My Days of Motivational Videos
I remember back in high school, I was at a summer camp and they were doing a meaningful program. During the event, they showed us a YouTube video called “Why Do We Fail?”
Afterward, I was so amped up, and that began a strange fascination that I had with motivational videos. Before every big sporting event, after a shitty day, even before a few election speeches, I would watch motivational videos. It started with watching Why Do We Fail over and over. Then I found another, and another and eventually I had ~15 audio recordings of these videos on my phone, ready to go whenever I wanted.
This went on and developed for probably two years, but since I’ve been in college, I hardly watch or listen to these recordings ever. I was reminded about the videos today and began to think about what made me so enamored with them just a few years ago and why I have no interest anymore.
What’s your why?
Most of the videos behave on the assumption that we already know what the thing is that we are working towards. That could largely be because there’s an emphasis towards athletes. If I want to be a soccer star, then it’s more about the motivation to wake up early and workout, go to the gym, eat well, and avoid distractions than it is about finding what the thing is that I’m passionate about.
As I reflect, though, the reason that I have stopped watching these videos is because I don’t see my problems as a lack of motivation or courage to take chances anymore. The bigger question that I battle is what I am working towards. What do I care about? That question doesn’t go answered in any video because it is entirely from the inside. Realizing and coming to terms with the fact that a huge aspect of life is finding the thing that makes you most fulfilled can be really scary. Especially when you don’t know what that thing is.
We look at our friends who know they want to be doctors, teachers or politicians and it can be overwhelming.
What I’m realizing, though, is that a lot of what the content in these motivational videos has merit, regardless of what you want to do. Not knowing your why is actually not a bad thing at all.
The first reason is that, for me, and many others, the ambiguity and mysteriousness of life is actually quite beautiful. Some people like the assurance of what lies ahead, but if I knew exactly what the next 20 years of my life would hold, it would drive me crazy. It’s no shot at people that want to be doctors and know they have four years of college, another four of med school and residency after that. Personally, though, and I’d conjecture for many others as well, not knowing what the future holds is so much better.
I don’t know what I want to do a week from now, let alone 10 years out, and in that is very powerful. It adds a sense of adventure, mystery and makes each moment more interesting because I have no idea what I am going to learn or realize.
The other piece that I would also conjecture is that there are some people who pick a clear and secure path, but are doing so because they’re scared about the unknown. It’s certainly not everyone, but in a lot of , ways it takes courage to not know what the future holds for us (I don’t really have it). We are constantly bombarded by how we should be when we are grown up. As I think back from high school through college the most frequent questions are the following:
Where are you going to college?
What are you majoring in at school?
What do you want to do after you graduate?
Where do you want to live after you graduate?
We’re supposed to always be thinking about what lies next, and not having answers to those questions is scary and can sometimes feel like we’re doing things wrong. Typically, one of two things ends up happening as a result:
- People pick something stable as fast as possible and start working towards that so they gain a sense of cohesion and credibility
- People don’t know where to start and do very little because of a lack of cohesion or focus
At times over the past few years, I have found myself in both of these buckets.
The motivational videos ring true
What I am realizing, is that there’s a middle ground between the two that is the hardest, but also easiest option.
I feel a little bit like a ball bouncing back and forth between #1 and #2 above, but as time goes on, I am getting and staying closer to that mid point. Getting there involves two key components.
The first is taking a lot of action. Follow what the motivational videos say. Work hard, push yourself, don’t be afraid to take risks or about what others think. Try new things and go outside of your comfort zone.
The second is to stay in a ballroom. We can do a lot of things that push us down a rabit hole, or into a small room that can be hard to get out of. Instead, keep options open. Stay in a ballroom that gives you the flexibility, from a skills, time, and location perspective, to choose any door that you find most interesting at the time. If I’m unsure and I commit four years towards going to Med school to see if I like it, then by the time I am out, I have entered a pretty small room that can be tough to get out of. If, on the other hand, I spend a month or two talking with doctors and learning as much about medicine as I can, I will have the tools to be able to make a much more informed decision.
If we listen to what our heart has to say, there’s a lot to be learned. We get gut feelings, have urges towards one thing or another and actually will find strong desires and opinions of what we like and want to be doing.
When in question, though, the most important thing is to do something. I’m admittedly not so good at this, but it is better to try something and learn from it than it is to do nothing at all. It’s not necessarily best to go for everything that comes our way, but when a decision is hard and the alternative is nothing, then choose the action. Testing hypothesis about ourselves will yield great results, especially when do so quickly.
Just don’t be afraid to take the step. Spending a month diving into medicine is better than spending a month thinking about what to do or purely reading self-help books that we think will teach us. Instead, the principle of action is the most powerful one.
I’ve kept a list of my favorite motivational quotes from the videos that I watched. I’d sometimes go through and read or think about some of these in times of distress, so I’ll conclude with my 11 favorites (couldn’t narrow it down to 10).
- If it were easy everybody would do it
- Limits like fears are just an illusion
- They laugh at me because I’m different, but I laugh at them because they’re the same
- Either go back to bed and continue dreaming or get up and go chase them
- Everything that now exists was once imagined
- The strongest people are not those who show strength in front of us, but those who win battles we know nothing about
- If you’re alive you haven’t reached your best yet
- Ask not what the world needs, but what makes you come alive because the world needs more people who are alive
- Don’t say I’m having a bad day, say I’m having a character building day
- Walk into a room with your head held high and if they don’t get it, laugh about it
- Do what is easy and your life will be hard. Do what is hard and your life will become easy.
