The other day I was asking what inspired us and then yesterday talked about an external frame of reference. What about motivation? As I see it, inspiration is an external source that breathes life into our bodies, while motivation is an internal reason for us to move. These positions work hand in hand but if we do not understand ourselves well enough, our motivation is at the mercy of the environment, not ours to harness.  

![16_JUNE_16_Macro-17.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmTDj7YPWVSgBRrMsHQPN7EMgfPxjaffVyL71SzAAc2rkJ/16_JUNE_16_Macro-17.jpg)

They say that amateurs need to be be motivated to act, to feel like it. Professionals I  the other hand no what they do and themselves well enough to be able to perform even when they aren't feeling it. This is going to be topic dependent isn't it as we can't be professional in all things which means for some things we must feel like doing it to actually do it. 

I find this with my own content development as it goes through waves of motivated periods where sometimes I focus heavily on one or two topics while and then shift to others. I am not a professional writer, I need to feel it. But what saves me is my range of interest areas and the ability (actively developed over time) to find something of interest in any situation. 

The most boring corporate meeting has hundreds of side events worth investigating of one looks and since I like watching people, this is often what piques my interest receptors. And people's behaviour is not topic dependent, people behave everywhere and the interest comes when the reactions change as the environment changes. 

Although not a professional, I like to explore these things across whatever I write also which keeps my mind motivated, even though nothing may be going on. I can look at it from a Steem perspective, a business view, through fiction or a poem and while it is about human behaviour, it is also an exclusion off my own thoughts, feelings and how they effect my own actions. 

Why I mention this is because Adobe people struggle with content development when environmental motivation is low, but especially when there is uncertainty. I have noticed quite a few of the Steem writers feeling a motivational lack of resources. It is kind of similar to those who write for reward only and disappear when they are low, without having what motivates is present, we can struggle. 

But rather than disappear, we can use these times to explore other areas of ourselves, find new inspirations and perhaps new loves that we can turn to in time as a stable resource we control. Even though the inspiration is external, knowing *why* we do what we do and why we are inspired by what we are votes a long way to always having the possibility to source material to play with. 

What I have observed over the years is that as different as we are, we share a lot more similarities than differences. This means that even if we are inspired and motivated by different things, the mechanisms that support are the same but it is up to each of us to find out the *why we do what we do.*

Work that out and motivation is easy to find. 

Taraz
[ a Steem original ] 
<sub>(posted from phone)</sub>