I have been in hospital now for several weeks. Recently a major development occurred – I was allowed home for 4 hour stretches mid-afternoon. Imagine that: weeks in an institution and being institutionalised, and then 4 hours of home. It has been wonderful – rediscovering my old home again – going through the door, sittingContinue reading “The Motivation of Memories”
Author Archives: mappingmotivation
Small Joys
Quoting Blake from memory – being on a hospital bed in a hospital: To see a world in a grain of sand, A heaven in a wild flower; To hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour. is to remind myself of the glory that is everywhere around us inContinue reading “Small Joys”
On finding perfection
Again, friends, regrets for the imperfect production of new blogs! But I have been in hospital for 5 of the last 8 weeks and am still there – having had 2 major operations, each over 5 hours long. Thus, somewhat emaciated but on the mend, I now peer out to see the motivational use ofContinue reading “On finding perfection”
Why motivation is NOT often in the work place
It is not an original observation to say that in most work places we look we find that most people are not highly motivated. In many cases they are not motivated at all. They need to work and their commitment to and engagement with their employer extends no further than the next pay cheque. ThisContinue reading “Why motivation is NOT often in the work place”
Imaginary Beings, Numbers and God
The imagination is one of the most powerful faculties of the mind or indeed of human beings generally. It was the poet W. B. Yeats who said: “The imagination has some way of lighting on the truth which reason has not … and its commandments are the most binding we can ever know.” But thenContinue reading “Imaginary Beings, Numbers and God”
Entering the Whale
Firstly, apologies to all of my regular blog readers, who may have noticed that I have been inactive for a month. It’s not a holiday, much less a picnic… Imagine this: you are a strong boat sailing on various waters; accustomed to repelling the pirates of the sea, and repulsing the birds of prey fromContinue reading “Entering the Whale”
Winning the war
Somebody was speaking to me today about how important story telling is for a speaker, and I couldn’t agree more. The Cox Report on English teaching, like most Government sponsored reports, was full of well meaning waffle, but it did have one blindingly brilliant sentence in it: “Narrative may be regarded as a primary actContinue reading “Winning the war”
The Motivation of Art
Like most people I love art in all its forms, especially literature, music and painting. We take it for granted that art exists; after all, the papers are full of reviews of it. Only last Saturday the Telegraph was stuffed with interesting art reviews. But as I read some of them I thought: is thisContinue reading “The Motivation of Art”
Acorn to Oak
I was recently invited to address over 100 Sixth Formers about motivation and their careers. It’s a wonderful opportunity and it’s great to not talk to business people sometimes, and have an entirely fresh audience – at 17 years old, very fresh! As I scanned their ranks I could see the overwhelming problem: just howContinue reading “Acorn to Oak”
The nebulous, the subjective and the sub-conscious
I find when I talk about motivation I frequently have to admit three things: that motivation, as a topic, is nebulous, subjective and mostly ‘sub-conscious’. What do I mean by this? When Dr Johnson, of dictionary fame, was asked, What is poetry? He famously replied that this was like asking, What is light? We allContinue reading “The nebulous, the subjective and the sub-conscious”
The Mapping Motivation Series 