Forum Moderators: mack
My goal is to free myself of all financial restraints through self-motivated action, and as I approach that goal the process by which I grow closer to it has become apparent to me. I will describe it here for anyone who has not yet learned to reflect or still lacks enough experience to reflect upon. There is insight that may help you speed up the process for yourself.
About two years ago I became dissatisfied with my 9-5 'job' and decided that a life spent in mediocrity is a life that didn’t matter much. I believed I would never be satisfied in a position where I did not have absolute creative control and the ability to set my own pay. The first thing that sounded fun was real estate investing so I handed in my resignation and moved 2000 miles to begin real estate investing with an old friend. I found that I did a little bit of work but not much - I just couldn’t get motivated. The money alone was not enough. It took me a good 8 months of squirming to realize this and to move on to something else.
So.. I knew I needed to be the supreme commander, to set my own pay, and that real estate investing wasn’t interesting enough, so the next best job I could think of was inventor. I spent the next six months living off my savings and spending hours and hours a day happily working in an attempt to create something unique and profitable. I finally decided to build a remote control ball, get a patent and then launch the product. Well, as soon as I put down the thinkers cap my motivation hit rock bottom again - I loved the thinking and creating, but I loathed the technical writing, patent litigation, time and complexity of building a prototype, financing and marketing of the product. It took me a good 6 months to realize that this wasn’t it either and move on again.
So.. I then knew that I needed to be supreme commander, to set my own pay, and that I have infinite motivation for learning and creating new things. My next idea was to become a webmaster and follow the money - so I chose p0rn. This one only lasted 3 months before my conscience was screaming at me to stop so I moved over to mainstream and started over with a fresh understanding that positively contributing to my fellow man is important.
The point of this post is to help you recognize that a lack of motivation is not always a result of laziness or weakness - but can also stem from not having enough passion for what you are doing. I made the transition from one profession to another only by choosing the "Next best profession that sounded fun" and this naturally led me to better and better choices as I progressed. It wasn't until today that I looked back and realized how logical that progression really was. The main reason I would linger for so long in each endeavor was because I didn't want to be "someone who didn't finish what they start". True, forcing myself through the earlier projects would have eventually led me to my goal, but I would have been as miserable doing them as I was at my day job before I even started!
The money simply isn’t enough of a motivator for many of us; we need to enjoy what we do. So if you are currently banging your head against the wall trying to force yourself to work on your sites then take one step back and a get a bigger picture of what you want. Decide what is sapping your motivation and change your strategy accordingly before wasting too much time. When you hit another wall repeat the process again and slowly you will adjust your profession to fit you as a person and not only will the motivation flow in abundance, but you will absolutely love what you do.
Fribs
The main reason I would linger for so long in each endeavor was because I didn't want to be "someone who didn't finish what they start".
I agree with you... no reason to be there. If a project looks like it won't work out, I drop it and move on. I've started a ton of things I haven't finished for a variety of reasons. That just leaves me time to hammer on things that are working.
Some of the things I haven't "finished" sit in limbo as back up plans. The problems aren't always unsolvable, but sometimes just a matter of where my time should be spent at *this exact moment.*
