.
MOVEmber at Motius: more than just moving around
As we said in the beginning, the goal of MOVEmber at Motius was not simply to get us moving but primarily to give back to others. Looking back, here’s what MOVEmber taught us about giving back to others and how we reached that goal:
- there are at least a thousand ways in which we can give back to others — whether it’s a phone call, mental support, donations or something else
- small actions count and compound — nobody is perfect but supporting local dealers and collecting trash here and there do not harm us and have a great effect over time
- giving is better together — joining forces to give back to others is more fun, engaging and impactful than just doing it by yourself
Curious about the end results of MOVEmber? Stay tuned on our LinkedIn and Instagram next week to find out more. Until then, we wish all of you out there a very techie Christmas time. And don’t forget to keep moving!
