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Self Motivation and How You Work

I just re-affirmed that I thrive in high pressure situations where the requirement to deliver is compelling and the problem being tackled complex. I feel most challenged and therefore more motivated to actually deliver.

This trait of mine I don't think is in-built (or in my genes). Rather I'd think it was a result of years of training starting from my elementary days -- where being exceptional was rewarded while mediocrity was shunned. In High School though, it was the competition in sports, the belonging in a band, playing a role, and the chance at leadership which branded its way into my personality. In College, it was about realizing potential and equipping myself with the necessary skills and knowledge to make it in the real world.

When I started working though, there were a few setbacks which caused me to look back at my life more than a handful of times. There were times when I was tempted to ask 'is this what it was all meant to be for?' or 'is this really what I signed up for?'. It was beginning to feel at one point that I was heading for inevitable failure.

Also at some point in my early career, I finally figured out that the setbacks were meant not to pull me down, but to allow me to learn through failure. These were opportunities for me to learn, and that's why I started looking at things differently. Suddenly, challenges were opportunities to be exceptional again, it was competition with myself, belonging to a bigger group, a chance at defining my role in an organization, and a chance at leadership once more.

There are things that you only learn when you start looking back -- this I think is why they say experience is the best teacher. Now getting motivated is a matter of thinking of challenges that will keep me interested as well as opportunities for myself to grow. That way I can be in a better position to be effictively able to affect others around me into getting motivated and be better as well in their own roles and situations. Continous growth and learning definitely makes for a good motivator.

At some point, I'll look back again and whatever happens and wherever I go, I'll see that I've made some good decisions and some bad ones and ultimately what matters is how I am motivated and how I'm going to continue to realize my potential. This goes not only for the work I do in my job, but also the work I do in my relationships, and the work I do in the communities I belong to.

Chill.

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