Where Does Your Motivation Come From?

When you're on the path, finishing your last mile, struggling to put one leg in front of the other, wavering as your feet lose feeling, where does your motivation to keep going come from? When your eyes are hazed over, barely able to concentrate on anything but the blinking cursor two feet from your face, fighting off outside distractions like a stalking feline, desperately trying to put intelligent thoughts into an project, where does your motivation to keep going come from? When you're cycling through pages of ads, flipping over digital cameras and half inch wide TVs, watching your future living room pass by, but donating your last free $100 to a charity, where does your motivation to keep going come from? When the traffic continues to build, row after row pour away from their work stations, the cleaning crew skips your cube, and you sacrifice dinner with your family to finish a report, where does your motivation to keep going come from?

There are hundreds of moments that you encounter throughout any given day that require various amount of motivation. And the motivation at each of these occurrences might draw from a different well. The severity of these will-testing moments is comparable to the depth of the will.

And so we spend our time fighting these battles, figuring out what burns inside of us and where it burns to successfully conquer the obstacles, pressures, and decisions that we choose to make with our lives. For something that takes focus, energy, patience, and certain amounts of determination, there must almost always be a decision, a source of the movement you have begun. So at the end of the day, why have you made this decision? What is your motivation?

I am guilty of proclaiming the human need to 'live in the now.' I find an unbelievable amount of satisfaction from the ability to step back and appreciate every breathing moment in my life. To be inspired by the insignificant and being amazed by the mundane. I have belabored the idea of this being a fulfilled life. That looking to the future only blurs the present. In fact, in Cuz You Gotta Have Goals... "Life can't be lived only looking forward or only looking back. The present is an amazing place to be." It is clear that I agree with this idea. So why bring this up? While watching a documentary on ESPN about Andres and Pablo Escobar (I recommend), I heard this quote:

"I find motivation in the good things to come."

In a similar perspective, the person that wants to go on a diet must look farther ahead than the present. If you're on a diet, but only care about today, well then you probably won't pass up that last doughnut at work. And if you're only thinking about the present, you probably won't sacrifice time with your family for a few extra hours in the office. And if you're only thinking about the present, you probably won't stay in to write instead of heading out with your friends. There is something to be said about the work you put in now. So while I don't want to discourage anyone from driving towards a goal, I think the only way to balance that drive is to make the goal attainable.

I still emphatically believe that there are dangers in wanting too much, and dangers in always being content with what you have, but if you believe that what you do every day can yield positive, life altering results, it's hard to argue against it. Just make sure the motivation you so desperately depend on is fueled from the right source. Misguided passion can leave detrimental pollution.