Derek Klingel

What Motivates you to work hard??

I find this question to be very interesting and I want to explain why. If someone were to ask me this question, I would probably come up with some BS to tell them. What really motivates me to work hard is when I am not satisfied, or I'm mad at someone or something, or when something is bothering me. These are all the probably more negative things that motivate me. There are some positive things like, thinking about the results, or wanting to be better. For the most part though, the negative things are the real reasons that I am motivated to work hard. I feel like if I'm working to prove someone wrong, or to take my anger out about something, that is when I work the hardest. I think it is very interesting because when I think about it, there is "good" coming out of "bad". What I mean is, motivation to work hard is great and neccessary for success, but being mad at someone or using the things that bother you in your life to push you isn't always a great thing to have on your mind. So great things come from struggles in life and I believe that is why people go through struggles. If everything happened the way I wanted to all the time, I do not think I would have as much motivation as I have now. I just think its interesting where motivation really comes from. It might be different for you, but that is where I get my motivation from.

I am in the city of Boston right now with my dad. The reason I came is to visit a college here and I ended up visiting Northeastern University. Even though I have a zero percent chance of getting accepted into this school, it was still fun to see it. I really love just being in a city. Watching other people, walking around, millions of places to shop and eat, never feeling bored, and I don't know I just love it. Seeing that college and other amazingly smart people, makes me wish I was smarter. I also do think though that God gave everyone strengths and weaknesses and that maybe I am not meant to go to college in boston. The campus was basically perfect though. I visit colleges really often and it makes me think so much about what I want my life to be and what I want to do. I remember I was reading the book "Hamlet" in english class and there was a part of the book that explained that " If you don't have a purpose in life, then you won't have any motivation". That was when Hamlet was suicidal because he did not feel like he had a purpose. I want to find something that I can do for work one day where I feel like I have a purpose and It keeps me motivated. It is very easy to lose motivation and self confidence when you see all these smart students. There will always be people smarter than you and people who aren't. Actually, to make it simpler, just don't compare yourself to other. This is something that I have been doing my entire life, however sometimes it does help motivate me. I do think it is good that I am sleeping over one night in Boston though, just to experience this city.

I am officially done with junior year of high school and I am very happy about it. Junior year was supposed to be the hardest year according to what people tell me and I'm not going to lie, it was pretty hard. It was not the classes only that made it hard, but it was hard because you have to do so many things all in one year. There is the SATs and other standardized tests on top of all the schoolwork from classes. I have been thinking about my future so much this past year. I am at that point in my life where I need to find out what I want to go to college for because I need to choose a college quite soon. I am having a hard time trying to figure out if I want to go to college in a city or at a regular campus in a suburban area. I really think that I want to go to college in New York City, but I am not sure. People tell me that it could be dangerous because of the crime rates and also maybe because it is not what a regular college experience is like, they think I won't like it. I have already visited at least 10 colleges and I want to make sure I choose the right major. I am thinking about a business major with a concentration in entreprenuership. I am very excited to graduate high school and move on and I am determined to choose the right college. I always ask myself in my head "What kind of job do I want when I'm older? or What am I going to do?" I feel like the future is exteremely important because it is the rest of my life and I want to be happy with whatever it is that I am doing.