Machines don't get motivation problems

Lots of college students I've known unconsciously identify with being a machine. We want to appear reliable, consistent and productive. They take pride in meeting expectations, requirements and deadlines without hesitation, hang-ups or moodiness. They think of themselves as rational, logical and objective beings.

These students consistently misdiagnose their sudden loss of motivation or a lack of motivation for a particular commitment. They may assume they are trying to be lazy, immature or self-indulgent. They may jump to the conclusion that they lack self discipline and adequate determination. They may fault themselves for being broken, flawed or in need of repair.

When motivation problems are getting correctly diagnosed, they often disappear. All it takes is getting the underlying problem understood for the symptoms to vanish. It's as if motivation problems are cries for understanding by facets of ourselves that get constantly misunderstood by trying to be a machine.

When anyone gets really good at understanding their motivation problems, they find they have a bounty of self motivation. It wasn't really a lack of motivation or a sudden loss of motivation that happened, it was a lack of understanding of their real motivations. It becomes clear that our real motivations are not mechanistic and rational. They are organic and irrational, but also passionate, curious, adventurous and open minded. They show us the way to who we really can be and really want to do. Motivation problems show us how to be ourselves by getting us to discover our real, underlying motivations.