What drives you? Is it intrinsic (internal) motivation or extrinsic (external) motivation?
For reasons unknown to me, I've been giving this some personal thought, as of late. Perhaps it is the unfathomable tragedy in Haiti, a friend who is experiencing unsettling physical symptoms, a course I'm taking, concerns for those closest to me? I do not know where the impetus for this reflection is being generated but it certainly has been a positive exercise in looking at my own motives for just about everything I do..........vacuuming and litter-box cleaning excluded.
I'm confident that I know how to motivate others. After years of educating people both under and over the age of eighteen, the instinct of how to encourage others has been well and oft exercised. Self-motivation and encouragement though? That is another matter.
I am aware of how I am motivated by others. Being a fairly simple personality, it does not take too much to 'trip my trigger', 'boil my broccoli', 'ring my bell', or 'knock my socks off'. A touch on the shoulder, a smile sent in my direction, a knowing look passed between two friends, a hand-written note, the sound of the vacuum sweeper that I did not start, a ringing chord from any musical group I direct, a fresh pot of coffee that I did not make, coffee and conversation with a friend, sharing a meal with friends, being with my children, holding my grandchildren...........all of these can exact an external and internal smile from me.
However, back to the matter of self-motivation because I am still seeking to wrap my mind around this concept.
I'm trying to move away from food as a self-motivator, although there is little better than a fine piece of chocolate.........or anything with chocolate in it.........my exception being breakfast cereal with chocolate in it. That never did appeal to me. Well, there is one exception. 'Puppy chow'....is a snack recipe that includes both breakfast cereal and chocolate that I would sit up for and beg, roll over, play dead, etc. During my teaching career, a few moms would put together baggies of puppy chow, tie them together with ribbons and send them as Christmas gifts to their children's teachers. You would have thought I had received the keys to the Taj Mahal! Puppy chow and a cup of coffee or tea? "You had me at hello."
As usual, these postings start out with a serious thought, one that might actually help me help mankind but they rapidly deteriorate into chocolate culinary discourse. I fear there is no help for me but through a twelve-step course for chocolate fantasizers.
Where are the Yellow Pages?
Ancora imparo
