Introduction ¶

I find motivation crucial. It is the most important energy that drives us. Everyone has different motivations, but it is essential to every one of us. I currently lack motivation to write new blog posts. And I decided to write down my thoughts why I lack motivation and what actually motivates me. Maybe that will help some of you to learn from it regarding your own motivation.

Why I blog ¶

I wouldn't blog if I'm not motivated. I currently believe you either need motivation or pressure in order to do things. Some might feel the urgent pressure to rescue our planet, others might feel the pressure to finish something in time. But some might find it motivating to help other people. I'd say motivation is the better reason to do things. And I don't have any pressure to publish blog post.

I blog because I feel motivated. I'm motivated to blog because it is a way to share my knowledge with others. It allows me to demonstrate things I've done and am proud of. That's the same as being at a user group or on a Bar Camp. All three allow me to share my knowledge with others.

But it wouldn't motivate me if it would be a one way. It motivates me because of the feedback. The feedback regarding blogging is very small. I can see the number of page views, but I don't know if it is actually useful for visitors. Unless someone contacts me and says thanks. That doesn't happen very frequently, leading to the feeling my blog posts aren't helpful, leading to the feeling this is wasted time, leading to lack of motivation.

The feedback during camps and user groups on the other hand is much more. At least one visitor of a session always says thanks or ask questions. Questions are an indicator that they find the session interesting. And some people also say thanks for one or the other blog posts, but they wouldn't write me, its just that they see me and think they will share their gratitude. That's very motivating.

Camps and user groups also allowed me to share what I've done since the last camp. Most of the time I couldn't wait until I could share the latest ideas and concepts and their outcome. Some people could follow my ideas and found them useful, which ended up in me writing a blog post to share with everyone else.

Why I lack motivation ¶

I've now covered what motivates me and why I blog. I'll now share why I currently lack the motivation.

I don't visit many bar camps any more and I don't visit any user group at all. That happened during the COVID-19 pandemic, for obvious reasons. But I also no longer visit them after the pandemic. I'm too lazy, the habits have changed. I'm now in a relationship, and it is more important to have time with my partner than to invest time in visiting camps or user groups. That leads to missing motivation, as most feedback came from personal talks. That also leads to missing exchange of knowledge and I no longer share what I've done.

I also didn't share my ideas any more. I noticed that during the TYPO3 Developer Days 2022 when Benni asked me what I've done in recent years. I couldn't answer that question, it felt like I've done boring daily business. But of course I've done the same daily business as before the pandemic, always questioning existing solutions and looking for something better. Developing new concepts and ideas and trying them out. There would have been so much to talk about and to share and blog. But my mood has changed due to not sharing my excitement with others for some years.

What you could learn ¶

Every one of us needs motivation to pass the days, weeks, months, and years. Motivation is the positive influence that's keeping us alive. That's why I believe every one of us should find what motivates us and focus that in our lives. Motivation can change though so can our focus. We shouldn't feel bad because of that. Instead, we should become aware of our shift of motivation or focus and adjust our live.

My focus has shifted towards my current relationship and becoming more friendly to our planet. I can't use that as focus or motivation for my job, but for my live. It is currently a bit complicated to keep up the same level of motivation for my job. But the issue might not be the lack of motivation but the lack of self awareness of motivation. Sometimes we don't feel motivated because we are not aware of certain things. Things might become commonplace, like your job or relationship. But that doesn't mean they become less motivation, just you might not notice any more. We can train our self awareness for those kinds of things and become motivated again. That's what I'll try to do next. You might notice the outcome based on the upcoming or missing new blog posts.

I hope this blog post helps some of you to become motivated again. Feel free to contact me. And feel free to contact every one who motivates you or who helps you. People from your private live, family, partners, friends. As well as within your jobs like your boss or colleagues. And don't forget people like open source maintainers, writers, video producer people in your library, in your supermarket, and everyone else who makes your live better. I believe it doesn't harm our world and society to say “thank you” more often.

Thank you for reading this blog post.