Motivation

Motive:  Something (need or desire) that causes a person to act. Motivate:  To provide with a motive. Motivation: the act or process of motivating.

I looked these words up to find out their actual meanings. Initially, I didn’t realize that motivate or motivation had anything to do with motive. I always thought that motive mainly dealt with things like a motive for murder. Apparently, what I need then is a motive to get myself off my derriere and doing something. It’s hard to come up with a motive that will result in my having the motivation do get something done, or at least something that has meaning for me.

For more than 50 years, motivation was not a problem. I was motivated by a pay check and the benefits that entailed. My job motivated me to get out of bed each morning. Paying off the mortgage and monthly bills provided motive. A trip to Kenya or China provided motivation to continue working. Being able to shower the grandchild with anything she desired was a well-earned result of employment. There wasn't a dearth of desires or reasons to keep on keeping on.

The truth about that motivation, however, is that it wasn't self-driven. It was driven by the paycheck, my boss, family, friends, bills that needed to be paid, etc. In addition, there was another huge and very important factor with regard to motivation...having your boss, co-workers, other individuals tell you how wonderful you are, how irreplaceable (we all know that's not true from the get-go), how talented, clever, smart...place the complimentary adjective(s) of your choice here.

Now, I do laundry, vacuum, dust, cook, grocery shop, etc., all the things one needs to do to live a life. The motive for all of these is easily understood. I don’t want to live in a filthy house, use paper plates, or make and eat food that isn’t especially good. These are things that have to be done just to live life and are also all things I did while employed. Once these are accomplished, and I used to do the majority of them on a Saturday/Sunday, I now have lots of free time to utilize as I choose.

What's lacking here is the reward. No one's going to give me a paycheck...or even a thank you...for doing the regular every day things that need doing. No one's going to pat me on the head and tell me how wonderful my garden looks, how my writing is akin to that of Barbara Kingsolver, how walking must be rewarding because I look so slim, or provide any kind of praise for any project I take on and complete.

So, without reward, is it possible to be motivated?  Yes, I enjoy gardening, but I don’t like doing it in the cold, rain or hot sun, and no one really pays attention anyway. Plus, it’s a never-ending process. Yes, I enjoy writing, but most of the time when I return to what I’ve written, my inner judge looks at it and deems it garbage…isn’t that what the delete key is for?  Yes, the shadow boxes I filled with pins and broaches I've collected and will never wear again look terrific...on my bedroom wall where no one sees or comments on them.

The truth is that I have to provide my own motivation. In an effort to do this, I've begun making lists. What's different about these lists is that I begin anew each Monday. The first items on the list are the ones from the previous week that did not get done and are marked with an asterisk(s). Then I list what's to be done for that day. Under the Tuesday heading on Tuesday, I list items that I should do that day. I continue through the week doing this for each day. On this week's list on Monday, "dust" is listed with three asterisks after it...this means it's been carried forward three times. Guess I haven't found the right motivation for dusting yet.

If you're newly retired, do you have a problem motivating yourself to get stuff done? Tell me about it. Do you have any ideas or methods to share that might increase my motivation...am going to have to dust sooner or later...looks like way later right now.