Finding Motivation in the Weirdest Places 01: Silver Linings Playbook

Things are going well. It's a lot hard than I thought it would be to come up with new content for this 30 day challenge. It's really helping me find inspiration in many different places. This is good, and will only make me a stronger writer and more creative minded person. That is exactly what I was going for.

Tonight's post was going to be about a new reward system/ game that I have semi-created (I got the idea from a podcast I listen to), but that will wait until tomorrow.

Instead, I am introducing a new series of articles: Finding Motivation in the Weirdest Places. This evening I red-boxed Silver Linings Playbook. My wife wanted something romantic and I obliged. It was not exactly what I expected it to be. I will try to keep this spoiler light and will keep, but there might be some minor details that come out, so SPOILER ALERT.

The movie is a quirky character-based dramedy about a man who is trying to find his footing again. He has just been released from an eight month stint in a mental institution for savagely assaulting his estranged wife's lover.

The story is choppy and the characters are frustrating at times, but boy was it entertaining. I would give it four out of five stars.

Anyway here is the personal motivational truths I took away from this movie:
1.) Dogged determination can improve your life situation. Our hero lost 80 lbs, runs every morning and whenever he is frustrated, and is reading through every book on his estranged wife's syllabus to better understand you.
2.) A positive outlook also helps. Our protagonist takes every setback with the mantras that he is looking for the silver linings and "Excelsior".
3.) However, they can only take you so far. You need to not be afraid of mistakes, but you must learn from them. The main character suffers many self-inflicted set backs in order to improve his situation and win his wife back. Each time, he learns from them. Sometimes the lessons he learns are frustratingly inaccurate or too small, but each time he tries to change something. By the end of the movie the character is taking his medicine, is avoiding situations that would put him in trouble with the law, and creating new mantras. End result: Happy.

END SPOILER

Here's what I took away.
1. Find a goal and create a routine to achieve that goal.
2. Stay Positive.
3. Make mistakes, and learn from them.


That's it for now. I needed to make sure I stayed on task. I'll see you tomorrow.

-P (Both Challenges 04/30)