Sometimes it's hard: to do the things we said we would, the things we promised we would, the things we want to do. First there are the other things we've been meaning to do, then the distractions, the excuses, the other-other things we've been meaning to do. Finding motivation can be a difficult task, especially with social-media-sharing so popular. That's why this essay is late.

Unfortunately, motivation is an elusive creature... more of a rock, really, because once found it's usually pretty hard to keep with you or shape into something meaningful. For that reason, I'd suggest searching for a goal first; they get passed around faster than your 80-year-old grandmother in her Model T Ford. Most goals are fleeting, but with some focus, you can stop reading for a second, find a pen and paper and write one or two down. If you're still struggling at this point, your goal should be to accomplish finding a goal... yes, that's it...write it down...

Goals can be big or small (like people, giraffes, and mistakes), but it's important to make them reasonable. If you "smoke weed erryday" you're definitely not going to outswim Michael Phelps in the... ok, that's a bad example, but you get the point. Shooting for the moon with the idea that at the worst, you'll end up with the stars is an awful idea. Do you know how much space there is in SPACE?

I dare you to try...

With a reasonable goal in mind, you have to move on to the difficult part: discovering a source of motivation. Some people pray, listen to '80s movie monologues, and spend lots of money on multiple self-help books. I usually choose to work a nightshift on an assembly line for a few nights to get my motivation really pumping; it makes me appreciate how easy it is to write that 6 page lab report. Ultimately though, that doesn't always do the trick. If you're having trouble thinking forward, try thinking backward.

I find this works particularly well in the context of sports or fitness. Anyone that has competed has achieved a peak experience where everything just seemed to happen the right way for them. For most, there's also been someone better or another level of competition that could be reached. These things weren't even on your radar then, you were tunnel-visioned on the win that day, but looking back, you know there was someway you could have done better, moved on to that next level, dropped that extra hundredth of a second. That's where I find my motivation: Within lost potential. No matter how you view the future, the past is gone, irrevocably passed. Are you willing to have another memory you later realize is steeped in squandered potential?

If you can't find the motivation you need after that, you may need to rethink your objective. Motivations  should drive us to our limits. It's there that we must begin our the difficult part.



Editor's Note: Although not in formal essay form, this does count towards my weekly essay promise, as it began in true essay form. The second to last paragraph is all that remains of said essay. I found the topic more interesting to approach with the perspective of humor as inspired by the Sum 41 video linked below. I really encourage clicking all the links...