The words, \”getting motivated,\” always remind me of a significant episode in my life. I can never forget observing my mother\’s reaction to the most dramatic incident that had happened in her life. The loss of my dearly-beloved dad, her best friend of forty years and husband. She had been his faithful companion through the troubled war years and depression and had traversed not only countries, but continents with him. They really had been through thick and thin together, and they were such a well-knit couple. This mutual understanding and togetherness was their strength. All of a sudden, my mother found this life-long mate not with her any more, and it was numbing.
I was teaching at the time, and received the news at school and so, was dreading to see my mother\’s reaction, knowing the other-worldliness of their relationship. When I finally arrived home, I was astonished to find her stirring up the sheets in the old copper boiler that was once used to get linens and sheets sparkling white. \”Would you like a cup of tea?\” I said, thinking she would be wanting to reminisce and talk over her great loss. She said, \”Not at the moment, I want to finish the washing.\”
That is exactly what she did. The steaming sheets were stirred, hung carefully on the line where the kookaburra always perched. (If you are not Australian, a kookaburra is one of our typical birds, that ofttimes adopt a family and cheekily come to visit.)
Many, many years later, I heard my mother giving a young mother who had suffered a tragedy some advice about getting motivated that has remained with me for the rest of my life. \”If something terrible happens and you feel paralyzed, turn to the next routine thing that you would have done if that incident hadn\’t occurred, and do it.\”
You may ponder. What has this to do with regular events that happen everyday? It has everything to do with them. How often do we just stall, like a vessel that has no wind in its sails? You many envy a friend who is all full of energy and enthusiasm to achieve his projects, and you know you have ideas as good as his, but you waste time and dilly-dally. You are waiting for the perfect moment before you get started.
The secret of getting motivated, can be learnt for troubled times or just mundane ordinary days when you can\’t seem to get yourself going. Make it a habit to do some trivial routine thing. Take one little step to get the momentum going. Getting motivated is, in fact, a process. You have surely noticed how frequently your early morning resolutions, start dissipating by lunchtime and wane even more, as you get stuck in the home-rush traffic. When the last dish has been slotted into the dishwasher, you find yourself treading the pathway to the couch in the sitting room.
\”Just for two minutes,\” you hear that little voice inside you explaining. For a moment, there is an inner hesitation and then, that resolve to be that big and better you, slips away and disappears as you slump down to watch another night of gossip and second-hand violence.
Remember, getting motivated means just taking one tiny step in the right direction to start the momentum. I must add another worthwhile piece of information. Most of the big-achievers were, once upon a time, just ordinary people like you. However, the difference in these people is that they never waited for the perfect moment to get motivated. They just did the next little thing they would have done towards their goal and then looked back in retrospect on a significant life.
This lesson I learned from my mother years ago, affected my whole life. After that, getting motivated was not a case of waiting around for the right enthusiasm to strike me or for some lightening-bolt of inspiration. It was nothing less than a step that I took, one step, followed by another step. that led to a momentum that changed my life.
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