Day 131 of writing every day.
There’s no question that motivation plays a big role in everything we do in our daily lives. Some things ask next to nothing of us to do and yet we will avoid it like the plague. It’s the things that we care about that motivate us to do things no matter how easy or hard it is.
Goal 1 for me in this series is waking up early. When I was working, there was little real motivation to get up early after weighing the costs and benefits. Work was draining and companies all expect you to work or be at the ready while on the clock. I’d rather get as much sleep and rest before being forced to endure hours of tedium that was work where the only breaks were a brief lunch and quick trips to the restroom.
The motivation to get up early and be productive existed, but countering that motivation was a greater force more centered on surviving the stress of the present up until a month ago. With work no longer a factor in my current schedule, I’m free to use a lot more time however I choose to. But therein lies the issue of sustaining motivation to do what I need to versus what I want to, which at times is nothing or nothing that’d get me closer to my next career goal.
Motivation in the Form of Peers
Many working adults just don’t have people they meet regularly outside of work that’s not hobby related. When it comes to learning a new skill, some schools offer a wide variety of courses and the chances of just getting to know people for social interaction are next to nil. Working and studying alongside others helps me stay motivated because the physical presence of people alone has an effect on my psychology.
It’s easy to study on my own when I’m focused and not limited by the start and end of the classroom periods, but what sustains this focused is part training, genetics, and motivation.
I have the goal of finding a new job compounded with a career change that is more than enough to motivate me to study. The problem after some self reflection is the habit formation part (literally just training in a sense) needed so that I’m not in constant need of motivation to be pushed to commit timeslots dedicated solely to studying without distractions.
Automation of certain behaviors saves a lot of energy spent to get over the motivation hurdle that has to be cleared to get yourself to do something. If I can automate the focused studying behavior, things would be a lot easier, but I’m not a script that can be changed by changing a few lines in a text editor.
It’s not something I think will happen overnight, but with steady build up, the motivation to just open up my computer and get learning rather than be distracted with everything else in my room (that’s slowly but steadily getting cleaner) will happen. I just have to find what works for me and get rid of what’s not working for me in this learning journey.
Thanks for reading!
One Chance Works 