Finding motivation

Brenna wrote:

rugadd wrote: Motivation comes and goes. Cultivate discipline.

I felt like this deserved a double post.

This reminded me of a quote by one of my favorite authors

"I don't wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get down to work." - Pearl S. Buck

I too struggle with finding and maintaining motivation. Thank you for creating this post. I'm sure others will benefit from it as well.

Motivation as spiritual enthusiasm or religious inspiration can be invoked. Depending on the religion, the divine can be symbolized as either Muse or Holy Spirit . That said, in other religions, the divine source is not always or necessarily 'outside' a person. The divine presence is felt and from this experience an author can proceed to write. Even so, the enthused or inspired person must be prepared to fulfill the divine imperative. A good example is Apology by Plato about the source of Socrates motivation to do philosophy.

Practically speaking, I encourage my college students to develop a personal discipline of scheduling a time and place to do the required reading and writing. Success in college has less to do with how smart a person is and more to do with how disciplined they are. Motivation can be internalized as a developed habit, and so then practiced like any other skill.

Alan wrote: Motivation as spiritual enthusiasm or religious inspiration can be invoked. Depending on the religion, the divine can be symbolized as either Muse or Holy Spirit . That said, in other religions, the divine source is not always or necessarily 'outside' a person. The divine presence is felt and from this experience an author can proceed to write. Even so, the enthused or inspired person must be prepared to fulfill the divine imperative. A good example is Apology by Plato about the source of Socrates motivation to do philosophy.

Practically speaking, I encourage my college students to develop a personal discipline of scheduling a time and place to do the required reading and writing. Success in college has less to do with how smart a person is and more to do with how disciplined they are. Motivation can be internalized as a developed habit, and so then practiced like any other skill.

In following the traditon of this thread i feel this also deserves a double post/i.e. its worth reading twice

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one." Mark Twain