I like this question and have experienced the need for motivation in a similar way. For me, becoming motivated is a combination of (1) knowing more about the problem I’m working on and (2) establishing motivating reminders. The rest of this post is focused on malaria (disclaimer: I work at AMF) but I believe the ideas could be applied to many domains.
Example for (1): Over time, I’ve learned a lot about how malaria affects people, and also about the huge amount of work and logistics involved in a bednet distribution. I’ve seen videos of people driving motorbikes with bednets over muddy roads through the rain to get them to their destination. There were so many bednets loaded onto that bike that one could barely see the driver ;-) It’s humbling and motivating to me to experience how hardworking and dedicated and appreciative our partners are.
Example for (2): Above my desk hangs a graph from a statistical model of malaria incidence in a partner country. It predicts that there would be ~40% more malaria cases without “our” bednets. I’m not claiming that this is the correct number, but I have some confidence that it’s in the right range, and the printout provides a great boost of motivation. I also keep a folder on my computer with some highlights. For example, there’s a picture I love where GPS coordinates of bednets are plotted over a satellite image of rural Uganda. One can see immediately that every household has received nets.
Ultimately, motivation is individual and drifting… I have to refresh mine regularly. It’s still sometimes low; that’s part of life!
I like this question and have experienced the need for motivation in a similar way. For me, becoming motivated is a combination of (1) knowing more about the problem I’m working on and (2) establishing motivating reminders. The rest of this post is focused on malaria (disclaimer: I work at AMF) but I believe the ideas could be applied to many domains.
Example for (1): Over time, I’ve learned a lot about how malaria affects people, and also about the huge amount of work and logistics involved in a bednet distribution. I’ve seen videos of people driving motorbikes with bednets over muddy roads through the rain to get them to their destination. There were so many bednets loaded onto that bike that one could barely see the driver ;-) It’s humbling and motivating to me to experience how hardworking and dedicated and appreciative our partners are.
Example for (2): Above my desk hangs a graph from a statistical model of malaria incidence in a partner country. It predicts that there would be ~40% more malaria cases without “our” bednets. I’m not claiming that this is the correct number, but I have some confidence that it’s in the right range, and the printout provides a great boost of motivation. I also keep a folder on my computer with some highlights. For example, there’s a picture I love where GPS coordinates of bednets are plotted over a satellite image of rural Uganda. One can see immediately that every household has received nets.
Ultimately, motivation is individual and drifting… I have to refresh mine regularly. It’s still sometimes low; that’s part of life!