Self Motivation

When I look back at the first eighteen years of my life one phrase comes to mind that classifies me, self-motivated. Around the age of twelve I decided that it was time for me to get both my boating and ATV licenses because without them I was not able to drive "powerful things" which I desired to do. At fourteen, still too young to work for any place in town and having too much time on my hands, my friend and I started up a lawn-mowing business for the summer. When I turned sixteen, I quickly got a job at the local Subway. After working there for a year or so I wanted to be able to have the certification required to run the place by myself...so I got my Food Manager License. Finally, in the spring of my senior year of high school, I began to pursue a goal of mine to become a pilot.

If I remember right, it was Latour that suggested that part of science is classifying. I felt that in order to tell a story about science in my life I would have to classify myself based on the life I've led and the things I've done. Thus I classified myself with a characteristic.

Elliot would entertain the question: Where did this 'self-motivation' come from?

Pinker would look to my genes for the answer. He would probably then follow the family lineage to see what my parents and grandparents are like. He would find that my father and grandfather are both very successful business people and my mother is very religious and lives her life for God which Pinker would call a 'Christian Fundamentalist.' Nonetheless Pinker would realize that most of my family and I have a few underlying characteristics in common that make us self-motivated. We are goal-oriented and for the most part perfectionists.

Lewontin would argue that society has played a major role in my self-motivation. If he were to look to the teachers at my high school, specifically my math teacher Mr. Erickson, hewould find that Mr. Erickson definitely had a positive impact on me. In fact, one of the sayings I now live by is on a poster in Mr. Erickson's room and it comes from Vince Lombardi, "Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect."