Motivation

What is motivation?

According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/motivation) motivation is:

1 a : the act or process of motivating b : the condition of being motivated
2 : a motivating force, stimulus, or influence : incentive, drive

To me, motivation is what causes a person to either do something, or to not do it. Motivation can be positive, negative, physical, emotional, monetary or obligatory. In fact, one event can have many various motivating forces working for and against the event at the same time! Why is this important to me and to this website? I find that if I have goals that other people know about, I am more motivated to complete them. Further, getting into a ritual of updating this blog would better accomplish my goals. It might even have the small side effect of helping you accomplish your goals! As to what those goals are, we will get to them in a different post.

Personally, I do better when the goals I want to accomplish have a penalty for failure or reward for success. Perhaps that is why the most common New Year's resolutions, "I want to lose weight" along with "I want to quit smoking" and "I am going to start exercising" usually fail. There is not a clear reward or penalty for failure and a distinct plan of action is missing.

In the next few posts, I will outline what my short term and long term goals are. If you come across the page, feel free to add comments.

Zack

Creation!

Well, it is early Sunday January 31 st and I've created this blog.

I created this blog for various reasons, to benefit myself and to share some of the things I've learned with the readers. I am attempting to add value to myself and grow as a person. What exactly does that mean? It is hard to explain, but I am aiming to become more knowledgeable, more open minded and a better person socially as well as financially. Yes, this blog is going to have a fair amount of financial topics and information. I also hope that by creating this blog, I'll improve my writing (I don't write a lot at work, so I don't get a chance to practice) as well as learning the inside and outside of how blogging works. I think that by keeping this blog, I'll add an extra level of motivation for my actions. After all, you can see my progress and see if I achieve or fail.

What you probably will see on this blog:

• Some general financial advice, mostly about pitfalls to avoid.
• Periodic book reviews and suggestions.
• Way of how I can "add value" to myself.
  
• List of goals and progress.
• References to a program called "StreetWise Partners." It is a volunteer program that I'll discuss later.
• Rants on fairly random topics from which I'll try to extract a point.
• Possibly Q&A if I receive good questions which can benefit many people.
• Topics and events relevant to me.
• Employment and networking.
  

What you probably will not see on this blog:

• Fancy graphics or the latest blog options. (Unless I learn them of course)
• More then one update per day. I don't plan to detail what I ate for lunch or when I'm going to the restroom. Updates will be based on new content, so a few days may pass before each update.
  
• A summary of news or current events. I don't plan to mention what happens and give my thoughts on each story.
  

That is the introduction to this blog.
If you wish to comment or ask questions, you can e-mail me at zakbachev@gmail.com