The Philosophy of Motivation
Motivation. What is motivation, where does it come from, and also, what is the physiology behind it?
Motivation means to move
Motivation, motus, motor, movement. Motivation literally means movement.
This is an interesting intervention, because, people think that they need motivation in order to do something. I say on the contrary, while you are doing something, you are motivated.
For example, let us talk the gym. People often think that you need motivation in order to go to the gym and to work out. However the hilarity is that once you are actually inside the gym, then the motivation will come to you.
This means:
Don’t seek motivation before going to the gym. Better to just be mindless, and to just drive to the gym, and then figure it out once you get there.
Let us remember the very wise Publilius Syrus saying:
The gladiator creates his plans once he enters the arena.
Note, “The gladiator makes his plans before he enters the arena.â€
Photo Motivation
This is also an interesting point, in regards to motivation in photography. A lot of us think we need motivation, in order to go out and make photos, etc. Photography is our passion. Yet, what gets in the way for us to pursue it?
My simple thought is that it is not an issue in regards to motivation. Rather, the critical issue is actually the fact that the equipment gets in the way.
For example, any camera that doesn’t fit in your front row pocket is not a good one. Why? It will obstruct your ability to go out and make photos.
This is why I am such a huge proponent of the Ricoh GR 3X digital camera. A camera which can easily fit in your front right pocket and always be with you, and not get in your way when you want to just quickly make a photo is good.
Motivation is a physiological thing
I am starting to think and surmise that in fact, motivation should be seen as a physiological phenomenon. That is, assuming that you sleep 8 to 12 hours a night, have a good digestion, have great posture, high testosterone, high mood, strong muscles in your body, and low body fat percentage, you will naturally be motivated, Without even forcing yourself to be so.
Why is it that we don’t take our bodies with rigor, respect, and seriously?
I still think that philosophers, thinkers, entrepreneurs, even like people like Elon Musk don’t understand the human body.
Why? This foolhardy notion that somehow, the mind can exist without the body. That the body is an afterthought, and that the mind is supreme.
In fact, the mind is just a fiction. The only real physiological thing we have is the body. The mind is simply an offshoot of the body, not the other way around.
Therefore, my simple intervention:
If you desire to be more motivated in your photography, creativity life and art, optimize your body.
How to motivate your body
After doing my epic eight plate at atlas lift for the first time, I slept like a god.
I think we must acknowledge that without a body, and without supple muscles and strength, there is no way we can motivate ourselves to do anything. For example, let us consider, if you only slept 30 minutes last night, or even worse let us say that you’re sleep deprived for 72 hours, will you have motivation to do anything? No.
Matter Over Mind
But isn’t there “mind over matter“? No.
Once again, let us assume that you only slept 30 minutes in the course of two weeks. Even if you had the world’s strongest mind-power and willpower, could you motivate yourself to do anything? Of course not.
Do not trust the sick animals
In modern-day times we have strange role models. It seems that we valorize people who run marathons, extreme long distances, endurance athletes, etc. Yet, as an example,
Inspect the bodies and the physiques of ultramarathon runners versus short distance Olympic sprinters. Who has the superior physique?
Ultramarathon runners, who run about 50 miles or maybe even 100 miles look like sick animals. If you inspect the short distance sprinters, they have the physique of gods.
I have never met a CrossFit athlete in real life who looks like a demigod
All these people Rich Froning as being a great example, but I’m sure he’s on the juice.
I think in theory, CrossFit seems like a good idea, but in practice and reality, I have never really met a CrossFit athlete in real life who actually looks impressive. Most people who do CrossFit don’t really even look like they work out.
Typically the only physiques I see in real life are bodybuilders, who have impressive physiques. Or, powerlifters who can lift really really heavy weights, squat and deadlift, typically have extremely impressive lower bodies and legs. But the issue with powerlifters is that most of them are either way too fat, or way too skinny.
I have never met a power lifter who has what I consider a demigod physique.
The reason why I bring up CrossFit and these kind of sports is that somehow, we see it as virtuous to churn out large amount of repetitions, and also to push ourselves beyond a point of exhaustion. Yet I consider this insanely foolish.
No more than one lift per gym session
The other day I went to the gym, and because I did my epic eight plate atlas lift the other day, and also attempted a very heavy rack pull, seven plates and a 10 a few days ago, I decided to switch it up and just do heavy farmers walk with the dumbbells, 150 pounder. It was a good workout, and I also got a really good hype and a good pump.
Then I think I did something kind of foolish, which was then, instead of just getting my ass out of the gym and back home, and focusing on more intellectual and creative and artistic endeavors, like blogging, writing, Vlogging, etc., I decided to attempt a floor dumbbell press of 120 pounder dumbbells.
My idea was because I was nice and warm from the farmers carries, that it would be a good idea to do the floor dumbbell press.
The reason why this was foolish was actually, extending my gym session for another hour, and actually exhausted me in a bad way. And also in the evening, around dinner time, I was profoundly hungry, we can tired, and felt faint. It was really a bad feeling.
Therefore, let it be considered as unvirtuous to spend perhaps longer than an hour at the gym, and also to do more than one lift per gym session as foolish.
Why motivate?
Something we also have to consider is that when it comes to motivation, how much of the motivation we pursue and seek is self-motivation versus external things.
For example, do you seek to motivate yourself to do things in order to please others, or seek some sort of external success measured by the barometer of others in society? Or instead, do you seek to just do what you want to do, for your own autotelic ends?
Where do we want to be motivated in?
It seems,
- We want to be more motivated to work out, go to the gym
- We want to be more motivated for our artistic and creative endeavors, our photography etc.
- We want to be motivated to finish tasks or things on our to do list?
Some interventions:
- Never do any work which seems like a thing you must do, or a duty. Only do things which you personally desire. For example if you don’t care for email, and sending email is not your life‘s passion, just don’t use it.
- In order to motivate yourself to go to the gym or work out, I just say have a shot of espresso at home, and just drive your ass to the gym. And never plan anything before you go to the gym. Just get your ass into the gym, and then figure it out once you’re there.
- Some people want to be more motivated to stop doing “bad things“. Like drinking soda, sugar and sweets, etc. My simple suggestion is figure out some sort of clever way to replace things. For example, if you’re addicted to soda or Coca-Cola or Coke zero and just want to stop, maybe just start drinking Perrier, topo Chico, Sparkling water etc. Also, whenever you crave dessert or a sweet, just have a shot of black espresso, nothing added.
- For photography, very simple. Just buy a Ricoh GR 3X digital camera, shoot extra small JPEG, high contrast black and white. And purchased some Lululemon license to train shorts, and always keep your camera in the front right pocket. And whatever you have even a .01 desire to photograph something, just shoot it and figure it out afterwards.