A Radical Shift in Motivation
Posted on November 01, 2022 by Tegan Campia, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.
Ruminating on the shift from working to prove yourself to doing something you enjoy and are called to achieve.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about this shift from doing something to prove people wrong and doing something because we want to spend our life doing something.
It feels like a transformational shift, not a daily choice. Today, I choose to accomplish something to prove them all wrong, and another day I decide to do something I want to accomplish.
There seems to be a point in our lives where proving the nay-sayers wrong is no longer inspiring. According to some nameless, faceless boogeyman that lives in us, the motivation of not being enough or doing the most important thing no longer holds any weight.
Because really, how long do I have to prove myself before I get to be myself?
This shift might come at the least convenient time. Perhaps when you are up for a promotion at a job, you realize that you never wanted it in the first place. Or when your student loans finally kick back in after a two-year respite, careening into an economic downturn following a global pandemic.
And we might look around and ask who the nay-sayers are anyways. And who is checking in on you? And what loser of a human even thinks ill of another at this point in our lives?
When this voice stops having power, a whole new question might come. Asking–
What is the point of doing work that I don’t care about?
Why am I choosing to give my life to something that doesn’t light me up?
Why have I spent all these years doing something in fear of something else?
Quickly this questioning can cause us to do a knee-jerk reaction, to either—
One quit our jobs and try to make something of ourselves, or two, turn away from that question because we only have about 30 more years of working life, and I’ve already established my career. It would be harder to start again than continue in moderate comfort and quiet desperation.
I don’t think that either is the answer, but there is a more brave, subtle, deep path to self-exploration and fulfillment.
Sometimes it’s even easier to think of what we are called to do. What force is calling us in by capturing our imagination and heart day after day? If you are working in a mission-driven space, I think it could be interesting to ask yourself—
What initially drew me to this work?
Do I feel directly in service to this cause or ideal?
Or, how have my ideals changed over time with more experience and understanding?
