The Energy - Motivation Tradeoff

It is not the things we are most motivated about we spend the most of our energy on. Even when we are following our passion, we still have to do a lot of boring non-motivating tasks. And we are usually most motivated about the things we can spare little energy for.

Often, the ones who have the motivation lack the energy and the ones who have the energy lack the motivation. And even in our individual lives, we struggle to find the energy for the things we are most motivated about and burn a lot of energy on the things we have little motivation for.

Sometimes, it's like we only get motivated about the things we can't afford to do energy-wise. Every employee has an entrepreneurial dream. Most entrepreneurs have a political or NGO dream. Everyone picks a dream they can spare little time and energy on.

I have more motivation for learning that earning. Everyday I spend more energy on learning I give up on earning. And whenever I put my energy into earning, I give up on the things I am most motivated about. And that's my personal illustration of the energy - motivation tradeoff. It's very hard to put all your energy into what you're most motivated about.

Today's post is another good illustration. I have gotten the motivation to write a long post but have not enough energy for it. So here I end today's blog post.