Motivation: Work Hard Vs Play Less

Motivation, or the art of getting things done is a subject that goes beyond simply telling yourself repeatedly to do something, and there are other factors involved such as psychology, upbringing, environment and peer pressure. There are numerous websites out there that claim that they can teach you how to be motivated and succeed in life, but they never question whether the motivation is right or suitable for the individual. These sites will motivate you to 'get rich' (for a one time fee), and they'll tell you how and what to do, although I doubt that they really work because such website prey on the vulnerable and the desperate whose minds are already open to suggestion - I suggest that one avoid these type of 'get rich motivation' schemes at all costs.

First of all, let's try to understand what motivation is. For a start, everyone is motivated, people are naturally motivated to pursue happiness, and happiness may be sought in various ways. The mistake is to believe that money is motivation, although money can be a by-product of motivation, money itself is just paper -what you do with the money can be motivation, although it shouldn't be because there are more ways to make money than one can possibly conceive of. If money itself were motivation then there would be many prostitutes standing on every street corner of the world, and some financial professions could be considered to be a type of prostitution.

When we were growing up, our parents and teachers will often tell us to 'work hard'. This is part of a global cultural meme that has been passed down generation to generation without questioning whether it is valid advice or not. There is a difference between 'motivation' and 'self-motivation', 'motivation' itself does not guarantee success (success in the sense of achieving one's goals), one needs to be self-motivated. If we take the example of the farmer and the workhorse who pulls the plough to cultivate the land, the farmer is motivating the workhorse to pull, and the workhorse works hard to do the farmer's bidding, yet left to its own devices, the workhorse would not have the self-motivation to pull the plough by itself, but would probably rather be relaxing and eating hay. This concept can be seen everyday in society, in our cities, where the workhorses are the office workers and the motivators are the bosses.

As I already stated, everyone is self-motivated, we're self-motivated to eat when we're hungry, we're self-motivated to explore, have fun, laugh, be creative. Most of these self-motivations are a natural part of being human, and everyone is gifted with these natural abilities. Think about that most things in life are quite pleasurable or fun to do, but we've been taught to separate fun and work, when actually, and ideally, they could become one and the same thing for everyone. Our educational systems teach us that we must 'work harder' towards goals that we don't want, we are like the workhorse who just wants to eat hay, but the farmer drives us forward with his riding crop, achieving his goals rather than our own.

So how do we begin to be self-motivated? First we must discover in ourself for ourself what we want. Usually the things we want most are those things that we pursue when we are not working, ie. our hobbies and interest, these pastimes that become the manifestations of escape from our tiresome work routines. I mentioned in the previous post, that I do enjoy writing, as much as I enjoy the sound of the keyboard when I tap the keys, it is a pleasurable experience for me - I'm also listening to music as I type this, all these factors combined, the writing experience itself is its own reward and therefore motivation for this piece. Some people may see this as hard work because it is not for them, others may think about it, and realize, 'hey you're right, I'm just as self-motivated to continue reading as you are writing!' - now we are beginning to establish a relationship here, and if everyone could alter the way they think about work, we could have a perfect and efficient society where everyone had fun and did their best work without feeling as if it hurt them.

Often than not, some of those things that require self-motivation may not be too pleasant to do, but they may be needed in order to fulfill our overall happiness plan. This is the most psychological part of self-motivation, and that is our perspective on how we look at things. Exercise is something that is essential to our lives as sleep to maintain our health, yet it is one of those things that many people find it hard to build up the self-motivation to even get started. How we change the way we look at something can often make all the difference. In the same sense as looking at deciding whether the glass is half empty or half full, we can apply that linguistic approach towards how we set our goals in our mind. Self-motivation exists as a constant stream of internal dialogue in our minds, and how it appears inside our head, is how we deal with it, and depending on our character, we can either see it as a challenge, a new experience or an insurmountable barrier.

The human mind has an internal dialogue, a debate rages on inside your head to decide whether you do something or not. You throw some words into the debate, like danger, or pain, and the question is quickly resolved. The brain usually responds to a little coaxing with words that it likes. If we tell ourselves to 'work hard' then for most people those two words immediately conjure up images of sweat, exertion and pain; instead, an alternative choice of words that could be just as effective are 'play less'. Instead of 'lose weight', how about 'gain confidence', 'stop smoking' becomes 'breathe more fresh air'. In order to convince ourself and others, we avoid using negative words or phrases, and replace them with positive terms.

Later on, I will go back to some of these topics like exercising, and cover them in more depth. The point I want to make, is instead of 'forcing' or somehow 'coercing' yourself into doing something, as many of these websites and books will teach you how to do, focus on what you want, and what you want to achieve. If you want to achieve a healthier body, and that is what you really want, the motivation to do that is already inside you, you just have to tap into it, and phrase it to yourself in the correct way, and it will be done. Also, self-motivation comes easily to the things you are interested in, turn your hobbies and interests into your job and earn money from it! You do them anyway, why not think of a way to turn that hobby into an investment, and get paid to do something you enjoy.

I will cover the topic of motivation again in the future. In the meantime, avoid those motivation websites and books, the only thing that they motivate is the author's bank account.