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by Robert Wood, Social Media Advisor – Prison Scholar Fund

Motivation is often illusive. In many instances there are reasons that people allow themselves to be discouraged, disappointed, or otherwise distracted from their primary goals. In these instances the motivation to stay focused, keep your eye on the ball, and press on is not strong enough to sustain you in the face of distractions. We must find things that motivates us which are within our own control. We must also keep the reasons for our motivations tied to our well defined purpose(s) and the goals which must be met to accomplish them if we are to succeed and utilize motivation as a competitive driving force in our lives.

In my own life I understand both the need for motivation and the disastrous effects a lack of it can have. Besides purpose, there is nothing more motivating than a winning persona empowered by a winning attitude. This can be cultivated through incremental wins in the learning and goal achievement processes. As you gain and understand new and challenging knowledge and begin to meet incremental goal targets, you begin to understand very clearly that you are a winner with many capabilities and abilities which can be defined as the traits of a winner. Logic tells you these winning traits are found in winners and in the process of developing winning traits you’re developing yourself into a winner. That is a great way to stay motivated to succeed.

In my own life I was at one time sentenced to 25 years and decided to change my life. This was a situation which would require great focus and the constant renewal of self motivation as years and then over decade of incarceration attempted to break my will. I actually watched it break the wills of many other individuals. Having a great purpose – changing my life and helping others – and knowing that I’m a winner allowed me to push on persevere, and continue to strive to better myself. Everyday as I watch the news I see people endure war, grave injury, massive deaths of the people closest to them, and natural disaster. At these times I remind myself how lucky I am and my self motivation and sense of purpose are renewed. For different people there will be different motivational factors and for winners, or winners in training, there will be self motivational factors which you can look to introspectively that will renew the passionate pursuit of your goals, and thus, ultimately of your purpose. Real purpose creates real motivation.

Find your purpose, pursue it passionately, stay motivated, and win.


Robert Wood, our Social Media Advisor, is a volunteer for the PSF. His Tweets can be found on Twitter, @prisonscholars, account under the hashtag #RLW_PSF. He can be reached via any of our social media outlets or emailed at the following address: rlw@prisonscholars.org.

If you’d like to hear more from Robert, please sign up for our quarterly newsletter, where he is a valued contributor. Just submit your name and email address. If you’d like to get involved with the PSF in a volunteer capacity, please email us volunteer@prisonscholars.org.