Thomas Brock, our resident travelling English teacher is returning to his weekly blog after some time off. Read on to find out what has kept him away from this weekly series of posts. Read, learn some new vocabulary, and practise English!
Vocabulary List
Motivation: the need or reason for doing something, a feeling of energy to complete a task.
Fickle: likely to change suddenly and without warning, untrustworthy or disloyal.
Erratic: moving or behaving in a way that is not regular, certain, or expected.
Discipline: training that makes people more willing to obey or more able to control themselves.
Skillset: the range of things that someone is good at.
Habit: something that you do often and regularly, sometimes without knowing that you are doing it.
Suffer: to experience physical or mental pain.
Maintain: to continue to have; to keep in existence, or not allow to become less.
Tailor: to make something specially so that it is right for a particular person.
Overwhelming: difficult to fight against.
Identity: a person’s name and other facts about who they are,the qualities that make a person.
Pervasive: present or noticeable in every part of a thing or place.
Motivation
Hi all, Thomas here.
Today I want to write about motivation. Motivation is like good weather in the UK, it comes and it goes and it never stays as long as we would like. Motivation is fickle. When you need it most it turns its back on you and is nowhere to be found.
A useful solution to the erratic nature of motivation is discipline. Discipline is being able to do the things you know are useful and beneficial without having the motivation to do them. I wouldn’t count self-discipline amongst my skillset.
Another answer is habit. Habits are activities that we do so often that we don’t even think about whether we should do them, or even if we want to do them. I am not good at building habits.
So why do I want to talk about motivation?
Well, struggling with motivation can make life hard. Work, exercise, lifestyle, skills, experience, relationships, all these things and more can be impacted by a lack of motivation. This blog is a great example – this is something I love doing. Writing my thoughts for people to read and learn some English vocabulary. I want to write good content here, but I need the motivation.
So how do I stay motivated?
The short answer is that I don’t. I try to, but I am not always motivated, and when I am not motivated then I suffer. However, I have my goals, which help a great deal. I try to stay organised (disciplined). I have started a habit of exercising – all of these are good things.
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But the motivation I want to talk about today is my students.
I am an English language tutor. A private tutor. I have a group of students that I work closely with to help them improve their English abilities. But it is not as simple as that. Each of my students has specific aims, and interests when it comes to improving and maintaining their English ability. This is what I do.
I have come to feel greatly appreciated by my students, and after years of tutoring, I can offer a specialist service that tailors to each of my student’s goals. Some of these goals are really challenging – challenge is a great motivator.
Another challenge in my life is being self-employed. Working for yourself can be overwhelming for a number of reasons. Whilst it does have many benefits, it is certainly a stressful way to make a living.
One thing that is perhaps a surprising challenge for me is an idea of identity. As a freelancer I am the face and voice of my business. In a world with instant and pervasive social media, an online presence is a necessary tool to any business, so in this case, what is my brand identity, and therefore what is my own identity?
Well, these are questions I am trying to answer. I want to be an English tutor, and English specialist, working with language and with people. How I do that will always be on my mind.
This was a short glimpse into my mind recently. If you are one of my students reading this, I thank you for being amazing.
Tune in next week!
Thomas
Where do you find your motivation?
Have you ever struggled with motivation?
What tasks do you find hardest to complete when you have no motivation?
