The excuses driven by underwhelmed motivation

You know that capturing a Life Story in some form is a great idea and maybe even occasionally at 2:30am you have had a little panic attack knowing that you need to get underway, NOW!

…But then the moment passes and, well, you just feel a little underwhelmed again. There’s always time to do it later anyway.

The underwhelm is really just having a lack of motivation to do what you know needs to be done. If you had the motivation you’d be excited and you’d find every opportunity to get the job done and all the excuses would fall by the wayside.

The underwhelm is the motivation, the overwhelm is the excuse.

Welcome to the Overwhelm

The lack of motivation is the crux of the matter but it’s the excuses that drives that lack of motivation and the excuses can be overwhelming giving you a justification to procrastinate.

* No one really cares

* I won’t get any return from my efforts

* I don’t understand the technology

* I don’t know what to talk about

* My life doesn’t matter

* I have too many things to talk about

* Where do I start?

* It’s too hard

* I don’t have anyone to talk to

* There is still plenty of time

* There are more important things at the moment

* I’ve done nothing noteworthy

…And the list goes on.

4 types of excuse

We all make excuses for what we’re not motivated to do. Often it all seems too hard and we feel completely overwhelmed but really there are only four categories that the above list falls into and there are ways to resolve each of them.

Content

You may not have done anything noteworthy to the greater world but your family, above all else will care about your life and what you know. Even the lives of the larger than life individuals are primarily made up of everyday events with just the occasional grand adventure. Everyone has a life time of stories to talk about and the younger generation is always fascinated in those stories.

Support

The technology is now simpler, cheaper and easier to use than at any time in history but if you still find it too challenging, look around your family and community for some assistance. There are also people you know who may also be able to sit in conversation with you to discuss you Life Story. It is always easier to record a Life Story with someone else.

Reward

Take a moment to consider why you really want to record this Life Story. I don’t mean all the issues about the importance of capturing it but the actual return that you’re going to receive for all this effort. Things like praise, respect, understanding, immortality, forgiveness, etc. These are the “return on investment”, of your time and energy and if you don’t understand what you need and that it may be some time before you receive it, your motivation will fade.

You may never, Ever, get this return on your effort! Are you happy to know that it may only be appreciated long after you’re gone, much as you would appreciate discovering an old 78rpm record of a long departed r...