So let me start off by saying, I had no idea what to name this post. The redundancy in the name satisfied me in an estrange way. That being said and out of the way, I wanted to talk a little bit about motivation. Something that both blesses and plagues us all at one point or another.
I've talked about motivation before, but I've never written specifically about finding what drives you and gives you motivation. I find that there has to be a driving force to get your wheels turning, and once you get going, you can gain speed from the momentum you already have.
I've got a real world example of using momentum to keep yourself going. Almost two weeks ago a group of us went camping in Fall River, KS. Gorgeous place by the way, I've been going there since I was very young and is my favorite place to be outdoors.
Anyways, on this camping trip I was walking across camp, stepped off a rock wrong and rolled my ankle. Well up until this point I have been exercising 6 times a week for roughly an hour a day, doing mostly cardio. We finished camping for the last day or two before we were going to come home. Upon coming home I rested it the best I could. I could not walk on it, so my normal exercise routine which consisted of using a elliptical, was completely out of the question. I would not/could not risk hurting my ankle further than it already was. So I stayed off it as much as I could, which essentially left me a couch potato.
I was bugged daily by the notion that I should be exercising considering it had become such a large part of my routine. I was still carrying the momentum of that routine day to day. That momentum was still motivating me to do what I had done countless days before. A week passed, and my hope for a speedily healed ankle was depleted. I knew I had to refocus and find a way to do some longer sessions that would not use my ankle. I ended up buying a total gym off Craigslist fairly cheap a few days ago. With no excuses left, I have been back at it since the night I brought it home, literally just 2-3 days ago.
However, my momentum is gaining again. While at work today in my last hour or so I was excited to come home, knock out some applications and/or programming, eat dinner and get to exercising before bed.
Now lets get back to the original topic of the post. What is the driving force for your motivation? Or rather as the title suggests, the motivation for your motivation. None of us start out motivated. You don't just wake up one day wanting to tackle the world. There is always something behind it. You could be doing it for health reasons, a loved one, yourself, a pet, anyone and anything can be a valid reason to become motivated. As long as it truly drives you, and is not a fleeting experience or thing, it is valid.
Take mowing my backyard for example. Sure I highly prefer the way clean cut grass looks over an overgrown yard, but sometimes that is not enough motivation to motivate me to cut it and maintain it at a stricter level. My preference on how long my grass is, is not a valid form of motivation.
Now take the same issue of an overgrown lawn, but add the fact that I have three dogs that I love very much. I feel I have to cut the grass as that is their source of a restroom, exercise, and enjoyment. I feel that I might let them down if I let it get too wild. Therefore, I never let it get overgrown, and keep it within reason. You can tell when something is a true form of motivation when you are willing to do it even when it is literally the last thing you want to do.
Take a look at any problem you have in your personal life. Find motivation for your motivation. When things get hard, you get bored, want to give up, look at that long term goal, find that motivation to keep you going. In times when you feel like you can't keep going, rely on that momentum to keep the wheel moving, even if only a little, every little bit helps.
Trying to learn new technology stacks as a young developer I feel lost and all over the place sometimes. Even with a focus like JavaScript, how many libraries and functionalities can you conform out of JavaScript? The thought is downright daunting at first. I am getting to a point where no new library or functionality worries me. I've got enough momentum build that I know I'll make it work, learn it, apply it, and be successful.
I suppose I should end with what motivates my motivation to be successful. At times it sounds like a dream to give up on being successful. Play video games all day, never worry about exercise, just make enough money to scrape by and pay the bills, never set myself up for a better future. So...why don't I? I have a job where I'm well paid, I work a lot sure, but I am not challenged, its a fairly easy job as far as I'm concerned. What I have now is success by many others definitions.
I'll never have my dream job, I'm just too old. My dream job would involve racing, of any sort. I believe that would be the ultimate job, knowing I have to wake up and go race. At my age though that either takes quite a bit of financial backing, that I just do not realistically have.
I don't just stay at my job, come home and play video games, eat too much, drink too much, and be generally slothful because its just not me. I have tried to be genuinely happy at my current job. Though I enjoy the people I work worth, I am limited by the position I am in, and how our corporation is set up. I cannot be expressively free to learn and grow in the areas I want to. I have all but neglected most of my family working for a company that believed promotions came in the wave of hard work, you were judged by how much you got done, and not how efficient, or smart you were. The idea of being with a company that will reward me for the end result and not the path I used to get there motivates me.
In short, I want to build a better future for myself. My conviction is that I want to be successful. I've mention success several times in this post. The term "successful" is loosely said and extremely subjective. I want to be successful by my own definition. No one on this planet can tell me what success is in a way that would make me change my motivation and how I view things.
I hope everyone who reads this finds the motivation to their motivation, and builds up their momentum.
If you like to read, and can gain motivation from it, I have a book that is two fold for you. Not only will it lay out lines for how to ensure that you are successful at what you are trying to attain motivation in, but it will also ensure that you crush your original goal.
So many times we aim for motivation for a goal that we feel is attainable...we attain it...and then what? We become deflated. We have hit our target and now we are feeling left without a purpose.
Check this book out, and take a look at this author. His name is Grant Cardone. I really like the content he puts out.
Professionals like yourself that read my blog will really enjoy this book, and get a lot of value out of it.
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