Motivation

  One of my all-time favorite movies is Patch Adams, that Robin Williams flick about a misunderstood doctor who goes from being suicidal to the one person who knows that patients need their emotions treated every bit as urgently as their bodies. While the real life Patch Adams might not be as much of a role model as the movie led us to believe, Robin Williams' true brilliance makes every second of his screen time inspired. Anyway, I didn't come here to talk about my movie preferences. I came to talk about motivation, and how it relates to one particular scene in this movie.

   Williams is in an insane asylum (how such a travesty occurred I don't know), where he befriends a man with a brilliant mind who went mad a long time ago, and learns a valuable lesson. The man holds up a hand in front of Williams' face and asks how many fingers there are. As most of us would, he naturally says "five", only to be met with disappointment. "Try again," the man urges. "You're looking at the problem, not the solution." Realizing what he means, Williams looks past the distracting hand and at the face behind it. As he does, the focus of his eyes changes and he sees the blurred outline of the hand separate into two. "Ten," he says, confidently. "Exactly."

  What's the point, you ask? Exactly what Williams learns. Don't focus on the problem. Look past it. See the solution. And the solution to any problem in life is a positive outlook and a willingness to be motivated. With that, any obstacle can be overcome. Because of this, don't ever allow yourself to be bogged down by the specifics or the fear of any particular problem. Look past it to the unstoppable power you possess, and overcome it.

  This is why it's important to keep a constant mentality of motivation. Fortunately, there's no shortage of Youtube videos that help with this. There's no better way to do anything than with the powerful words of encouragement about how you can do it through your inherent personal worth in your head. Live every day as if it were your last, and your first.