peltkore (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} peltkore) wrote,@ 2006-08-27 13:51:00 |
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A Lesson On Motivation
Of all the many subjects of interest to me, one of them is human nature and psychology, especially motivation. If we learn more about why we make the choices we make and what motivates us to do the things we do, we can have more control over ourselves and our future, no? Also, we can understand what makes our fellow humans act the way they do.
One of my personal motivational problems is something I call static friction. It's the problem where I face a large, daunting, complicated task and I think to myself "ah, I think I'll start on that next week" or "I think I'll work on something simpler and more fun right now" and the large task keeps getting pushed aside. In physics, static friction is when a massive object has inertia and a lot of energy is required to put the object in motion. However, after the object is in motion, less energy is required to keep the object in motion and momentum takes effect. Yes, the same principle applies to psychology, too. :-)
So, I searched online for motivational guides and I found a really good resource here written by some really insightful people at the University of Texas at Austin. After browing through it a bit, I found some really interesting concepts and so I decided to go through the entire thing and do all the excercises. It was amazing what I discovered about myself. It's rather interesting how you can sort of stumble through life without realizing WHY you go in the directions you go. This instruction guide totally answered my questions about why I make the choices I make with just about everything that I do in my life.
Some of the concepts that helped me get better control over my mind and my actions included the following:
If this sounds interesting to you or you feel discouraged about accomplishing your goals in life or you are like me and you just have trouble getting to work on your goals, I highly recommend that you go through this instructional module and DO ALL THE EXCERCISES. It is geared toward college students, however it's quite simple to apply the concepts to work, hobbies, family life, and many other areas. And feel free to email me if it helped you or if you'd like to discuss anything! (peltkore at peltkore dot net)
Of all the many subjects of interest to me, one of them is human nature and psychology, especially motivation. If we learn more about why we make the choices we make and what motivates us to do the things we do, we can have more control over ourselves and our future, no? Also, we can understand what makes our fellow humans act the way they do.
One of my personal motivational problems is something I call static friction. It's the problem where I face a large, daunting, complicated task and I think to myself "ah, I think I'll start on that next week" or "I think I'll work on something simpler and more fun right now" and the large task keeps getting pushed aside. In physics, static friction is when a massive object has inertia and a lot of energy is required to put the object in motion. However, after the object is in motion, less energy is required to keep the object in motion and momentum takes effect. Yes, the same principle applies to psychology, too. :-)
So, I searched online for motivational guides and I found a really good resource here written by some really insightful people at the University of Texas at Austin. After browing through it a bit, I found some really interesting concepts and so I decided to go through the entire thing and do all the excercises. It was amazing what I discovered about myself. It's rather interesting how you can sort of stumble through life without realizing WHY you go in the directions you go. This instruction guide totally answered my questions about why I make the choices I make with just about everything that I do in my life.
Some of the concepts that helped me get better control over my mind and my actions included the following:
- Keep a journal and take notes about your motivation toward the things you do.
- Make sure the choices you make in life are YOUR choices.
- Make sure your goals are challenging and realistic and view them as specific and measurable.
- Create short-term 'enabling' goals to help conquer your long-term goals.
- Don't blame uncontrollable factors when you fail; only blame controllable ones.
- Focus on internal motivation and only use external motivation to suppliment the internal.
If this sounds interesting to you or you feel discouraged about accomplishing your goals in life or you are like me and you just have trouble getting to work on your goals, I highly recommend that you go through this instructional module and DO ALL THE EXCERCISES. It is geared toward college students, however it's quite simple to apply the concepts to work, hobbies, family life, and many other areas. And feel free to email me if it helped you or if you'd like to discuss anything! (peltkore at peltkore dot net)
