Motivation and Why You Shouldn't Seek It

Just so as not to surprise anybody who might be sensitive to talk of suicide, it’s in this
also a little bit of a bitter boy today so… :woman_shrugging:

Today, in this post, I will try to hopefully convince you that the question, “How do I get motivated to do [fill in the blank here]?” Is a death sentence for your productivity.

First and foremost, I am not motivated at all to write to you, dear reader, I’d even go further as to say that right now I’m considering not writing one more damn word… I’ve had one hell of a week, dealing with broken people trying to understand and process deeply rooted pain in their lives. Mental health is no joke as I’m sure you are aware, and I’ve had to clean up after them as best as I can, and I’m paying for it. I’ve acquired a, clearly stress induced illness that manifests itself by vomiting anything that enters my body, as well as passing out randomly or just falling over all the damn time. But I got to hang with the girl of my affections yesterday, and it was pretty great… so, I can’t be too mad.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I only tell you this so that no one can say I’m motivated to write a stupid post about the insidious nature of seeking motivation.

So with all that lovely context out of the way, we can get on with the subject at hand.

To “begin” I’d like to address the person asking such as filthy question, this lust for motivation burns deep inside all of us. I get it, you want it, I want it. But the fact of the matter is, we shouldn’t have it, without some blood, sweat, and tears first of course! :slight_smile:
Do you think you can just magically drum up motivation with a special incantation?! If that was a possibility, so many people wouldn’t be so furiously mentally masturbating in order to achieve the ecstasy that is raw motivation!
I’m absolutely disgusted, this perversion of perseverance, in a world where entertainment and instant gratification is so rampant, that someone would want to also commodify motivation. If i hadn’t already ejected everything my stomach was holding, I would be doubled over the porcelain throne, retching my heart out right now!

Regardless of what those shitty self-help books will tell you, motivation is not something you can just call upon at will, or wish into existence… Let me ask you, honestly, how much time have you wasted seeking out motivation to do something? Now let me ask you another… How much could you have done with that lost time?

I’m going to go out on a limb and say, that for most of us, the answer to the latter question is that of, well, we could have probably completed whatever task we set out to in that time, with exception to larger projects of course.

Now I have a suggestion if you will, how about instead of seeking motivation… you just start.
I don’t care how much you don’t want to do it, I don’t care if it’s the most boring thing imaginable, I don’t care, and neither should you. Because here’s the thing… you start doing something, even just a little at first, you do it for a few days even, and you will eventually start feeling motivated. If you want to make a game for example, but you have no motivation to, just start coding, drawing, writing, designing, etc. You will eventually see something that will spark your interest, and motivation will flow, as it takes shape, you will get excited. and clean your room regularly, change those sheets, it does wonders for the mind

Motivation is not something that will always come easily, motivation is often like a jilted lover, overcome with jealousy seeing you with another.

There’s this idea that many espouse, this idea that if you aren’t loving what you’re doing, why do it? This is naive, as it makes them weak to burn out, depression, external/internal factors that seem to drain all the energy out of life, etc.

I have a buddy who’s a cop, he works for our county’s Sheriff dept., he recently was recounting how he went looking for, and found the body of a teenager who superman’d off a cliff, suicide over grades. Something told me he wasn’t too motivated, or interested in marching through the deep and dangerous snowy mountainous terrain for what was left of a person, or the subsequent visit he paid the family of the poor soul. Yet he did it anyway, because he wants to, not exactly motivated, but if not him, and his fellow officers, who would do it? But as he told the story, he said despite the fact he didn’t want to be out there in the bitter cold, he felt (could be said, he was motivated) to find the kid after a while, staying out in that environment much longer than most would.

I apologize for how fractured this probably is, I’m exhausted, hopefully this was helpful to someone.
I don’t have time to write much in the day, so this is the best you’re gonna get at this time in my, fairly hectic life, so i apologize if it lacks polish. :slight_smile:

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The solution I propose is always

Which I think is what you’re getting at.

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The policeman example is I guess the distinction between a sense of “motivation” and a sense of “duty”. There are some things that we feel we are obligated to do, as if we are “duty bound”.

Motivation is required for us to do things that we do not feel bound by duty to do, but wish to do for one reason or another.