Here we are in the week of Blaugust dedicated to motivation, and I have put off writing anything for 5 days. The irony is not lost on me. I hope I’ll still get in a second post this week, but just sitting down to write this one has only happened because it is Blaugust and I’ve seen so many other participants posting some great content this week. The point of this short post is that motivation often comes from external sources. Being surrounded by a community of bloggers is sometimes the exact thing I need. 

I’m still not that enthusiastic about writing anything this week. I’m still pretty grouchy, listening to our mini-split AC unit dripping into a bucket and anticipating a pretty hefty repair bill once the backordered replacement pump gets here in a few weeks. But at least it is mostly working and our room is tolerable, if not comfortable. More than anything, our air conditioning system once again costing us a lot of money is interfering with my desire to create or play.

Since I’m not providing my own advice on motivation, the least I can do is shout out a few of the other posts I’ve read this week from other Blaugusters. (There was an entire discussion on the Discord about what you call a group of people participating in a mashed word event named Blaugust).

Starting with Mr. Peril/Roger Edwards from his Contains Moderate Peril blog. He gives 5 tips for staying motivated and they are actually great tips. But he doesn’t get top billing for that, he gets it because of his stellar picture of Hannibal Smith from The A Team walking away from an explosion looking smug. Have a good read of Blaugust 2023: Staying Motivated. 

Words Under My Name talks about dealing with heat that is much worse than my own situation. Sometimes we need to have our woes put into perspective and realize that someone else is persevering under worse conditions than our own. Blaugust Day 22: Put Me On Ice (sounds pretty nice to me actually).

Krikket at Nerd Girl Thoughts has another helpful motivational tips post #Blaugust2023 – Week Four – Staying Motivated Week and references some past posts that also have some great content in them. While I would say I also lean more toward Intrinsic Motivation, I also sometimes need a bit of cheerleading to keep me going during busy or grouchy times. 

In a slightly different take on motivation, Heartless Gamer writes about staying motivated in a game in the face of an announced change to how gear works, namely in New World. I feel this! Being on the gear treadmill in MMOs, watching your epic drops become obsolete as the next shiny patch comes out can be disheartening. Being able to focus on completing some non-gear related goals in a game is one good way to keep playing, at least for a while. Staying Motivated in New World (Gear Reset)  

I have had similar in-game goals that keep me motivated to play games, and many of my past Blaugust Motivation Week posts cover the ways that I stay motivated in games. 

The post that may have first kicked off talking about motivation this week was by Bhagpuss of Inventory Full – Motive and Opportunity. I have to say, the many typing fox images in the post are adorable. I’d suggest taking a look at the post just for those, but it is also interesting to see a bit of myself in the lines. I’ve posted many apologies about dry spells on my own blog.

Last, but certainly not least, and not the last Blaugustian to talk about motivation this week, Naithin with Time to Loot talks about Doing What We Do. What is it about blogging that draws some of us into starting and continuing to blog? Naithin does a bit of analysis into his own varied reasons, many of which resonate with me. 

So there you have it folks. If you can’t find some internal gumption, at least you can find some external inspirations to write about.