Just add a double flavor shot of motivation

People never learn anything by being told, they have to find out for themselves. (Paulo Coelho)

It regularly seems to be the case that especially during free periods of study, for example during the two week Easter Break, a student’s will to start working on various projects for university decreases steadily. So if your coffee breaks seem to last longer than your actual number of working hours you might want to consider an extensive search for motivation. Let’s face it, the ten points on your to-do list which you created with a slight sense of foreboding will probably have a 90% chance of survival. If they make it through Holy Week usually nothing gets in their way later on.

It was the second week of my Easter Break, 9:38 am on April 7th, a not too cloudy Wednesday morning (which was odd because we had snowfall the day before). I was at my third cup of coffee, which in my opinion made it easier to face the most important points on my to-do list, already thoroughly circled with a vibrant yellow highlighter. I was at my desk and everything was ready to start working on a text by Werner Sombart (I was wondering what he had to say about the interrelation of economy and fashion and how that would influence my life). But why not check my Facebook account first? This usually doesn’t take long and it was still early in the morning anyway. In doing so I stumbled over a video someone posted and I couldn’t resist watching it. Soon I ended up on YouTube – it’s always fun to browse through this site when you are procrastinating work. One of my favorite videos reminded me of a good friend in Munich who I haven’t talked to in months. It wouldn’t take long to write her an email. By the time I had sent off the e-mail it was already 10:15 am and Mr. Sombart was still waiting for me. Too bad he doesn’t have a Facebook account. (Well, I have never checked that anyway.)

Back from my virtual walkabouts I was facing the admittedly horrific long list in front of me. Thank God, I could at least tick off two points on the list. Two out of ten wasn’t too bad when compared with the list I had this Christmas Break.

By the way, did you know that two out of ten Americans are wrestling fans? I didn’t - but what a nice comparison. Wrestlers are only pretending to hit each other as I pretended to be absorbed in my work. Anyway, it was 10:25 am and the only thing I knew so far was that the great Werner Sombart not only has his very own Facebook account but also 152 followers. Which brought me to the conclusion that he has more friends than my humble self. Still, I couldn’t get myself to read Sombart’s opinion on conspicuous consumption Maybe it was just not the right time for a sociological text so early in the morning. So I checked to see what else was on my list. Sombart had to wait – he’d understand, I left him a note on his site.

11:04 am, approximately 39 minutes later: I couldn’t resist my mom’s offer of another cup of coffee. I saw this as an attempt to awaken new spirits within myself. A chance to begin anew. As I read earlier on the Self Improvement Mentor website, physical movement affects the mental state. Therefore, a walk to the kitchen and back to my room was the ideal way of motivating myself. Further, the so called mentor suggested the effective use of rewards, which again brought me back to my liquid love (h/t rockelfe). By then, I had recognized that this morning was just not the right morning to work off my to-do list and as I still had to prepare the tutoring lessons for three of my students, I concluded that I might as well start with that.

To be honest, I’ve never seen the purpose of creating a to-do list anyway – as for me pressure is the most reliable motivator.