What is Your Motivation
Proclamation?
The song “The Motivation Proclamation” is the name of a single
released off of the band Good Charlotte’s self-titled debut
album, released in 2001. In the song, the writer is looking for
motivation for the (seemingly) simple task of getting up out of
bed and, it would seem, to get out of the funk he or she is
currently in.
If you were going to write your own personal motivation
proclamation, what would it say? What reasons do you have for
getting out of bed in the morning? Do you do it for yourself,
or do your reasons have to do with others?
Your Motivation Proclamation
We are motivated to get up out of bed every day because of our
own set of personal values. From a very young age, we are
taught that if you work hard and apply yourself, you can reach
goals you have set for yourself. That in itself is a powerful
motivation proclamation in and of itself! When we occupy our
time with productive activities, i.e. ones that add value to
our society (either paid or unpaid), we can’t help but feel
better about ourselves.
Getting up and going to work helps us to structure our time.
Otherwise, we would get bored very quickly. Since humans are
social creatures, we want and need to be dealing with others on
a regular basis. In fact, a common form of punishment for
prisoners is to put them in solitary confinement for a certain
period of time.
Someone once stated that in order for an individual to be
mentally healthy, he or she must be able to love and to work.
So the ability to be productive is a very basic one. The fact
that paid work provides financial rewards that allow us to
continue eating and living indoors makes it a powerful
incentive and the concept that we need to make money to get
along in life should also be part of our personal motivation
proclamation.
Duty to Others as Part of our Motivation
Proclamation
When was the last time we thought about duty to others anyway?
Duty is one of those words that does tend to get a bad rap in
recent years. We all have a duty to others as part of the price
we pay for being a citizen of our country or part of
society.
When we choose to become parents, we have a duty to provide for
our children. Our children need food, shelter, and clothing. We
also impart our own values and beliefs to them in the way we
choose to raise them. The desire to make a good life for our
family is a powerful motivator. If we were going to write our
own motivation proclamation statement, we would likely include
something about wanting our children to have the skills they
need to be a success in whatever they choose to pursue.
If we have a spouse, we have certain rights and
responsibilities (duties) toward that person as well. In order
to achieve the goal of having a successful marriage, both
spouses must decide to work together. In this day and age when
so many marriages fail, it takes not only commitment to the
other person but to the idea of marriage itself as a valuable
and desirable institution to have a better-than-average chance
of success. No one who is married is in it by themselves and in
order to succeed, they shouldn’t be thinking that they are in
it for themselves. For this reason, the fact that we have other
people depending on us should be part of our motivation
proclamation.
Now that you have read and considered the foregoing, what would
you put on your own motivation
proclamation?
|