Whoever has written about this, including me, but it’s such a topic that it’s not a sin to repeat it. Today about motivation. Most people see motivation as a scale where at one pole “I don’t want to at all”, and at the other “I want to die”. In fact, our motivation, i.e. our willingness and desire to invest energy, time and resources to achieve certain goals is determined not only by how much I want to achieve these very goals. Indeed, I can only dream of being the emperor of Ancient Rome, deciding the destinies of entire nations and having concubines from all over the world, but it is unlikely that this dream of mine will motivate me to take any action. The reason is quite clear - no matter how I I tried, it’s simply impossible. Moreover, it is important to understand that “possible-impossible” is also a scale with all possible intermediate options. And if the probability of success hangs somewhere between zero and almost zero, then the motivation will be corresponding. Some people in this place go into youthful maximalism, they say, if there is even the slightest chance of success, then you need to go towards your goal, but this approach is good for fantasies, but reality is structured completely differently. And that is why you and I are not standing in line en masse for lottery tickets, although it would seem that the chance is non-zero, an amount of a couple of million will not be superfluous, so why are we still not storming the ticket stall?! Now let’s look at reality not only mathematical, but also psychological. The probability of success is not some objective given, it is rather a subjective feeling. What is the likelihood that I will get an interview with a cool company? Why would that beauty leave me her number? That the post I wrote will be of interest to others? Obviously, it depends a lot on how I perceive myself, on my self-esteem. And if I see myself as a terrible schmuck, then no matter how much I want all this, the motivation for action will be somewhere around the baseboard, because “what’s the point of trying if it doesn’t work out anyway?” There is another one. braking moment. Many of our actions can be energy-consuming not only technically (getting up and going somewhere, doing something), but also psychologically. For example, meeting someone on the street is generally a trivial matter, but it may be associated with such anxiety or shame that it will take a lot of effort to force yourself to do it. And if this leads to the certainty that nothing good will come of it anyway, then you can at least search for motivation, it won’t be there, even though you really want to get to know each other. These two points are important, because often they are responsible for the lack of motivation, and not at all the notorious “I don’t know what I want.” No, somewhere inside I know what I want, but I also know that I don’t deserve it, and banging my head against the wall just to try is too painful. Then what’s the point in admitting your desire, it’s better to plunge into the abyss of apathy and sit there. Or, switch your attention to more achievable goals, vaguely realizing that not all needs can be met. This is also important because you can work with it. Motivation cannot be pulled out of thin air, but it is quite possible to discover how it is killed by low self-esteem and the inability to endure certain situations. In conclusion, I remember the words of Dexter Holland, leader of the punk band The Offspring: “I liked music, and I learned to play the guitar. The next logical step is to have your own group.” Please note, there is nothing here about a super-duper-super dream. I wanted to create my own group, but why not? Then the same Mr. Holland will receive a pilot's license and fly around the globe, defend his PhD in molecular biology and... launch the production of a line of hot sauces. Well, really, why not? When you don’t have to overcome a million self-doubts and overwhelming embarrassment at every step, then somehow there are usually no problems with motivation.