Saturday 8 March 2014

Motivation

First of all a quick note to say that my review of Blazzin Fiddles has been published in the latest EFDSS magazine, so do check that out!

Secondly this blog post is more just for me to get my thoughts down in writing. I'm also curious if anyone views the world in quite the same why I do and puts the same pressure on themselves.

Life is still taking me odd directions; I've been put on a work experience placement in a job centre.

I was curious about how this was going to go, but my advisor told me that most people who do these placements ends up getting a job, just because so many job advisors are there to help, so we will see. Typically though my placement has been different as our slightly bizarre manager decided he didn’t just want us filing and the like, he want us to actually learn something so set us a project.

This project has actually been very fun to do and I noticed that even though this is an unpaid placement I've enjoyed it a lot more than my previous job working for a children’s website. The manager is a very enthusiastic person and keeps telling me and the other lad on placement that the only thing that stops you from accomplishing anything is you.

Now as I have briefly touched on before, my motivation has been rock bottom lately, and blogging has been one of the areas to take the hit, but encouragement from my family and wonderful lady is helping me to 'get over it' as it were, so hopefully I will be able to start committing better.

I have also been thinking a lot about the psychology behind why I act the way I do sometimes when looking at things like working and hobbies etc I take a very hard stance on myself.

Many years ago now I used to do the sport fencing and it was one of my hobbies and I was reasonably good at it, I did okay in competitions and I was certainly one of the best in my club at the time, but I remember shortly before I left to go to University something changed in me, I became terrified of competition. I don't just mean competing I mean any kind of competition. As soon as my mind made this switch everything then appeared as a competition, either against other people or against myself.

In school doing Philosophy I was arguably one of the top of the class if not the top, so it hit me hard when in Uni I was upstaged by others. This may sound very... immature at this point but keep in mind that this was all subconscious and striving to be the top is a very normal, very human emotion. I gradually started taking the attitude that people will always be better than me so I stopped trying, I think it could be part of the reason (although there were certainly other factors which I won't go into) why I didn't get the grade I could have in the end.
This all affects me now as very failed job application and every week being on JSA is me failing in this competition against myself.

I also find that everything has to go somewhere, be part of some bigger plan. In Uni I joined the radio station and found a passion for this. In my first year it was just a fun hobby but by second year I was working towards it as a career path. Then when I developed a love for folk music this slotted into this plan as I could do a folk music radio show as well as debate shows which had stemmed from my Philosophy degree. See, all connected, hobbies have to fit in to the master plan or they are not worth doing (at least in my subconscious).

I'm trying to learn to play the melodeon and it is proving to be very difficult and is taking a long time, so another hit to my esteem. Playing the box is not connected to my overall plan but is a very important side quest (lol video game speak), I firmly know the level I want to reach and it is a very slow process and I may not even get there. Sadly I just don't have that musical flare (my sister does though. She is pitch perfect and can easily pick up instruments. Curses...)

I did pick a really hard, very competitive industry to try and get into, and then have selected a very narrow niche. So unsurprisingly I am struggling to break into radio and every month that passes with not even the slightest chance is breaking me. People tell me it’s not the end of the world, I can just get any job and keep looking in radio. Now this is true and I accept that, but subconsciously it doesn't matter, I am still failing, bottom of the competition board as it were. The fact is I am not particularly exceptional at anything, just average or good, but so are a lot of people, so unless I get really lucky I'm going to remain in this cycle, and that is frustrating.

People tell me I put so much pressure on myself and that I need to appreciate the things I have accomplished, and the fact I am good at things. For me though it doesn't really work like that, I am proud to have reviews published on bright Young Folk, Fatea and EFDSS, but they are just stepping stones towards that final goal and so aren't worth celebrating. If anything they act as a reminder that I am close to my goal but not there yet, I am stuck just out of reach.

Does anyone else look at the world like this? Or am I just weird? :p

DFTBA

1 comment:

  1. No your not alone I too put a lot of pressure on myself and make unreasonable demands of myself then when I fail or don't do so well I perceive that as me failing. I sometimes forget that not everything is in our control and so many other things/people/circumstances have an effect on what we do. When I do fail I feel like crap; theres no doubt about that but I kick myself and tell myself to try again.

    One of my goals at the minute is too loose weight, suffice to say I'm not the thinnest guy around and I have a personal goal of 10 Stone/120LB or 63 KG and it's bloody tough, I'm having to change my entire way of thinking about food, exercise and how I perceive food. Changing 25 years worth of habit is tough but every day I go to the gym do my hours worth of cardio and then weights I feel a little better but I know that it's going to take a long time to drop this weight and if i look at one day at a time I'll get there even if there is a few bumps in the road.

    Your a decent guy and its tough at the moment but have faith in yourself, You'll get your wish one day you just gotta take it one day at a time.

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