What’s the motivation?
I started thinking about what it is that makes someone stay in research. Is it the overwhelming successes you have? Is it the sense of accomplishment one feels when they get a clone that isn’t useful? What is it that makes scientists go to work day in and day out to fail? What other job is mostly failures? I’m not sure why any of us keep doing it.
I do know why I started in research. The illusions of grandeur; finding a treatment or a cure, knowing you helped someone, or a major scientific discovery. Now I’ve been in science awhile (not nearly as long as hbogerd) and most would say that I’ve been fairly successful(again not as successful as hbogerd). I haven’t cured anything and probably won’t but I do have my own projects and a fair number of decent publications.
I guess lately I’m questioning why I’m doing this. So, my question to you is: what is your motivation to keep plugging away at things that don’t work most of them time?
October 16th, 2005 at 11:17 am
Some people do it out of stubborness, others just for the challenge, and many because they feel the job has to get done regardless of how many failures one runs into.
Just think of the doctors and nurses that specialize in terminal care. These people work knowing the outcome will always be the same, but they keep on doing it regardless. I have one neonatal pediatrist and one neonatal care nurse in my family and both of them have spent their professional lives surrounded by really sick newborns, many of which don’t make it out of the hospital. Yet they keep on doing it.
October 16th, 2005 at 11:32 am
I do it because I like taking things apart and finding out how they work. The ‘wow, look at that’ factor plays a part too. Science is a vocation, not a job. Maybe I’m addicted to the pain; I can’t help myself.
Despite all the failures and disappointment there’s only one other thing I’d really rather do for a living and that pays even less securely than doing science.
October 16th, 2005 at 7:03 pm
How To Motivate Yourself When You Feel Like Quitting
Okay, I admit it, some days I feel like quitting. I just can’t seem to get motivated to do the simplest things. It seems there’s a wall in front of me that is just too high to climb and too strong to break down. Writing another paragraph or making the next phone call is somewhere on the other side of that wall. I keep telling myself, “Just go over the wall and pick up the phone.� But every time I look at the wall it seems to be getting higher and stronger. Have you ever felt that way? When you are in that position you have two choices – quit or find some internal motivation that shrinks the wall down to a manageable size. There are techniques to developing internal motivation. Different ones work better for different people and different ones will work better for the same person at different times. So experiment and find the ones that work best to provide your own internal motivation.
Here are some that have worked for me.
Count your blessings. I know it sounds a bit corny. But one of the key reasons we de-motivate ourselves is we are focusing on our problems. We all have some problems. Problems are good. They keep us thinking and make us stronger. But focusing on our problems will weaken and de-motivate us. Instead, focus on your blessings. I have a beautiful wife and wonderful daughters. I have my health and a good intellect. I enjoy my home. I have hobbies and interests that I enjoy doing in my free time. I even have some free time. Pretty soon I get embarrassed that I was feeling sorry for myself and couldn’t motivate myself to get my job done.
Remember why you are working towards success. It’s important to know why you want to succeed, because if you don’t have a strong, motivating reason to succeed, you just won’t. You will just do your 9-5 and be miserable. So why are you working at this job anyway? I hope you love your job. You enjoy the people you work with, and you believe that your effort and your company’s vision are making a positive difference in the world. If this is true for you, count that as one of your blessings. But, of course, that is not necessarily true for everyone. You may just be working because you need the money. If so, you will need to turn that into a positive instead of just a neutral. Perhaps you and your spouse are saving for your first house. Or you’re setting money aside for a family vacation. Money can’t be an end in itself. You’ll be miserable. Open a small savings account and name it Family Vacation or Kid’s Braces or whatever will motivate you to work hard to succeed. Work towards something beyond paying the bills.
Turn up the music. Can you listen to the theme from Rocky and not get motivated? How about Star Wars? Music has long been recognized as a motivator. Many lines of work have created their own style of music. The negro spiritual gave hope to the otherwise hopeless slave in the cotton field. The sea shanty provided rhythm to sailors manning capstans and working sails. Without music many tasks would be unbearable or undoable. I love many styles of music, but certain genres of music get me going. I love blue grass to make me feel good and keep going. Somehow, for me, it can turn a blue day into a good day. You may have favorite songs that motivate you. If you’re at work, put the headphones on and crank it up. Go ahead and whistle while you work.
Promise yourself a reward. What is it you need to do? Make 50 phone calls a day? Review 20 resumes? Write 10 proposals? Most of our jobs are measurable by tasks. Identify those tasks promise yourself a reward when you have completed them. Be careful here. Don’t keep promising yourself food as reward or you get fat. Set short term, mid term and long term goals and identify rewards for meeting each goal. Set a two hour goal, then, if the weather is nice, reward yourself with a ten minute walk outside. Set a weekly goal, then, reward yourself by stopping on the way home and buying a new CD of motivational music. Set a monthly goal, then, reward yourself with a gym membership. If you have picked the right rewards, you will have no problem motivating yourself to reach your goals.
We all have issues with motivation from time to time. I hope you find these techniques helpful in overcoming your obstacles and keeping yourself moving towards your goals.
http://www.MotivationToday.net
October 17th, 2005 at 2:38 am
I like this one better:
http://www.despair.com/stup24×30pri.html
October 17th, 2005 at 9:32 am
Ed, any suggestions on motivational CD’s? (other than blue grass or sea shanty’s)
October 17th, 2005 at 9:52 am
Okay, I’m sitting here as bdoehle and hwiegand sing the X-rated sea shanty “Barnacle Bill the Sailor” in a sad attempt to motivate themselves. I woke up today and the sun was shining, so shake off that gloomy mood and remember that “Today is the first day of the rest of your life “or maybe, just maybe “Today is the worst day of the rest of your life”! Think about it sunshine-things just HAVE to get better!
Or perhaps this old story will shake you out of the gloom and doom! I felt sorry for myself because I had no shoes until I saw a man that……damn, I can’t remember the rest of it. Nevermind.
Hey, at least I’m not flipping burgers…………..but wait, maybe if I actually talked with that guy behind the grill he’d say “Hey, it is really groovy flipping burgers. I make people happy and I go home and completely forget about my job and just enjoy life.”
So sing that sea shanty while the bossman cracks the whip. It is all good. Everything works. No more science failures. Cell, Science, Nature! Rah rah rah!
Don’t you feel better already?
Musical motivation: unlisted track 9 from Life’ll Kill Ya, an overlooked CD from the late great Warren Zevon.
October 17th, 2005 at 11:14 am
I’m not sure if I would call it motivation or not but watching hbogerd jump around to the theme from Rocky and climb up on the centrifuge was well worth it! At the very least it brought tears to my eyes.
October 17th, 2005 at 12:36 pm
my motivation is watching hbogerd play with a whoopee cushion. Are those vegan farts hal?
Editors note: hbogerd denies being a vegan, dating a vegan, marrying a vegan or farting like a vegan.
October 17th, 2005 at 2:32 pm
Motivate this:
We Can’t Make It Here Anymore
James McMurtry (with a little commentary on George Bush’s America)
Vietnam Vet with a cardboard sign
Sitting there by the left turn line
Flag on the wheelchair flapping in the breeze
One leg missing, both hands free
No one’s paying much mind to him
The V.A. budget’s stretched so thin
And there’s more comin’ home from the Mideast war
We can’t make it here anymore
That big ol’ building was the textile mill
It fed our kids and it paid our bills
But they turned us out and they closed the doors
We can’t make it here anymore
See all those pallets piled up on the loading dock
They’re just gonna set there till they rot
‘Cause there’s nothing to ship, nothing to pack
Just busted concrete and rusted tracks
Empty storefronts around the square
There’s a needle in the gutter and glass everywhere
You don’t come down here ‘less you’re looking to score
We can’t make it here anymore
The bar’s still open but man it’s slow
The tip jar’s light and the register’s low
The bartender don’t have much to say
The regular crowd gets thinner each day
Some have maxed out all their credit cards
Some are workin? two jobs and livin? in cars
Minimum wage won’t pay for a roof, won’t pay for a drink
If you gotta have proof just try it yourself Mr. CEO
See how far 5.15 an hour will go
Take a part time job at one of your stores
Bet you can’t make it here anymore
High school girl with a bourgeois dream
Just like the pictures in the magazine
She found on the floor of the laundromat
A woman with kids can forget all that
If she comes up pregnant what’ll she do
Forget the career, forget about school
Can she live on faith? live on hope?
High on Jesus or hooked on dope
When it’s way too late to just say no
You can’t make it here anymore
Now I’m stocking shirts in the Wal-Mart store
Just like the ones we made before
‘Cept this one came from Singapore
I guess we can’t make it here anymore
Should I hate a people for the shade of their skin
Or the shape of their eyes or the shape I’m in
Should I hate ‘em for having our jobs today
No I hate the men sent the jobs away
I can see them all now, they haunt my dreams
All lily white and squeaky clean
They’ve never known want, they’ll never know need
Their shit don’t stink and their kids won’t bleed
Their kids won’t bleed in the damn little war
And we can’t make it here anymore
Will work for food
Will die for oil
Will kill for power and to us the spoils
The billionaires get to pay less tax
The working poor get to fall through the cracks
Let ‘em eat jellybeans let ‘em eat cake
Let ‘em eat shit, whatever it takes
They can join the Air Force, or join the Corps
If they can’t make it here anymore
And that’s how it is
That’s what we got
If the president wants to admit it or not
You can read it in the paper
Read it on the wall
Hear it on the wind If you’re listening at all
Get out of that limo
Look us in the eye
Call us on the cell phone
Tell us all why
In Dayton, Ohio
Or Portland, Maine
Or a cotton gin out on the great high plains
That’s done closed down along with the school
And the hospital and the swimming pool
Dust devils dance in the noonday heat
There’s rats in the alley
And trash in the street
Gang graffiti on a boxcar door
We can’t make it here anymore
October 17th, 2005 at 10:15 pm
Motivatin’ ? Ask Chuck Berry!
As I was motivatin’ over the hill
I saw Mabellene in a Coup de Ville
A Cadillac arollin’ on the open road
Nothin’ will outrun my V8 Ford
The Cadillac doin’ about ninety-five
She’s bumper to bumper, rollin’ side by side
Maybellene