Motivation

It took three days to write this post. I knew I wanted to do it on motivation; ever since we watched JFK's inaugural speech. You know the one: "Ask not what your country can do for you..." It just didn't happen, though. I couldn't get myself to sit in front of the keyboard long enough to concentrate.
I don't really have an outline, but that wasn't the problem. There are times when you don't feel up to a task for whatever reason. You wrestle with it in your mind- you know it has to be done, or maybe it doesn't, like this post. I do it because it's good to put things through the wringer and see how you really feel about them, but I don't get paid. It's not an assignment for some school. It's just for me. But let's pretend it is critical for some reason. Often, that only leads to procrastination. We go from a "I'll get to it when I can" mentality to a "Geez, I know I have to do it, but it can't wait a little longer" mindset. We hit the snooze button, so to speak.
Right, so we watched JFK's speech. It was interesting. He posed America in a stance of moral responsibility. Americans had been through hard times, but we were rebuilding. We had an obligation to protect freedom wherever it was. I felt I was watching the beginning of the movement that has lead us into Iraq and Afghanistan. It's funny how we can proceed from defending others to an aggressive stance to implement democracy in the name of freedom. We no longer defend it where others have cried out for it, we've come to see it as a necessary component to anyone's life- even other culture's citizens.
It's even funnier that the result is that we've lost some freedoms here in the pillar of of our ideology. I've talked with at least one person who won't travel to the US for fear of having personal possessions ceased (like a notebook), or being detained for looking suspicious(he's German). That's not so far fetched considering the announcements in airports, railway stations, and even on the L to watch for suspicious items or behavior. An outsider could rightly be alarmed by that, yes? If we knew Japanese, and that's what we heard over the loudspeaker, wouldn't we be inclined to take it at face value? Yikes.
The impetus to write about this versus the sloth in action hit me personally, however. It was never the right time when I felt like writing. It was this big task waiting for me that was only there to instill some sort of regimen to my writing. I want to write about something else, I just don't know what. I want to do just this one thing before I start ,and THEN I 'll get it done. These all sound like whiny excuses; procrastinations; lazy to some. But I'm not lazy, I just work differently.
A fellow student remarked a few months ago that he was surprised to find that he wasn't lazy when there was something he felt like doing. We were taking classes designed to open our creative floodgates. I've felt the same. There are times when I've focused for almighty hours to get something done, such as putting together an adventure for D&D, and not realized that I'd just worked the entire day. At the same time, I (and I presume this classmate) have been programmed to think of ourselves as poor working performers due to this reliance on motivation. We should be able to get things done regardless of inspiration, I've been told. Work ethic is something that is present or not- it's all very cut and dry.
I'd contend that this is untrue. I think to little emphasis is placed on motivating people to do what needs to be done, or on finding someone who is motivated by doing a task, rather than finding someone who is motivated by the money they would make doing the task. I know this sounds like I'm repeating things we all know if already true. I feel that it is forgotten, though. Often.
Most of the damn time, in fact.
I read an article just this morning that contends that schools teach people how to be workers rather than creative thinkers. I agree. That's carried over into the workplace, as well. I don't know how often I've heard ( and used) the phrase "You're being paid to do this" as justification for a task. What kind of motivation is that? What kind of leadership is that? I've also scoffed at articles that I've come across that say the new generation of worker focuses more on being catered to, than previous workers. I thought, "We must have a bunch of self-centered jerks coming into the workplace and I don't want to work with them".
I'm starting to see the nuance between the two, though. I think maybe, just maybe, you can have a responsible adult that gets their work done with that attitude. I don't think it's too much for the American Worker to show up to work and say "I need to be motivated. I'll work harder and better if you give me that."
I'd like to be that worker. I'd like to hire that worker- provided they know what motivates them. If they're a product of our current schools and reply that money motivates them, I'd be skeptical, but if they said nearly anything else... yeah, I'd hire 'em.