Passive Motivation

Motivation is what gives meaning to an action. With that in mind, to be motivated is quite important and perhaps the most among all. For as long as I went "online", I've always had a vision and been working towards it. It had been at least a good decade! Meanwhile, the extra energy went to those who seem lost at times.

Two weeks ago I found that I've used it all up but just for the record, I'd still like to contribute and do what I've been doing. After all, it's my life's work. This is my endgame (yeah that's a bit dramatic LOL). Anyways, I'm not yet to convey my problems again this time but to talk about this random phrase that just blurted out: Passive Motivation.

Two women who came to our "trial" session two weeks ago made an appointment with me on Friday morning. During which we were getting to know each other's ideas along with class delivery. To be honest, I was confused at the beginning for what I thought they came for their own interest in class but the subject seemed to be around their children and specifically the possibility of the kids joining in. I don't blame them because they're mothers of 4 children, respectively. However, I did (hopefully) make it clear that my focus in helping people with English ISN'T on children anymore. There are plenty of good reasons but just to name a couple:

1. Children don't know why they should learn a language they don't use. It is less likely effective no matter how many times we stress that "you'll need it in the future" or "...for your school/job application". Children, or to be fair adults too, don't want to be told but shown to.

2. Children don't hold their own fate. Yeah, lie to my face a thousand times that "we don't mind grades", sooner or later, we all do. What makes the grading system too tough to break is that there could be no missing links. Most of us believe in good (...yeah) but we're inclined to be affected by the norm, which is the academic performance of children, a.k.a grades. So it's great that you're on the right track of real education but what about your partner, parents, friends or even neighbors. Chances are that you'd be forced to give in and I'm not a big fan of being let down.

Even though I was not this straight forward in explaining, it was enough said. I guess the two mothers always light up that dying hope in me because I came up with some options for them.

a. They join for their own interests in English and seek another English teacher for children.

b. They join for their own interests in English but the kids could be near them.

c. They join for their own interests in English and seek help to accompany kids.

All three options serve my philosophy in some forms: my lost hope in children English, the reverse, the middle ground. We spent quite some time on the second option because they seemed to be overwhelmed by my radical idea on how if things set up ideally, that hour of English could serve as a passive motivation for children. What is it and how is it different from just motivation? As I wrote at the beginning, to motivate already means giving reasons to what people are doing but like what I also said "children don't want to be told but shown".

The concept is that while the moms and I are having an "All-English hour" and it's not like a typical classroom or teacher-to-student environment, it would help children understand how this foreign language is actually useful and plus their mom's are speaking English! How cool is Taiwanese English speaking Moms? On the other hand, since there's time for the little ones, they finally have time to find things to do in terms of not shouting or disturbing others. They could simply be playing table games together, drawing, or even just homework (assuming that they didn't do it before arrival). It'd be a form of co-learning or homeschooling. Of course, I am idealistic(insane). Passive motivation... Do I have scientific proof for it? Hell no. It doesn't make me wrong though.

OK, you should be wondering by now "what does this kid stuff have to do with us adults with no kids?". Well, like the old man(ME) said, "children are just a form of adults". I'm not sure if it makes sense but let me explain briefly. The difference between them is that the former is down-to-earth while the latter thinks no one knows. Hence, whatever that might work for children might work for us, too and vice versa.

Among the reasons for how I had maintained my motivation, one of them is the speeches on YouTube that is for everyone's access. Use it as it fits your style. For a long time,f I just play it on my laptop whenever possible. I don't really sit and watch unless I'm paying attention to the charisma of the speaker. This method I now call it my passive motivation. I used to keep some long speeches on my phone as well.

How could this help you is that first if you want it to yourself, you could try what I just mentioned about the speeches as you can see right below. It'd also be a good way to learn English because you'll find that they're talking about the same thing with different approaches. Some focus on attacking fear, laziness while others are about being brave and becoming active...etc. It's totally fine if you miss some words because they'll say those words again in another video.

If you'd like to use it for others, meaning you want to motivate others, I want to start by saying "good job and thanks" first. Here's a head start: don't push it. Accept the fact that the people you're trying to help may still end up the same or not the way you wish to be. We never can never really change the nature of anyone unless they make a genuine act out of their free will. It doesn't matter how great this idea you have is, nor how this person is going to suffer if he/she doesn't listen, they're meant to go through it. While this sounds fairly hopeless, it doesn't mean that we couldn't or shouldn't take the initiative and "try" to help. Of all the people that I tried to help all these years, perhaps none really knew what I was doing and I accept that notion. I wouldn't have done it otherwise.

Take action (in good deeds) without worrying about the outcome (or whether there's a reward). That's being passive. However, your act of kindness may just be the motivation people need. I'd like to end this post with a quote from Martha Kent in the movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (yeah this is happening a lot LOL):

Damn right we don't owe anyone. Neither does the world.

I guess my purpose of life thus far is to just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming~~

#education

#motivation

#selfreflect