The Inevitable Deterioration of Desperation Motivation, and What Comes Next

by Megan M. on February 14, 2010

Desperation motivation only works until you’re not desperate anymore.

It can’t propel you past a certain point because past that point, you’re not all that afraid. Past that point, you can wait until later to be afraid.

But you want to achieve more than simply not being afraid. You want a margin that goes for more than just a few months out. You don’t want to be two miles from the act of God that makes three metropolitan areas into one big crater. You want to be on the other side of the planet.

Or on another planet.

So you have to find something other than desperation motivation to keep you going — to get you further out, away from the thing ready to tear you down.

How do you do it?

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Megan Elizabeth Morris (aka MEM, Megan the M.) is a bonafide professional catalyst and adventurer. She's the Ideaschema instigator, orchestrator and autodidact, and you can find out more about her by clicking here.

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  • http://consciousme.com/ Carlos Velez

    I apparently like to create a group that faces the challenge with me.

    I started to freak out a week ago as I saw my blog post drafts deplete to almost nothing, and every idea I had for a new one was the first part of a different series. This happened to coincide with the publication of my guest posts on Website In A Weekend going on about how great it is to pre-write and have a stash of posts in your queue waiting to be published. Awesome…reprimanded by my own self.

    I started a Pre-Writing Challenge with 9 other bloggers and we are all going to take on the task of writing 2 weeks worth of extra posts in 1 month on top of our normal schedule. Not being alone in the struggle will hopefully help us all succeed.

    I hope it's ok to do a bit of self-promoting here…the challege should also help us all get more traffic and hopefully new readers too.

    If you're interested, check it out on my site and sign up. The more the merrier.

  • http://twitter.com/julifuchs Juli Fuchs-Musgrave

    Fantastic question–especially for a Monday.

    I find keeping a positive tandem goal works wonders. Not just the “I don't ever, EVER want to be/feel this rotten again,” but a focus on–if I do this work I “get to” do, whatever. So instead of working with a focus of getting out of the mire & muck I may currently be in–or the half-step of where I “could” be instead–I focus on the where I know I can be. Example: my screen-saver is a slideshow from two trips to the beach in the last six months. I hadn't been for three years! So as I drift off every night–I'm seeing exactly what I'm working toward.

    Thanks Megan!

  • anniebinns

    I learned that lesson when I quit my job to become a freelance writer. After a few months, the desperation started to fade. I became HAPPY. Really HAPPY. So HAPPY that I forgot to keep fighting to get work. Whoopsie. I had to go back to the exact same job I quit a year prior. I'm still there. I need to get out and figure out how to avoid that HAPPY complacency. Yes, I have the Idea Kit and Shiva Nata to help me this time, thank you very much! :-)

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