So, is THAT why you adopted the new cat? You need someone to go in a stomp on those corporate field mice?

You know, it's all about how you look at things. You can look at the drudgery of your job or you can look at the fun challenges you have faced and will continue to face. Motivation is a choice. Yes, it can come from outside but, you have to be receptive to it for you to recognize it.

How much energy do you waste thinking about how you need inspiration and motivation rather that utilizing the inspiration and motivation already presented to you?

Ummm...not to derail, but does the new kitty have a name?

Charlie - as in Charlie the Lonesome Cougar.

He looks an awful lot like this only a bit more orange.

You know, we used to name our animals cool, creative, and somewhat aeriodite names (Mephistoles, Mesopotamia and Aloysius) and now we're just normal people. Dexter, Buster, Jack, Lyra, Scoundrel and now Charlie - nothing to obscure in any of them.

I'm going to get a fish just so I can name it Anastsia Hippopotamus Rachmanonov. ;)

Oops. I derailed!

Well, I'll re-rail to say that, unfortunately, nothing inspires me about anything that has the purpose of making money. Even the creativity of art that is a guaranteed inspiration and motivator for me ... fails when money is the payoff in addition to creation.

At work, all I can rely on for motivation - - and it usually suffices for my employers and my sense of integrity if not for any soulful satisfaction - - is my perfectionism.

Outside of money-making, there is plenty of motivation and inspiration. I am motivated to create things, often odd-ball things ... and when I am doing so, I am practically obsessed (so very far beyond motivated). I am inspired by people I know, and they make me want to improve my life in ways I would never be able to do without their inspiration. In particular, I find the relative mellowness of my boyfriend and the genial mellowness plus sharp wit of the O.P. of this thread to be inspiring of a calm beauty that is foreign to me, but which I would like to emulate.


When all is said and done with our existence, what will we have valued of what we do for a living vs. what we do with our lives? It's our growth and our love and our spirit that matters in the end (and all the while) ... though there can be pride in accomplishments that have also put bread on the table, I suppose.

To get out of bed every morning even when I really don't want to?

Death.

Actually, I'm lying. There have certainly been days when I didn't feel like getting out of bed in the morning, so instead I remained there until 4 p.m., finally crawling out of my bed and into some clothes so that I could feed myself at a local diner.

But, in that case, I was seriously motivated to laze about in bed all day.

Mission Accomplished! Because, you see, I thought, "I really want to sleep today. And I could die at any moment, so I might as well do what I really want to do...and sleep."

At work it's often fear of failure. I wish I was a perfectionist. Most of my really talented and productive friends are, but I'm more of a "Good Enough" kind of girl.

I should paint! Except, well, I'd rather watch....Everwood! Good enough!

Ah man, can't a man whine?

I had a different kind of motivation this evening...

A guy went nuts while I was on the payphone with my wife, hung the phone up, and started slamming the handset against the phone (eventually breaking part of the earpiece).

Then he made the mistake of attacking me.

Every bit of workday frustration from today coursed through my fists, and relieved itself on his head and upperbody. I'm ok, I got a bruise on my right arm where I blocked a bad punch from him. A rent-a-cop at the gas station interrupted the incident, and kept me from killing him.

Damn CM....

I'm glad you're okay... more or less.