Motivation is the word of the day

So I was scanning the operating agreement for my company and I noticed a clause entitled "Devotion of Time" It reads: The Manager (that's me!) is not obligated to devote all of his time or business efforts to the affairs of the Company. The Manager shall devote whatever time, effort and skill as he deems appropriate for the operation of the Company.


Now this got me thinking - first of all...does that mean there are contracts out there that state that the Manager must devote all his time (or her time) to the affairs of the Company? That would be a bit much, don't you think?


The real reason that this caught my eye is because I've been thinking a lot about motivation. What motivates us? Me? you? According to my operating agreement it could be argued that I'm motivated by my devotion to my business. That seems kinda lofty and lofty sure ain't gonna get my ass out of bed in the morning - or the afternoon.


Disclaimer!! ok, it's really more of a confession. I planned to write this piece about motivation earlier today but then I had too much wine at lunch with my sister and I had to come home and take a nap - note: wine at lunch is not a good motivator. At least now I know that, and in the end I did get up from said nap and start writing. Which leads me back to my original thesis - what motivated me to do that? 


Sometimes I think that motivation is linked to self worth...bare with me... 
I think it's much easier to be motivated when we're young, because we're in school. Within the construct of the education system success is clearly delineated for us. We get tested and we get graded - these numbers tell us exactly how well we're doing and to what extent we're doing better or worse than the rest of our class. It's pretty clear - do well in school - get rewarded. Now that doesn't mean we all do well, but at least the parameters are clear and we know how to measure our success or failure. 


At some point we leave the education system, whether it be during or after high school, or college...or for those of us who really really really enjoyed the comforts of this system... after graduate school. All of a sudden it's up to us to determine for ourselves what it means to succeed or fail, what we consider a job well done. Some people are great at this. I was not one of them. I wanted someone to tell me that I was doing a good job, and preferably also tell me how much better I was than everyone else (hey, somewhere I heard that you're supposed to be honest when you blog).


This was all fine and dandy until I realized that I didn't like working for other people. Not that I don't play well with others, it's just that, let's face it, I think I know better and unless you're really, truly able to prove that I can learn from you - I get bored and I leave. 


Hence, here I sit alone in my home office trying to start my own company. The key word being alone. Other than my cat, Kitty Pants (AKA Pants) there's nobody here to tell me what to do, when to do it by and whether they think I've done a good job. So what makes me do it? Self worth. I have to believe in myself and my abilities. I'm my own boss, my own motivator, cheerleader, critic, assistant....but sometimes it's hard to get things done. Sometimes I don't feel like cheering myself on. Sometime I don't have the extra energy to motivate myself. Maybe that's one reason I started this Blog - to make me culpable to something outside of myself...and to be here in case anyone else is in the same boat and needs a nudge, cheer, critique or perhaps just a new youtube video to watch when they need a break...


Today I motivated myself to sober up and write this Blog. Good times. What motivates you? Fear? Greed? Necessity? Self worth? The desire to impress people or prove them wrong.....where does your devotion come from?


More later....thanks for reading.