That begs the question: "How can someone be motivated without a purpose?" It seems to me that one needs a purpose before one can be motivated to it. This is one of those "cart before the horse" kind of scenarios. I could be highly motivated to run around like an idiot doing all kinds of meaningless things. What would be the point in that? The question reminds me of the kind of idiotic things that teachers and parents say to teenagers...and people wonder why they take drugs...

i always here the argument that people who dont strive to either move to a higher postition on the totem pole in their career or work towards some kind of financially higher plateau arent really motivated, they are just lazey and and dont have "what it takes"

i disagree with this manner of thinking, i think that if ones goals are much simpler, they can be much happier. i guess this opinion sort of mirrors Circusboy 86's survey about happiness with or without money.

I believe you can be happy and be a hard worker without being on top. People that arn't motivated and that are lazy move down the the totem pole. People that stay at the same level are just as good of workers than those who move up.

no, not at all. I don't think motivation has much to do with having an idea of how to lead your life. I do think that a lot of people who are very vocally trying to figure out their purpose in life unfortunately end up asking the wrong questions and thrashing about. I think you need to know yourself and be willing to ask hard questions and take hard responsibilities in order to be able to answer that question.

oh, no. I can say from personal experience that motivation does not provide meaning.

I have a purpose. I don't like it very much, and am looking for a better one.

Sometimes I feel they do, but it depends on the person and how well I know them and their motivations.

No. I think the opposite is more often true - searching for a purpose requires greater motivation than merely accepting one's existance without question.

When I hear "searching for a purpose" I think "Purpose", the big search, the thing you're doing with your life. I think people have plenty of little purposes; a lot of them involve getting through the day, the week, finding food, shelter, sex, and they're more or less motivated in dealing with those purposes.

Now the word 'purpose' sounds all weird to me.

It depends on the person. Some use that as an excuse to avoid committing to anything, while others are earnestly searching.

not necessarily. You often find people who are earning big bucks in the city, have flash cars, go to exotic places - always searching for something more. Celebrities who 'have it all' who turn to drink and drugs because its not good enough. Finding a purpose in live is completely different. Someone could give up their high paid job to paint and thus find their own purpose in life.

No, I just think they're lost. You don't FIND a purpose for life. Life is your purpose for everything

Hilarious. I can just imagine the catlike self-satisfied look on your face when you closed that little comment

Well then, you certainly don't sound "unmotivated". I suppose that looking for a better purpose requires some motivation in itself.

Going to work at the factory every day and then coming home and sitting in front of the TV set doesn't seem like much of a porpoise though, does it?

I had a little giggle...I amuse myself so much with this!

Gigglegigglegiggle

Maybe they just don't know what they want to do, or what their purpose is. Maybe, in some cases, they don't have any motivation.

lol

Just the opposite.....

I think people searching for a purpose are the opposite of unmotivated. It takes a lot of courage and strength to "find yourself". It means you have to admit you have absolutely NO idea what your future holds. Or you may have some sort of idea, and you have to go looking for approval in some way. By approval I don't mean you need someone to tell you you're doing the right thing, I mean you have to find out for yourself if what you have in mind will work , or if it needs more thought. Not everyone has a career picked out yet, not everyone knows what direction they want to take their lives. Some people think they have it all figured out and then 10, 20 years down the line decide they are unhappy and make a drastic change. This change they made turned everyones world around them upside down, but it is what they needed to do to be content with the person they are. That's where the drive and motivation comes in, because who really wants to do that to the people they love if it isn't going to benefit them overall. At one point in my life I thought I knew what I wanted, but I realized I was taking my life in the direction that other people expected me to. I have a lot of respect for the opinion of my family and people who love me, so I thought that meant I had to prove myself to them. But the person I kept forgetting about was ME. I go to bed at night with my OWN thoughts, and my OWN opinions, so those are the things that count. I think the motivated people are those that look at their own lives under the microscope and change or leave the same certain aspects as they see fit.

only if you're going to work at the shrimp mines...

No, but you're pretty unmotivated in not providing "Yes/no/other" options.

Shrimpelicious!

No, they are searching for Krishna.

I really don't know.

No, I don't. If you were unmovitated, I don't think you would be searching for much of anything but the t.v. remote, or that lost bag of microwave popcorn that you are just sure is in the pantry. But give up after about 30 seconds and just eat the stale bag of chips.

Some might be. Some might be motivated to search for a purpose. Some might be questioning the entire system of ambition and striving. Others might be very motivated and be cautious about carrying out that motivation without understanding their "purpose." It seems to me that more people could benefit from at least questioning why they're pursuing the things they're pursuing.

no, i think it just takes some people more time to find a purpose and others think they have a purpose but discover maybe they didn't. i don't think there is a time frame for this.

People search for purpose when there's nothing good on TV

No. Maybe some are, but I'd never make that generalization.

No. And no explanation - sorry.

I'm not sure there is a purpose to life. So I think They're searching aimlessly, but at least their searching. Maybe that is their purpose, and they won't find anything they're looking for. Not even in death, but maybe they'll find something else. Don't listen to everything I say, I'm suicidal. But it does make you think. More power to 'em!

Yes and no.

do you think recent events have anything to do with the way you answered this question.

Yes I do as a matter of fact. Things that have happened lately have made me look at life in a whole new way.

I would hope that everyone spends a little time searching for a purpose.

Not at all.