My Motivational Journey

Motivation is the process by which one is moved, whether the process is external or internal. It encourages one to do something or not to do something. It can bring about positive change or a negative reaction depending on the situation. Many things affect motivation such as, the environment, your family background, schools, the government, and many other stimuli.

Probably the greatest motivational factor in my life is my mother. She has always encouraged me to complete my education, many times when I did not want to. I remember once when I was going to drop out of college, she nearly threatened me with bodily harm if I didn’t finish. Of course, I can’t say that I blame her, I only had one year left. I am extremely glad that she did.

I have always had the notion that I had to please everyone else when I was growing up. In elementary school, I had to always do good because my older brothers and sisters were good. Naturally I had to behave as well. I come from a large family. My parents had 15 children! Everyone one of us graduated from high school as well as worked on a farm. When I attended school, all I ever heard was that your brother or sister did well with this subject so you will naturally do as well. Sometimes this was good motivation and sometimes it was not a good tactic to use. There was always one good thing going for the Jacobs family, which was the fact that all of us liked math in school and it was real easy. It is no wonder we had straight A’s in the subject.

Let me mention Mr. Roy Maynor. He was my fifth grade teacher who set the course for me many years ago. We did not always as a family have all the things that the other kids would have in school, because we were reared on a farm and did not have much money to afford luxury items (candy, gum, potato chips etc). Mr. Maynor would always ensure that when we had school parties or snacks that I brought something to the party. He would buy me a pack of chips or a drink and bring it to me every time before we had a party. He was what I considered to be a number one teacher. Needless to say I tried with everything within me to make all A’s with this guy. He was my hero. Today, I only wish that I could be half the teacher that he was. Mr. Maynor died about 5 years ago, and I didn’t get to tell him that I really appreciated everything he did for me.