Motivation techniques

LTParis

I have been false-starting on getting certed up for 2 years now. It's always something in my daily life that ends up getting in the way and my drive to get things done comes creeping to a halt.

So maybe I just need a fresh mindset. What do you do to get motivated to test taking?

jamesleecoleman

Keep telling yourself that you want to do this - false motivation

I usually have motivation for certifications that I want to get. For everything else that I don't want to do, I use false motivation.

[Deleted User]

Think of yourself rolling in a pile of money.. That's probably motivation enough for anyone to do something right?

dynamik

Do an advanced search for motivation, and limit the search to thread titles only. There are tons of threads like this (spoiler alert: it usually comes down to cars, women, and/or money).

mikedisd2

Wait until the pain of career stagnation outgrows the convenience of doing nothing. It took me about 7x years.

LTParis

Problem with me has been I have been quite successful in my career. I make over six figures, drive nice cars, and I'm married with 2 kids (which that has been a de-motivator spending time with them). I've re-invented myself a couple times in my career to keep on top of things.

I might need to learn the art of false motivation.

vCole

LTParis wrote: »

Problem with me has been I have been quite successful in my career. I make over six figures, drive nice cars, and I'm married with 2 kids (which that has been a de-motivator spending time with them). I've re-invented myself a couple times in my career to keep on top of things.

I might need to learn the art of false motivation.

How have you re-invented yourself?

LTParis

I started my career almost 15 years ago and have essentially three phases in my career:

#1 Help Desk/Service: Spent first 3 years doing various L1-L3 help desk services, also dabbed a tad into networking and web design and programming. Knew I reached a plateau at the end of year 3. Got my A+ and MCP certs in this phase.

#2 Web: Spent 3 years doing web work, ASP programming, CSS, HTML, XHTML. Everything I learned was on-the-fly as it came. Also was doing side business web work and started to see that the market was getting oversaturated. Decided I would change my career up.

#3. Networking/Systems/Architecture: Last 9 years been focused on systems support, networking, architecture, backup and disaster recover, storage, security, virtualization. I've always been the jack-of-all-trades type so I have never hyper-focused on one silo of IT.

So I try stay fliud in what I learn, expose myself to as much technology as I can, and if it seems there is a dead end ahead I refocus my career on another aspect of technology. Lately it was Virtualization and rearchitecting networks which I did at the last couple jobs I was at. My current job I am more on the support side at a very large fed.gov institution which I hope to be able to work my jack-of-all-trades skills in different areas here.

Salary wise I am at the top of my career history, now making 2x more than I did less than 2 years ago. Again I had to adapt, and spent 15 months living in both NY (where my wide and kids were) and DC where my jobs are. The commute was hell, working 4 days in the DC area, then driving 5+ hours home, but it got us to a much better place.

I want my certs to put the proverbial "cherry on top" more so for personal validation. I don't have issues getting jobs (except in markets that don't want jacks-of-all-trades), and the money would likely not increase with new certs (except perhaps for a VCP).

But one of my biggets problems is a fleeting mind. I am constantly multitasking so trying to study for a single test has my brain quickly wondering to something else. I am almost seriously considering studying for 2-3 tests at the same time so I can be a little more "focused". Just a challenge.

Paul Boz

Money and clout, mostly.

ssampier

It sounds to me like you just need to relax a little.

Certifications are for learning new things and (hopefully) getting a bigger salary. Since you say the second part is not true, imagine the worst case scenario. You lose your current job. What kind of things would you want to learn now that you will be better prepared to look for a new job then?

Secondly, you sound super motivated and hard-working. Have you considered starting your own company? Lots of folks on this forum have done that (not me, however).

LTParis

ssampier wrote: »

It sounds to me like you just need to relax a little.

Certifications are for learning new things and (hopefully) getting a bigger salary. Since you say the second part is not true, imagine the worst case scenario. You lose your current job. What kind of things would you want to learn now that you will be better prepared to look for a new job then?

Secondly, you sound super motivated and hard-working. Have you considered starting your own company? Lots of folks on this forum have done that (not me, however).

I used to have a side business for a number of years (web design) but have not really put anything into it for years. I had considered starting a business here in the DC area but to really compete I need to be a 8a company (disabled veteran, minority, female, etc). I have been in talks with two of my former bosses to possibly start a company in a year or so, but just waiting for the right time on that.

Since I have a family with two kids it's much harder taking that kind of risk without a significant (multi-year) cushion.

ssampier

I understand. Starting a business always has inherent risks. Some like the risk and some do not.

As an aside, a recession can be a great time to start a business since competition is less fierce and everything from talent to equipment and land is generally cheaper. Make sure you do your market research first, though.

I think at the end of the day each person just has to figure out what motivates or drives them to succeed. If you are providing for the family and you're happy with how things are, maybe you don't necessarily need certifications at this point in your career.