STUDENT QUESTIONS

QUESTION 3

What do you do when you lose your motivation to work? I've always loved music, but sometimes I'll get to the point where I just don't feel like doing it. Moving to a new teacher (which I have done many times in my life) is usually helpful at first because it is exciting to learn new approaches to things. But sometimes I will get too comfortable with what I've been doing and get lazy. Or my situation now: I really didn't like my new teacher. I love her as a person, but after being spoiled with an amazing teacher, changing to one who let me be mediocre was frustrating. I've looked for other teachers with no success. (And I really can't afford lessons now either.) I know I should be working on my own, but the motivation just isn't there. HELP!

Thank you!
Amberlynn, age 20

MARY GAE GEORGE answers, Part 1:

THE ROOTS OF MOTIVATION

Because you have raised such a large and important issue, I will answer in stages allowing for input from you and from others interested in this issue.

Let me first address something you included in your comments above, about changing to a new teacher when you left for college. When we always do the best we are capable of in any circumstance, we will not experience mediocrity. Yes, our "best" will continue to grow and expand as we learn and work effectively, but if you honestly believe you have done your best, you will have achieved all that you are capable of at a given point. That is a profound accomplishment, especially if you have done it for your own reasons and not to gain the approbation of others, for it demonstrates that you are directing your ownlife.

Directing your own life is part of motivation, as we will begin to discuss now.

The motivation to work resides in the individual, and is a significant aspect of natural ability for without motivation even the most talented person will not fulfill his or her promise.

This is encouraging news for you, Amberlynn, because it means that you are not limited by your circumstances, but rather by your response to circumstances. You can, therefore, make the changes you desire. I know you can do this because you started doing it in the third grade, as you once told me.

In his excellent book Study is Hard Work, William H. Armstrong says: "If you cannot find within your heart and soul the desire to learn, then you need not expect help from without. You are the only person who can awaken the desire. Without it you will gather bits of information here and there, but you will miss the greatest of all that life offers - the advantages for your life which are with you. In all that goes into the making of your life - play, work, Latin, history, economics, law, medicine, plans, dreams - you are given the purposes and endowments for the wonderful, sometimes confusing and demanding, experience which we call life."

If the above quoted text strikes you as severe, read it over as often as necessary to find the truthful inspiration in it. Life is especially exciting and fruitful to the individual who recognizes the extent of his or her inherent gifts and who builds confidently and consistently upon them. Furthermore, it is never too late to begin.

Accepting this as the basis for your life may seem easier than implementing it! But once you accept it fully, periods of discouragement will begin to dry up and go away. You will be able to use your talent, your enthusiasm, your energies to become and stay meaningfully involved in the art of music, which you obviously love.

Your first steps involve careful observation of your daily activities, aspirations, and work habits for within them resides an important part of the answer to how well you use your inborn advantages. Through these observations you will see how to ensure that your personal motivation grows and develops along with your talent and accomplishments. Be prepared for fluctuations in this rate of growth, but do not let periods of less activity go unobserved. There are always important lessons to be learned from our best moments as well as from our periods of reflection and assimilation. If you begin to feel unmotivated, reach for that magic switch we all have to turn on the lights that reveal the truth. And yes, it can be that easy.

Until a person recognizes that the most important and fulfilling accomplishment in life is the steadfast daily application toward a worthwhile goal, it is all too easy to experience troubling fluctuations in motivation. When you see your daily instrumental practice as a significant involvement of your intelligence, your physical control, your emotional well-being, and your aesthetic exploration, it will be easier to stay on target. Too many of us need a pressing deadline to prompt our best work, and once that deadline is met we want a break!

I am suggesting that you go to your instrument daily, that you take comfort in the routine of your work, that you carefully observe yourself at work, that you take keen interest in solving problems with elegant solutions, that you learn to take satisfaction from your smallest victories - and that you do this for your sake in order to fulfill your own potential and expectations.

There will be days when you do not feel like practicing and studying. Bypass that feeling by reminding yourself that the most important thing you do is to use and expand your potential regularly - not just when you feel like it.

We all, at times, resist change, even when that change promises growth and accomplishment. Don't scold yourself for these fits of laziness! Instead, smugly set them aside and do what you know is best. It is a wonderful feeling!

All of this obviously is linked to discipline. My husband, Jon George, had an excellent definition of this essential tool of life: "Discipline is elimination for a purpose." In other words, have a goal and eliminate everything that interferes with realizing that goal. Discipline, then, is how we achieve real freedom.

To do this, you will need to examine each opportunity that arises and assess it in relationship to your long-term goals. Do not be dazzled by innovation, ego, or monetary gain. Make sure that every activity you commit yourself to is of profound important to your ultimate development and to your ability to share your accomplishments with others. It is disheartening to find ourselves pulled away from our chosen course, but this need not happen when we realize that we have the opportunity to stay on course through our own decisions and intentions.

For now, I urge you to assess your own determination to learn. I also want you to make a list of your personal and musical strengths and to guard them wisely. Return to this list regularly, re-evaluate regularly (both when things are going well and when you feel distracted from your intentions), and add to the list as your sense of accomplishment grows.

Because I have had the opportunity to work with you for the four years before you left for college, Amberlynn, I know you will think carefully about this, and that you will also ask more questions - questions that deserve to be answered -- in the refreshing process of revitalizing your motivation.