Motivation Miner
The Boons of Practice, and their relationship with Motivation
Sometimes a fire emerges from deep within the self, a hunger, a desire, a need. One cannot help themselves but be lost in the fervor. Hours rushing by in minutes, time becomes irrelevant. Basic human needs become irrelevant, replaced by only the need of the fire. As quickly as it comes, the fire fizzles out in the same flurry it came in with. Motivation, its a mythical beast.
How does one go about capturing and taming this creature?
There is no way that one will capture the spontaneous motivation, or at least the probability is very low. If one wants to capture this beast it will take rigorous practice. You love something, you want to be the best, you want it to be your life and career, then practice everyday, and publish your practice for criticism and feedback. Everyday practice will build tacit knowledge, criticism and feedback are catalysts for reflection, and reflection will result in improvement. I write and publish an essay everyday, even if the day is horrid and the essay worse I will still write it, do my best to make it as great as I can, and publish it. I have written more essays I despise than essays I like, I do not love a single essay I have written so far but I know I am getting better. But why? Why am I doing this? Why this zeal? My goal is to write a fictional Epic, a great Epic, something I can be proud of. I have tried writing it many times since I was thirteen. After a few pages, the spontaneous motivation would escape. Thus, after years of failure two realizations were made. First, motivation is practiced regularly. Second, practice allows for experimentation and experimentation prevents burn outs.
The first step is the most crucial, the moment you feel that spark, that hunger set a standard, a ritual, regular practice. Determination drives motivation. These essays are my daily practice, my determination, to achieve the goal of writing an Epic. The Epic will be written slowly, over time, with many revisions. Thus, the daily essays help build tacit knowledge and allow reflection; it is these daily gains which will make the Epic something to be proud of. Practice is where growth is made, the final product is magnum opus of the practice leading up to it.
Practice allows for experimentation, working on one idea for too long will burn a person up. It will bore someone eventually regardless of passion. Humans are creatures of change, we require it. Changes in diet, changes in ideas, changes in surrounding, it help a human grow and develop. It provides satisfaction to an extent. Thus, in practice one can test new ideas or create an original. Practicing and perfecting through experimentation leads to healthy changes, and growth. Furthermore, it is fun. The most fun is in experimenting in one’s passion. To grow one’s passion, to achieve a goal, one must be willing to experiment. Practice is the lab for experimentation, it is the source of real satisfaction. It is the coals of the fire.
This essay exists to motivate me, it is my coal. If it inspires you, great. But each person must find their own coal, one must mine deep within the self to acquire it. My coal is of the high quality for my fire, but my temperature, and environment is different from yours. Your coal is best suited for your fire, so go mining. Mine deep, mine with bravery, there will earthquakes and you will get buried. But be an immortal and keep going. As long as a person is on this earth, they are immortal within themselves, an immortal miner digging for the gems which exist in depths of self. Motivation is coal, coal which burns the torch which allows a mine to go deeper, and find the diamonds. Good luck miner, go deep, do not stop, take risks, jump into the chasms, and never come back up. Keep digging, you immortal, keep digging.
