The Motivation Question
I think it's been five years since I first started pondering the motivation question. It all started, as many things did, with a conversation in the orchestra room at my high school. That orchestra room has housed a lot of random conversations over the years. I've heard everything from depression and suicide to improvised rap battles. When I was attending orchestra we talked healthy eating, personalities, principles of morality and chastity, family divorces, and so much more. If you stuck around long enough you heard just about everything.
The day we talked about motivation was much like any of the other days. It was lunch hour and the usual students were in their usual places eating, playing around on instruments, doing homework, or sleeping. One of my good friends looked up from where he was practicing and said to my dad (the orchestra teacher), "I can't figure it out. A little while ago I was super motivated to practice. I spent hours working my technique exercises and was super attentive to small details about my musical performance. Now I'm not. How do I get that motivation back?"
I'll never forget what my dad did. He laughed. His big, jolly, but slightly melancholy laugh. He then said, "let me know when you figure it out. I can teach almost anything. I can teach principles of a good life, I can teach styles of good practice, I can teach musicality, kindness, and effort. The one thing I can't teach is motivation. And that's the one thing everyone wants. If I could teach motivation I wouldn't be teaching orchestra. I would have written a book and I'd be famous. I'd love to know if you ever find the answer."
It's been five years since that conversation and three years since I've seen that friend, but I haven't forgotten the motivation question. What is motivation? Where does motivation come from? Most importantly, how do I become motivated? I've pondered this question on and off ever since. At times when I'm most motivated and forward moving I ask myself, "Why?" Am I doing anything different that lends itself to more motivation? In moments of stagnation I question what I did to lose the motivation I had, and then I wonder how to get it back. Year after year, cycle after cycle of motivation and stagnation with no secret to motivation in sight.
I kept trying. Kept searching. I started watching other people. I would analyze their apparent levels of motivation. I would compare their actions or thought processes (via what they said) to mine, and try to determine if there was a major difference between what I did when I was motivated compared to what they did when they were unmotivated. Was either party doing something the other wasn't?
Still nothing.
The question came up again last week. I was sitting on the couch in a state of stagnation. I was staring out the window wondering where I could gain motivation. Hoping and praying with all my unmotivated might, I sent out a vain plea for the answer to motivation. Nothing. Well, except for my dad walking in, looking at my situation, and telling me that I could either sit and get nothing done, or I could do something, aka. yard work. Neither option sounded great. I grumbled to myself and finally dragged myself outside.
Would you know, I had a pretty good time outside. I decided to "create dirt" and felt rather like a chemist as I combined various manures with some ashes to make a fertilized and nutrient dense mixture for the flower bed. Proud of my work, I went out the next day, and the next, and the next to keep making dirt. You ain't never smelled nothing as good as that dirt smells.
The time outside gave me plenty of time to ponder motivation. I certainly wasn't motivated that Wednesday when I started my project, but I was definitely motivated to finish my homework and get outside the next three days. Where'd the motivation come from? I couldn't figure it out. But decided to roll with it. At least for now.
Fast forward to today as I finished my final psychology assignment. I love my psychology professor. His classes were eye-opening, thought provoking and insightful. On his final powerpoint slide for the entire semester was this statement: motivation is fleeting; self-discipline is eternal and essential.
That's when I knew I'd found the answer I'd been looking for. The secret to motivation. . . is that there is no secret to motivation. Motivation is unrealistic - a fantasy. As a child you're told that motivation is everything! People who succeed are motivated. They've got something, some passion that drives them onward to success. Wrong. Motivation isn't magical and it isn't innate. In reality, motivation is merely the blessed byproduct of self-discipline. Successful people do have something! They have the discipline to drive themselves on even when they've lost the passion. And in the process of pushing themselves forward, disciplining their actions despite their emotions, they find motivation (aka. the pleasant, happy, successful feelings that make self-discipline worthwhile). Motivation doesn't precede action, it arrives at some unanticipated time after you've already begun. And it doesn't come for a job poorly done, it comes when you're performing to the best of your ability.
It's time to stop believing the lie that success is easy and that doing good things will always feel good. It won't. Yes, it's nicer to be doing things when you're feeling happy and successful - when you want to be doing them. But I've started to realize that feelings of negativity and stagnation aren't inhibiting my progress, they're signaling me to start progressing again. I think it's time to view unmotivated and depressed moments as wake-up calls to start doing more, working harder, and living again.
The blessing of that sort of faith and discipline is the motivation to continue.
The day we talked about motivation was much like any of the other days. It was lunch hour and the usual students were in their usual places eating, playing around on instruments, doing homework, or sleeping. One of my good friends looked up from where he was practicing and said to my dad (the orchestra teacher), "I can't figure it out. A little while ago I was super motivated to practice. I spent hours working my technique exercises and was super attentive to small details about my musical performance. Now I'm not. How do I get that motivation back?"
I'll never forget what my dad did. He laughed. His big, jolly, but slightly melancholy laugh. He then said, "let me know when you figure it out. I can teach almost anything. I can teach principles of a good life, I can teach styles of good practice, I can teach musicality, kindness, and effort. The one thing I can't teach is motivation. And that's the one thing everyone wants. If I could teach motivation I wouldn't be teaching orchestra. I would have written a book and I'd be famous. I'd love to know if you ever find the answer."
It's been five years since that conversation and three years since I've seen that friend, but I haven't forgotten the motivation question. What is motivation? Where does motivation come from? Most importantly, how do I become motivated? I've pondered this question on and off ever since. At times when I'm most motivated and forward moving I ask myself, "Why?" Am I doing anything different that lends itself to more motivation? In moments of stagnation I question what I did to lose the motivation I had, and then I wonder how to get it back. Year after year, cycle after cycle of motivation and stagnation with no secret to motivation in sight.
I kept trying. Kept searching. I started watching other people. I would analyze their apparent levels of motivation. I would compare their actions or thought processes (via what they said) to mine, and try to determine if there was a major difference between what I did when I was motivated compared to what they did when they were unmotivated. Was either party doing something the other wasn't?
Still nothing.The question came up again last week. I was sitting on the couch in a state of stagnation. I was staring out the window wondering where I could gain motivation. Hoping and praying with all my unmotivated might, I sent out a vain plea for the answer to motivation. Nothing. Well, except for my dad walking in, looking at my situation, and telling me that I could either sit and get nothing done, or I could do something, aka. yard work. Neither option sounded great. I grumbled to myself and finally dragged myself outside.
Would you know, I had a pretty good time outside. I decided to "create dirt" and felt rather like a chemist as I combined various manures with some ashes to make a fertilized and nutrient dense mixture for the flower bed. Proud of my work, I went out the next day, and the next, and the next to keep making dirt. You ain't never smelled nothing as good as that dirt smells.
The time outside gave me plenty of time to ponder motivation. I certainly wasn't motivated that Wednesday when I started my project, but I was definitely motivated to finish my homework and get outside the next three days. Where'd the motivation come from? I couldn't figure it out. But decided to roll with it. At least for now.
Fast forward to today as I finished my final psychology assignment. I love my psychology professor. His classes were eye-opening, thought provoking and insightful. On his final powerpoint slide for the entire semester was this statement: motivation is fleeting; self-discipline is eternal and essential.
That's when I knew I'd found the answer I'd been looking for. The secret to motivation. . . is that there is no secret to motivation. Motivation is unrealistic - a fantasy. As a child you're told that motivation is everything! People who succeed are motivated. They've got something, some passion that drives them onward to success. Wrong. Motivation isn't magical and it isn't innate. In reality, motivation is merely the blessed byproduct of self-discipline. Successful people do have something! They have the discipline to drive themselves on even when they've lost the passion. And in the process of pushing themselves forward, disciplining their actions despite their emotions, they find motivation (aka. the pleasant, happy, successful feelings that make self-discipline worthwhile). Motivation doesn't precede action, it arrives at some unanticipated time after you've already begun. And it doesn't come for a job poorly done, it comes when you're performing to the best of your ability.
It's time to stop believing the lie that success is easy and that doing good things will always feel good. It won't. Yes, it's nicer to be doing things when you're feeling happy and successful - when you want to be doing them. But I've started to realize that feelings of negativity and stagnation aren't inhibiting my progress, they're signaling me to start progressing again. I think it's time to view unmotivated and depressed moments as wake-up calls to start doing more, working harder, and living again.
The blessing of that sort of faith and discipline is the motivation to continue.
Comments
Post a Comment