(art: artnet.com)
Poloho! There are theories that as people age, their drive towards being productive would lessen. A lot of studies refuted that. There is no direct relationship with age and the interest to be functional. Although physical movements can really be affected as time goes by, it is the mind that stimulates the so-called interest. Motivation, as countlessly mentioned, comes from a psychological point of view. That is addressing the needs or deficits in a person. Ergo, the motivation of a person simply depends on his or her drives to satisfy a certain need. If this will be curtailed or impossible to attain, the person would simply become unmotivated.According to Kiki (2019), many
people have a lack of responsibility for their life and live blaming others,
justifying, seeking pretexts and even giving up their dreams. They believe that
the world is against them and that the “enemy” is outside them, not inside.
They fail to realize that their own enemy is themselves.
One of the major reasons why
people become unmotivated is that they are SELFISH. They do not perform
anything which cannot benefit them in one way or the other. LIFEHACKS mentions
that focusing on yourself will not get you far. You will be your own enemy when
you refuse to give, help and serve others. You should be a generous person who
knows that by giving and sharing (time, effort, knowledge and even money) you are
sowing the seed to make a better world and leave your mark on it. Helping
others will come back to you, sooner or later.
But is laziness or sloth an
innate characteristic developed during childhood in the confines of the home? The
probability is strong. Children are great mimics and can adopt the behaviors of
their parents until sufficiently motivated to change their own behavior, most
likely in pursuit of a relationship or objective goal. This was theorized by
Levine in 2015.
This is one of the problems in organizations
during these demanding times. There are those who do not SEE the enemy in them.
The Dalai Lama said: When your mind is trained in self-discipline, even if you
are surrounded by hostile forces, your peace of mind will hardly be disturbed.
On the other hand, your mental peace and calm can easily be disrupted by your
own negative thoughts and emotions. So I repeat, the real enemy is within, not
outside.
Usually we define our enemy as a
person, an external agent, whom we believe is causing harm to us or to someone
we hold dear. But such an enemy is relative and impermanent. One moment, the
person may act as an enemy; at yet another moment, he or she may become your
best friend. This is a truth that we often experience in our own lives. But
negative thoughts and emotions, the inner enemy, will always remain the enemy.
They are your enemy today, they
have been your enemy in the past, and they will remain your enemy in the future
as long as they reside within your mental continuum. Therefore, Shantideva says
that negative thoughts and emotions are the real enemy, and this enemy is
within.
When the person cannot identify
the inner foe, he or she will continue to blame the outside forces and then
become unmotivated and eventually become unproductive. There is nothing more
powerful for self-motivation than the right attitude. You can’t choose or
control your circumstance, but you can choose your attitude towards your
circumstances.
A person is being lazy if he/she
is able to carry out some activity that s/he ought to carry out, but is
disinclined to do so because of the effort involved. Instead, s/he carries out
the activity perfunctorily; or engages in some other, less strenuous or less
boring activity; or remains idle. In short, s/he is being lazy if the
motivation to spare effort trumps the motivation to do the right or expected
thing (Burton, 2014).
Synonyms for laziness are
indolence and sloth. Indolence derives from the Latin indolentia, ‘without
pain’ or ‘without taking trouble’. Sloth has more moral and spiritual overtones
than laziness or indolence. In the Christian tradition, sloth is one of the
seven deadly sins because it undermines society and God’s plan, and because it
invites sin.
A mature person must understand
how to situate in the community where he or she belongs. The understanding of
what the person can give to others is the main consideration since selfish
motives are beyond the individual’s mind and intentions. The person is able to
transcend the SELF and has defeated the inner enemy. He or she must find the meaning of life
through the small tasks he or she is doing. The person is not indolent for it
kills the inner gift to be of purpose to the greater good.
Else, the person’s life will
become meaningless if not absurd.
Albert Camus introduces his
philosophy of the absurd in his essay of 1942, The Myth of Sisyphus. In the
final chapter, he compares the absurdity of man’s life with the plight of
Sisyphus, a mythological king of Ephyra who was punished for his chronic
deceitfulness by being made to repeat forever the same meaningless task of
pushing a boulder up a mountain, only to see it roll back down again.
There is more to life than doing
nothing. There is meaning in life when we work hard in serving people. There is
no other enemy worse than the inner one. Let us conquer it and become better versions
of ourselves.
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