Self Motivation by Brendan Clark

I'm here today to talk about motivation, and I've learned in my few years on this earth that motivation is
really the key to effecting change in anything that you do. You can put a paper that was written without
any motivation, without any effort, and you could put a paper that was written with drive and passion
next to each other; it's clear which one is the winner.

Motivation is the underlying factor, I believe, in everything that we do on a daily basis. If you don't have
motivation in something that you do, then you really can't achieve what it is that you want to achieve.

Everyone has motivation for things they're passionate about, things that interest you, things that inspire
you, and of course you'll have motivation if you play a sport, if you're in drama, if you're in a band. You'll
have motivation to accomplish that task. But the true test of finding motivation is if you can find it in
something that doesn't interest you. Personally, I'm interested in sitting through town council meetings
and reading the 404-page town of Barnstable budget. But others might not find so much paper so
interesting. However, motivation can be found in everything that you do.

I like to look at it, in terms of finding motivation, as just putting yourself in someone else's shoes. When
you're questioning, "Why do I have to do this?”, “Why do I have to put in the time?”, “Why do I have to
put in the effort?”

You can just look at what you're doing and say, "This helps this person because” or "This person is going
to appreciate my effort and my motivation on this task because”. And I've always found that that
appreciation that others have for the effort that you put in, that's what motivates me, the fact that
someone is going to appreciate what I did.

So when the teacher gives you a paper or something to do, and you say, "This is stupid. I have better
things to do.I'd much rather go outside and throw a football”. Whatever it is, look at it and say, "This
person is going to appreciate the work. This person put in the effort to create the assignment. Now
they're going to see and appreciate it.”

I do that in every assignment I'm given and everything that is ever brought before me. And that's always
something that I think we need to go out and look at when we go out to tackle an issue. Filing papers
people might not find it interesting. But think about how much help you're doing to somebody else.
Think about the responsibility that you're helping someone else fulfill. And that sort of help and
appreciation motivates you.

For me, fine dressing is something that I like to do every single day, and I don't just do it because I enjoy
it: I do it because people appreciate it. People see that I took the extra time to prepare myself for
whatever it is that I'm doing. And they thank me for it, and that thanks, that appreciation, is truly what
motivates me to go out and do whatever it is that is put before me.
So I want to finish briefly just by saying that motivation is so important in anything that you do, and
without it, you really can't accomplish what you want. But with it, you have the passion to effect change,
the passion to make a difference, and you really do have the passion to go out and change the way
things are done and make a difference in anything that you want to do.

Thank you for your time and your ears.