Joy

t took some time before I understood that motivation stems from achievement of targets. To me, being motivated was about one moment only, which I could get through if only I completed a task, achieved some cash or an important objective. My belief was that motivation would be received when reaching milestones only. And I put in effort, continued moving forward and kept concentrated at the finishing line. But a weird thing is that I felt gratified for some time after completing every target set for me. After a short span of satisfaction, I saw my concentration to move onto next milestone resume, beginning another cycle of mine. I realized that if motivation had no other source than outcome alone, then this source appears to be unstable and transitory in nature.

On realizing that my view about motivation was wrong, the way I viewed personal development also got affected. I let go of thinking about just the end goal and began noticing what lay between them. I pondered over whether the activities along the way were enjoyable for me. Once I developed the habit of appreciating the minor steps that I undertook each day, the understanding gained from my minor improvements and little knowledge acquired throughout the stages of my progress helped make my motivation steadier. The process no longer appeared to be a difficult requirement to fulfill but turned out to be some worthwhile purpose within itself. In fact, finding pleasure in the journey changed my attitude towards objectives, progress and my long-term self-motivation.