Motivation Revisited

 

Motivation is a recurring theme in this blog.  How to rev it up?  How to sustain it?  How to take advantage when it peaks.  How to compensate for the inevitable valleys.

Sure, there are motivational quotes, aphorisms, allegories, and any number of thesauric synonyms for quotes.  These can be put on wall posters or cards you can carry around in your wallet.  The can be kilned onto coffee mugs or etched onto any number of desktop tchotchkes.  We can look at them every day.  We can make a ritual of reading a favorite one or several of these each morning over a first cup.

Of course, not all these quotes and aphorisms appeal to everyone.  It is personal.  I know there are probably people who don’t need such things to fuel their motivation.  These lucky folks are naturally centered, rooted, and their motivation is embedded in their philosophy and lifestyle.  Are they everywhere?  Or are they unicorns?  It matters not.  I can say with great certainty that I am not one of these folks.  My motivation flows from peaks to valleys of random heights and depths with the duration of each peak, valley, and the times between them being even more random. 

Motivation and procrastination, at least for me, go hand in hand.  I have developed a deep rooted well-refined habit of procrastination, putting things off, and postponement.  I want to say that I am really good at it.  My motivation comes from waiting until as late as possible to get something done.  When is the last possible moment I can start a task or assignment, work furiously, and get it done on-time.  I see the same in most of my students.  We have trained ourselves to get stuff done with the intense focus and adrenalated frenzy of organized chaos that is bred from chronic procrastination. 

This modus operandi works for most work-related tasks; the short term kind that with deadlines of a few days, a few weeks, or even a month or two.  It is not good for long-term, multi-year, tasks, or projects.  This explains in part why project management is not for everyone.

I recently ran across a great motivational quote on Facebook.  It was not attributed to anyone.  It really resonated with me. 

In 6 months, you will have 6 months of excuses, or 6 months of progress.  The choice is yours!

 It is so… obvious.  It is a huge duh!  It is the Nike slogan:  Just do it.  It is a sort a rephrasing of the well-known Yoda adage, “Do or do not. There is no try.”  It is self-determination.  It is dedication.  It goes hand in hand with another core belief of mine, “Knowing never equals doing.”  I am, after all, a way better knower than doer.

Will this new motto or tenet, this 6 month challenge thing, be the motivational catalyst that helps me master long term planning and achievement of goals?  It makes me think of another core belief:

The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what we want for what we want at the moment. - Suprina Berenyi

 I am not sure another quote will result in the transformation.  It does add to the knowledge base… but there is still the doing.  We will see at the end of 6 months and in day-to-day increments until then.