Motivation and such...

Motivation can come in many shapes and forms, from fond memories to a talk with a friend or even a smell in the air. It's something I must admit I have been very short of over these past 12 months due to personal circumstances that I won’t go into here or just a run of bad luck like when my hard drive broke and lost a whole semester worth of work. I've gone from the depths of shear depression and not even having the motivation to talk or be around anybody to trying to get myself back to some sense of normality. I have found few things helped me get back on track such as talking to friends and family and incentives, such as if I get up and do a certain amount by a certain time I can reward myself with a treat like chocolate etc. May seem small and silly but if it gets me up and working then it’s worth it. For more long term goals I tend to use dates as a motivation more than anything, for instance if I have a project due 26th I aim to finish it a week before that date where possible that way it give me more free time to relax etc and if I finish even before the earlier date I end up feeling more pleased with myself which in turn boost my confidence. It may not work for some but I'm just talking from personal experience here.

Confidence is something I’ve noticed that some people on the course seem to lack, some for personal issue that can’t be helped and some that stem from talks with our tutors and are left feeling a bit lost and de-motivated. I know I've experienced this and I have feeling it's something that needs to be addressed at some point soon as a group. Something that helps me get motivated to producing more work is working with other people, not necessarily on group work but just having a bunch of friends around you while you’re working, you can tend to talk a lot but if you keep at it I find you can produce more work in one sitting and feel much happier while doing it. Ultimately in my experience I tend to work more effectively when I feel part of a team, Not to say I can’t work on my own by any means but there’s just something about working with other people, sharing and talking through ideas that just seems to enhance the way I work and will probably carry over into the 3rd year when its F.M.P. time. Doing work in this fashion will also pay off later down the line in other ways. Working and getting on with other people in a work environment will help develop trust and respect between one another and this means they will respond to more favourably when if you need help with anything thus aiding you in becoming even more productive while at the same time if someone else needs help you can aid them and the will be in better shape with their work. Everybody wins and it sure as hell beats being all bitchy to one another and creating an environment where nobody wants to work.

Problems can come about in groups if for instance you have an idea in your head and you go about you thought with the "I think this is what we should do and I don’t care what anyone says this is what we're doing" sort of attitude. This isn’t a constructive way of going about your work and will not benefit anyone and I have seen this before in groups during college and the who group suffered as a result because know one was integrating with the plans, and wasn’t appealing to anyone and as a result the grades were low and a lot of people we left unsatisfied knowing that they could have done better but were pushed into one idea with no input given. This will just leave you feeling so un-motivated it's not even funny. The best advice I can give in these sorts of circumstances is to have an open talk where everyone can share their ideas, extract the good points that everyone agrees on and try and reach a common ground that everyone can agree on and enjoy doing. Allowing everyone in a group to be more creative creates a more optimistic environment and can lead to awesome new ideas which in turn can lead to better grades which makes everyone happy.

Another thing that some people actually try and avoid but can actually be a big motivational tool is 'Constructive Criticism'. I used to hate the idea of people looking at my work, picking away at it and telling what is wrong with it but it’s not horrible, you just need to look and think about it in the right way. All the hard work comes into creating the final piece of whatever you happen to be working on, when someone looks at it and tells you that something needs changing and this needs to go there and that needs to be done this way etc don’t just be like "screw it" and walk off in a childish strop. Take the information given to you on board and use it to make your work better. We are in the business of making things that appeal to a wide audience and if you show something to your audience and they don’t like it then change it to meet there expectations and then only good things can happen. It’s not even like you have to go back to the drawing board, if someone gives you good constructive criticism then they pretty much give you an itemised list of what you need to do, there’s no hard work and late nights thinking of new ideas, it’s right there in front of you and if you follow what they said and present it again you will be set. It’s all about learning from your mistakes and self improvement. I does work and its very affective so just learn to take the shot and then just go at it again with your list of improvements and you can’t go wrong. It’s all about not wanting to settle for second best think of it as someone setting a bar for you and then just go at it with a "I won’t just meet your expectations I’ll surpass them" sort of attitude and you'll find you go about your work with a lot more confidence and drive to produce better and better work which in reality is what you should be doing in the first place.