Tuesday
Nov152011
Motivation, Inspiration and… that third thing…
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 10:29PM
Last week, someone got me started thinking about motivation. I’ve never been easy to motivate. I’ll motivate myself, but even then it’s tricky. What motivates me? I’m still not sure. Grades never motivated me growing up. I got mostly good grades because I’m smart and I found a lot of things easy to get good grades in. That’s not to say that I found the actual subject matter easy. Too often the subject is complex, while the test is easy.
When I was in high school, I didn’t find the need for a good school to be motivating. I really didn’t think I wanted to go to Harvard or Yale. I met the kids that wanted to go there and they didn’t seem like my kind of people. After seeing The Social Network, I still think I’m right. I didn’t do a lot of extra-curricular activities in high school to get into a good school, I didn’t do much of anything after school, because nothing the schools had really interested me.
Interest is a big motivator for me. That’s probably higher on the list than money. If something doesn’t interest me, then what’s the point of dealing with it? Why would I work so hard on something that doesn’t stimulate me? That seems like a waste of my time and anyone else’s that’s involved. But there’s more to it than that. Most of what surrounds us in this world is the act of creation. Whether it’s actually creating something like this sentence, or creating a PowerPoint presentation, or creating the need for someone to buy a product, most of what we do in this world is create. And what do we need for creation besides motivation to get us started?
Inspiration. It’s what drives our creativity after we get involved in a project. It keeps the thing from dying on the table and for me it’s probably the biggest motivator there is. Interest will help me start a lot of things, but inspiration is the only thing that will get me to finish any of it. If it feels like work, I don’t want to do it, but if I’m inspired to keep going, then I’ll finish it. If I know where the story is going or that I’m on the right path approaching the end when everything will fit together in a perfectly formed puzzle, then I’ll just keep plowing on to finish the thing.
Especially if it’s writing. I fucking love writing. I’m constantly scribbling notes, or coming up with ideas and phrases that never make it to the page. (I shudder to think about all the things my mind has lost to distractions.) It’s because I’m passionate about writing, about creating stories and tales, about creating a history of things in one world, so that it makes sense in ours. For years, I tried to figure out where this passion came from. Sure my parents tried to get me interested in books. My mom tried the hardest. My dad was never a big book reader, but he’s a fantastic storyteller. He has a story for almost every occasion and he can tell you just the right about of detail. He does it in such a way that you can’t help but lean a little bit closer to him as he talks. I don’t think he consciously thinks about his delivery, but it’s his natural talent. His storytelling merging with my mom’s love of the written word, can’t help but create an child who has a passion for storytelling through the written word.
Well, maybe it can. I suppose I could have been a more rebellious child and hated both stories and books. But then where would any of us be?
My point is this: Passion is something you’re born with. It’s hardwired in your brain. You may not know right away what your passions are, but they’re in there. The second you stumble upon them in life, the fire will be sparked and everything else will fall into place.
I had someone ask me how they could light the fire in a group of people and make them passionate about their work. I didn’t have an answer. I still don’t. I’m beginning to think there isn’t one because no one else in the group had a real answer. If I had to answer, I’d say that you can’t. Passion is something you’re born with, not something you can teach. I’m not even sure you can’t inspire people. You can try, but it might not work. The most you can do is motivate people and hope that a small piece of it will inspire them. You can hope they will have the passion for a project, but they probably won’t. The most you can do is motivate them. Unless it’s me. In that case, good luck with that.
When I was in high school, I didn’t find the need for a good school to be motivating. I really didn’t think I wanted to go to Harvard or Yale. I met the kids that wanted to go there and they didn’t seem like my kind of people. After seeing The Social Network, I still think I’m right. I didn’t do a lot of extra-curricular activities in high school to get into a good school, I didn’t do much of anything after school, because nothing the schools had really interested me.
Interest is a big motivator for me. That’s probably higher on the list than money. If something doesn’t interest me, then what’s the point of dealing with it? Why would I work so hard on something that doesn’t stimulate me? That seems like a waste of my time and anyone else’s that’s involved. But there’s more to it than that. Most of what surrounds us in this world is the act of creation. Whether it’s actually creating something like this sentence, or creating a PowerPoint presentation, or creating the need for someone to buy a product, most of what we do in this world is create. And what do we need for creation besides motivation to get us started?
Inspiration. It’s what drives our creativity after we get involved in a project. It keeps the thing from dying on the table and for me it’s probably the biggest motivator there is. Interest will help me start a lot of things, but inspiration is the only thing that will get me to finish any of it. If it feels like work, I don’t want to do it, but if I’m inspired to keep going, then I’ll finish it. If I know where the story is going or that I’m on the right path approaching the end when everything will fit together in a perfectly formed puzzle, then I’ll just keep plowing on to finish the thing.
Especially if it’s writing. I fucking love writing. I’m constantly scribbling notes, or coming up with ideas and phrases that never make it to the page. (I shudder to think about all the things my mind has lost to distractions.) It’s because I’m passionate about writing, about creating stories and tales, about creating a history of things in one world, so that it makes sense in ours. For years, I tried to figure out where this passion came from. Sure my parents tried to get me interested in books. My mom tried the hardest. My dad was never a big book reader, but he’s a fantastic storyteller. He has a story for almost every occasion and he can tell you just the right about of detail. He does it in such a way that you can’t help but lean a little bit closer to him as he talks. I don’t think he consciously thinks about his delivery, but it’s his natural talent. His storytelling merging with my mom’s love of the written word, can’t help but create an child who has a passion for storytelling through the written word.
Well, maybe it can. I suppose I could have been a more rebellious child and hated both stories and books. But then where would any of us be?
My point is this: Passion is something you’re born with. It’s hardwired in your brain. You may not know right away what your passions are, but they’re in there. The second you stumble upon them in life, the fire will be sparked and everything else will fall into place.
I had someone ask me how they could light the fire in a group of people and make them passionate about their work. I didn’t have an answer. I still don’t. I’m beginning to think there isn’t one because no one else in the group had a real answer. If I had to answer, I’d say that you can’t. Passion is something you’re born with, not something you can teach. I’m not even sure you can’t inspire people. You can try, but it might not work. The most you can do is motivate people and hope that a small piece of it will inspire them. You can hope they will have the passion for a project, but they probably won’t. The most you can do is motivate them. Unless it’s me. In that case, good luck with that.
Reader Comments