Ancora Imparo ([info]macabre_grrl) wrote,
@ 2008-01-06 19:56:00
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Current mood: stressed
Current music:The Briggs - Common and Unknown

techniques of motivation
This boy I've been hanging out with says the best way to motivate himself is to put himself in an impossible situation, where he's backed against a wall and HAS to find a way to dig himself out or face certain destruction. Then he has the most success.

I'm not sure how I feel about that. That sort of situation makes my brain lock up, not open up. I guess I haven't really tried that too much, but every time I came close to such a situation, I started doing bad things to myself.

I kind of feel like a loser for not responding well to situations like that, but what are you gonna do?

In spite of my good 2007, I am still in a rut of sorts and tired of having jobs that I am ashamed to discuss. There's a certain job I'm hoping to get. I'm kind of scared. I'm mad at myself for being scared, and I wish I was better at being ambitious.


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[info]lucky_otter
2008-01-07 02:07 am UTC (link)
Disadvantage to responding well to situations like that: not working well *outside* that situation. And being periodically exhausted from working long and hard to get a job done before it's too late.

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[info]macabre_grrl
2008-01-07 02:10 am UTC (link)
That's a good point and now I feel better. Basically, you're saying that it's not a very sustainable way to work?

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[info]lucky_otter
2008-01-07 02:32 am UTC (link)
Yes. It's also risky, since you have to wait for the last minute on projects, which could result in them being late, not good, etc.

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[info]lady_linton
2008-01-07 02:13 am UTC (link)
I don't think you should feel like a loser -- I definitely react more like you do in those situations than your friend. I have a lot of respect for people who don't become paralyzed by fear or overwhelmed by stress when faced with impossibly difficult situations, cuz I sure do. Unless someone else is facing something like that -- then I do OK at being level-headed and advising or helping out.

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[info]gypsyofmars
2008-01-07 03:59 am UTC (link)
The problem with girls like us is that we have all this wonderful knowledge that ends up being totally useless when pursuing a steady income.

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[info]macabre_grrl
2008-01-07 04:31 am UTC (link)
Ain't that the truth. Le sigh.

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[info]oldest_song
2008-01-07 05:34 am UTC (link)
Nothing to feel bad about - just different types of brain. There is absolutely no reason that what motivates someone else to excel should work in the same way for you.

In my experience, the "totally impossible situation" motivator tends to work well for stress-addict type ultra-A personalities or severely overanalytical "Problems exist to be solved! The problem must not defeat me!" types. If you aren't amped that high (and these personality types tend to go to 11), I'd recommend against it.

You've done a lot this year that you'd been meaning to do - moved out into the Geek Girl Apartment, quit the job that was eating your soul, etc - none of which was easy to do. Can you remember what it was that made you feel motivated enough to do those things?

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[info]macabre_grrl
2008-01-07 05:50 am UTC (link)
Blistering, long-simmering disgust! That's a motivator if there ever was one.

And while it's easy for me to tell anyone else the "different kind of brain" thing, it's also necessary to be reminded of my own advice, so thank you :-)

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