Question

Some days you wake up and right when you are going to begin your work, you feel a presence within you that stops you from doing so. You don’t want to work today and you don’t feel motivated to do anything but just escape. Without this motivation, you feel a little hopeless, lost, and stuck. But sometimes even if there is no motivation, you can still feel inspired.

Connect the Dots

Steve Jobs has never finished college. After studying in college for 6 months, he couldn’t see the value in it and dropped out. Not knowing where to go in life, he decided to take a class in calligraphy (书法). Ten years later, he designed something that has affected the different types of typography (排版) that we use today. If he hadn’t dropped out in college, he would never have taken that calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography.

Sometimes when you’re trying to reach a goal, it’s impossible to connect the dots where you currently are. Somehow you just have to trust yourself, and have faith that you will reach your dreams, despite not having the slightest clue or perfectly laid-out road to where you are going. Nobody can connect the dots looking forward; you only can connect them when you’re looking backwards. You have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in the future; you have to trust in something, whether it’s destiny (天数，命运) or not, but trusting yourself is the first step towards feeling inspired and having the motivation to move forward.

Perfect Your Environment

Look around your room right now or your workspace. Does it inspire you? Does it give you motivation? Is it noisy or quiet? Sometimes the hardest thing we do to ourselves is try to force ourselves to work in an area that is subconsciously telling us, “I can’t work here.”

And when you are constantly trying to discipline yourself, you will feel worse and be less productive. Instead try to build your ideal workplace and ideal time. Perhaps add a piece of artwork or a quote of your favorite person nearby you on the wall. Maybe add a beautiful plant in the corner to give you inspiration. If you feel more energy and enthusiasm during the night, schedule your day to work at midnight if you can. If you can realize the power of having a productive environment, you will naturally feel inspired and motivated to get work done.

Don’t Work So Hard

If you’re trying to force your way into taking action, it could be a sign that you are working too hard. Most people won’t wake up and waste an hour imagining, thinking further, or confirming, and the first thing they think about is asking “what do I need to do today?” And when they get the answer, they feel miserable, as if their work suddenly weighs them down. But if you spend time focusing on your goals, you’ll receive good feelings—feelings that help you feel inspired and motivated to take real action.

Don’t try to paddle upstream. That just basically equals saying to yourself that you need to force yourself to work hard every day. Instead, paddle along the stream of the river. Trust yourself, let your environment work in your favor, and spend some a little bit of time putting yourself in a state before you work. Inspiration will come to you from different ways—inside and outside—and give you the motivation to guide yourself towards reaching your dreams.

Brief Introduction		Lacking motivation makes you feel (71)   ▲   to do anything and even feel hopeless, lost and stuck. However you can still feel inspired sometimes though you don’t have (72)   ▲    .
(73)   ▲   to feel inspired	Connect the dots	●Steve Jobs’ success indicates that the dots will somehow connect in the future, (74)   ▲    the fact that you don’t have the slightest clue or perfectly laid-out road to where you go currently. ●Just (75)   ▲   yourself that you will reach your goal, which is the first step towards inspiration and motivation.
	Perfect the environment	●The worst thing is that you’re (76)   ▲    to work in an area where you are unable to work. ●You are supposed to build an ideal workplace and ideal time, and then you will be likely to feel better and (77)  ▲    more. ●A perfect environment will naturally (78)   ▲    you feel inspired and motivated.
	Don’t work so hard	Forcing your way into taking action could be a sign that you are working too hard but (79)   ▲    on your goals could help you feel inspired and motivated to take real action.
Summary		(80)   ▲   of forcing yourself to work hard every day, you need to trust yourself, build a favorable environment, spend time putting yourself in a state and surely you will get inspiration to guide you towards achieving your dreams.

Answer 1

71. unwilling       72. motivation      73. How / Ways    74. despite           75. trust  

76. forced / made  77. produce         78. help / make     79. focusing / concentrating

80. Instead