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This is going to be a little different topic for me, but one I believe needs to be addressed simply for the sake of it. It is quite the long shot from my normal series of Epic Tales, but it is related in that fact that it is the reason why I have not been able to keep to my original schedule of when I wanted to publish outlandish stories of my ordinary life with my family. It is also the reason I have fallen behind on quite the number of things in my life lately. I seem to lack motivation.

I would love to say that it has only affected my extracurricular activities in my life, this blog and my writing mainly, but I would be lying. It’s a little harder to get away with at work with deadlines and a boss who is pretty proactive in staying on top of your work, but at home it’s a completely different story. At home I am the boss of my life ( at least when my wife isn’t around) and I can choose to do or not do some of the things that need to be done. Can the dishes wait another night? Sure. Should I sit down and write after putting the kids to bed? Nah, I’ve got Facebook/Pokemon/Netflix to keep me busy till I fall asleep. Yes I still play Pokemon and Sword/Shield is taking up more time in my life than I care to admit. Sometimes even taking out the trash seems like too much to handle, and I never remember having this much difficulty taking care of the basics before in my life.

It's beginning to seem like all of the things I want to accomplish in life are only getting in the way of what I would rather do, and I don’t remember me having this attitude. Back in high school I played basketball. I was a proud junior varsity starter all the way through my senior year. I was not very good, but I loved to play, and all I could think about was getting my few minutes of time on the varsity squad. Being in a class of a whole sum of twenty five kids, this wouldn’t seem like too hard of a goal to achieve, but I really wasn’t that great of a player. Still, every practice, I was there working my butt off trying to get just a little bit better, just enough to play on the varsity squad to prove I had what it took. I had drive back then, a no quit attitude, and now I can barely push myself to write this.

Sure I could blame it on the struggles of becoming an adult. Had I known what was coming for me, I might not have tried so hard to grow up. But honestly, I don't believe that is the case. Don't get me wrong, balancing raising two kids and managing a healthy marriage and a career is no easy task, but I am more prepared now for adversity than I ever was growing up, and yet, I find it harder to focus on my own future goals than the present entertainment. I have a wife who most likely thinks I'm crazy half the time but nonetheless supports me in my writing adventure and yet, I still find it difficult to spend a whole hour every night to further what was once a passion for writing.

If you are here for me to tell you how I have overcome the odds to figure out how to beat this lack of motivation, then I’m afraid to tell you that you are reading the wrong article. All I know is that I have now been writing for two full hours when I haven’t written more than five words in over two months. For once I managed to overcome my laziness and forced myself to sit down and type out what i’ve been thinking for the past two weeks, and I’ll be damned if I didn’t sit here and write twice as much as what I thought I would. Perhaps I just need to find a boss for my writing schedule as well.

I think what bothers me the most about this is my children. They are at a very impressionable age and are picking up the habits of their mother and I rather quickly. I’m enjoying watching them become interested in things that used to entertain me as a kid, as well as things that still do, but I am very concerned that they are also picking up on how I spend my time when motivation is at its thinnest; watching television, playing on my phone and video games to name a few. At the time of this writing, my son has started thinking that if he behaves during the day then we will play Mario Kart after supper, which I have no problem with every now and then, but he gets upset every time I tell him ‘not tonight’.

I do feel like there is more to motivation then just suddenly feeling the urge to do something. I believe that it is also something you have to work towards. One of the most common pieces of advice I see all the time about writing is to write every day, find a time when you can sit down and just write. For me, this is after I get my kids to bed; I go downstairs and feed the dogs and am supposed to sit down and write. I even moved my desk to our room so I would have one place to sit down every time to write instead of hauling my laptop all over the house. And I have to say, when I actually stick to my schedule, it seems to work out. I can’t even tell you how many times I've looked at the dishes and thought ‘I can do them tomorrow’ until they get to the point that it’s become quite the task just to do them when it would have taken a fraction of the time to just do them every afternoon.

Looking back on what I've written so far has made me realize that I have lied to you. Well, maybe not a lie but a half-truth at the very least. What I’m about to tell you is not exactly advice as much as my view and game plan going forward. Don’t give up on your dreams. Set a goal and work your way towards it. You’re going to fail, probably multiple times, but keep at it, set a new goal, and keep pushing forward. I have set multiple writing goals over the past couple of years and have yet to meet a single one of them, but they have pushed me to do more with my writing then what I probably would have done otherwise. Looking back on all of this has reminded me once again that if I would have just stuck to a schedule, I would have more opportunity for motivation to flourish.

Thank you for taking time out of your day to essentially read what goes through my head when I talk to myself and hopefully we can all find a way to self motivate. And if any of you have another idea for promoting motivation, I would love to hear it. Shoot me an email or leave a comment.