Why Am I Not Motivated?

Filed under , by Alison on 7:41 PM

1

This post was originally a guest post that I wrote for Remodeling This Life, it appeared there in April of 2008

Last week my son was going through the box of piano music I have and pulled out a song I had played in high school.  I sat down and tried to play through it.   Try being the key word there.  My  hands just weren't going as fast as they used to, and somehow they just kept hitting the wrong notes.  I remember well the determination in which I practiced that song.  It was a very challenging piece and  I wanted to overcome it.  No one told me I had to be able to help it, I chose it on my own knowing full well it would take quite a bit of work.  So why can't I play it anymore?  Obviously, I don't devote as much time to practicing as I did years ago.  Time is a factor (or lack of it rather), but I think the bigger factor is my level of motivation.


So for the past week, I've been thinking quite a bit about motivation.  And I've come to the conclusion that, in general, I'm just not as motivated as I once was.  Why?  Who knows, but I need that motivation back.  Which led me to wonder why I was so motivated to practice that song when I first picked up.  In all honesty, it was because I chose it as my recital piece and I wanted to wow the audience.  Now I'm not so much out to impress people as I once was, but thinking about the "why" behind things I want to do can help me regain my motivation.  Why do I want to save money?  Why do I want to be organized?   Why do I want to do fun things with my kids? Why do I want to craft and scrapbook?  Once I know why, and can focus on that, then I've found my motivation. 

I want my motivation back.  Among many other things, I want to be able to play that song again.  Why?  Because I want to be an awesome pianist and there's still plenty of time for that.