Environment

At various points in my life, I’ve really worked towards something significant – feeling almost unseen while doing so. Very little clapping, hardly any encouragement, and rarely would someone check in to inquire about my progress. Initially, that lack of sound really got under my skin more than I cared to let on. I actually believed motivation would become much simpler if someone noticed all my effort, commended my progress, or simply told me I was really doing a great job. When that kind of backing didn’t materialize, I occasionally doubted whether the objective itself was truly worth striving for anymore. I started to grasp just how much of my drive had pretty much relied on outside approval all along. So long as somebody acknowledged what I was doing, I stayed fairly energized. But whenever it seemed like no one really cared, my faith in myself wavered greatly – even though the target remained deeply important to me.

After a while, I came to realize that a number of the most significant periods of personal development occur entirely out of sight of others. Lots of very worthwhile objectives demand extended periods of work before anyone else can actually observe the outcome. During these times, I really had to learn how to motivate myself, put faith in my own path, and continue pushing forward – all without relying on admiration from others. That transformation wasn’t quite straightforward, yet it completely altered how I consider motivation. I finally understood that support is genuinely useful – however, it could never form the core basis for all that I undertake. If my commitment disappeared every single time there was no praise waiting, then my goals were basically controlled by everyone else’s reactions all along.