In the morning, when you wake up, why do you get out of bed? Why do you go to sleep? In between, why do you eat, and why do you work on all your classes and extracurriculars? In short — what drives you to keep doing?
I feel like there are two things, roughly speaking:
- Physical needs. Our desire to eat and sleep comes from our body. If our body did not need to eat or sleep, then we most likely would not do so.
- Working toward a goal. We want something in the future, and therefore we act. For example, we want society to accept us, so we brush our teeth, and we want to be judged as intelligent, so we work on our classes.
This is a rough outline — if you have more precise notions, feel free to comment. I will not here talk about the first item, physical needs, instead focusing on the second item, working toward a goal.
There must be a reason for your actions — why you are reading this post, why you are walking from class to class, why you meet with your friends. If you completely lose that reason, say while walking, you will fall on your knees and decide never to eat or sleep again, due to the meaninglessness of it all, lying there as passers-by continue to be driven by their own reasons. If this has not happened to you, you must have something that drives you.
What is your reason? Do you want to get a job? Go to grad school? Become a doctor? Cure cancer? Help poor children? Help rich children? Do you not have a reason? Are you just working because working has become a physical habit as well?
My opinion is that in order to understand detachment and karma yoga in the Bhagavad-Gita, it is vitally important that we ask ourselves this question. It is philosophical, and you might call it a “meaning-of-life” question, but it has immense practical benefits — once answered, it is an infinite wellspring of motivation. Take 5 minutes and write down one thing that motivates you.
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I thought a great deal about motivation over winter break when I was at home. It seems that every time I go home, I loose that “edge” and “motivation” that I have when I’m at school. Maybe it’s just the atmosphere or maybe its because I’m exhausted. Either way, apathy comes at home.
Why is keeping yourself motivated so important? The biggest key to motivation is simply remembering your goals and keeping them in the back of your mind 24/7. This doesn’t necessarily mean that every action you take has to be the “means” to a greater “ends.” The problem arises when you lose contact with these goals, even for a little while. Loosing sight of greater purpose can easily push you off the narrow and unstable path. So how do you keep yourself on track? How can you generate that constant self-motivating energy? Well, one way is just to keep a journal or simply a list of goals that you read every morning and night. People have different mechanisms – some meditate, some write in blogs or journals, while others have it very much internalized. Everyone has their own methods.
I know its cliche to say “I want to make a difference in this world,” but what is life without ‘making a difference?’ What is the purpose of life if you can’t bring something to this world? Human beings live to solve problems and create a better world. Is a life without goals any life at all? Pleasure is fleeting, yet satisfaction of achievement is what drives people the most.
For me, its learning more about this complex world and my place in it. Nothing seems to make sense at times. There are few certainties and many ambiguities. Yet, life goes on. Scholars try to make sense of this ubiquitous complexity, but in the process, they can complicate it even more. What motivates me is figuring out what I want to do. In this search, simplicity has eluded me. What’s your story?
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