Finding What Drives You
STACY CHEN, SIP 2021
STACY, A CURRENT JUNIOR STUDYING HOTEL ADMINISTRATION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY, WRITES ABOUT HOW SHE STAYS MOTIVATED TO CONTINUE LEARNING AND GROWING.
Before talking about how to be motivated, let me first clarify what motivation is.
Motivation is defined as “enthusiasm for doing something” by Cambridge Dictionary. It means having a strong reason to act or accomplish something.
Now, here’s what motivation means to me: to always give my 100% and never give up. It means to firmly believe in my own potential and keep challenging and stepping out of my comfort zones.
I know “motivation” is such an overused word, just like passion or success, but in this blog, I want to share some of my personal tips on how I stay motivated and why it’s important.
Motivation starts from finding the areas to improve.
No matter how busy life gets, I always try to make time to reflect on where I want to improve next. And that motivates me to strive for my goals and step out of my comfort zone. It could be something small and simple, such as waking up at 7:30 am this weekend or finishing a book this month. It can also be something more challenging, such as learning Excel modeling or picking up a new language. While I am thinking about where I want to improve, I write down everything in my personal notebook and then examine to find my top priority.
My next area of improvement is self-learning. College is the time to explore interests and find my passion, but during the school semester, it is hard to find free time to self-educate on things outside of school that intrigue me. Now that I am in winter break, I hope to finish the three books that I borrowed from the school library and complete the MIT open course on Blockchain and Money.
Be inspired by others.
After figuring out my next direction, it’s time to find the enthusiasm that will drive me forward. As a student, we have such great resources and advantages to learn from the brilliant peers around us. I always think of college as a bubble, where intellectually curious and talented people can easily bond and interact with one other. It’s a perfect environment to be motivated and grow.
I love to go to social events to meet people and learn about each other. Talking to new groups of people, especially people from different majors, grades, backgrounds, or ideologies, is incredibly valuable and thought-provoking. These diverse opinions converge, then shape and create new opinions. And while learning about each other, it’s important to keep an open mind. Every time after a great talk, I always find myself to be a little more knowledgeable and ponder about the conversation for hours. These little moments in life truly help fuel my own motivations for the things I want to achieve.
The most memorable learning experience that motivated me this past semester was a conversation with a new friend. He told me about his experience working with an architecture professor, where he creatively integrates Computer Science into the project. He was able to combine his skills with hobbies in an innovative and practical way. It was very inspiring because he gave me a new perspective on the transferability of my own skills to other different fields, as well as a reminder to always think outside of the box.
Read, read, read.
Reading a book is like having a conversation with yourself. It’s a precious moment to learn about something new and be inspired by it. I remember in my first-year summer, I read What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence by Stephen Schwarzman, the founder and CEO of Blackstone. I felt so inspired and motivated by the stories and lessons in the book. Mr. Schwarzman started the story from way back when he was in high school, and wrote in details about his family background, challenges, adventures, and thought process throughout the years. Now, Blackstone is the largest private equity firm in the world, but in his book, Mr. Schwarzman wrote about how he got here step by step.
Lastly, I will leave you with this: Believe in yourself and then go for your dream. And along the way, remember to always be a little kinder than necessary.