Re: [DIYbio] How do you keep motivated?

Allow me to add, by the way, that in my ruminations on the absence of
interest in Free/Libre I by no means disparage those who awesomely
supported IndieBB. There are people who share my love of Free/Libre
biotech, and many of them reside me. That we are too few in number to
support an industry on that basis alone is sad, but at least we are here!

On 06/06/14 20:20, Cathal Garvey wrote:
> There are many tiers and types of "motivation", so it'd be hard for me
> to give one answer. So, I won't.
>
> On the one hand, I'm motivated by a love of making/hacking/doing, and a
> love of teaching and enabling. And, that's not likely to change. That
> motivates me to do "stuff" daily, whether it's writing, coding, or (when
> I was able) biohacking.
>
> The other side is motivation to actually stick to a particular mission
> or task, to see something through to conclusion. Over time, with my bad
> luck in the lab and events like IndieBB, I found myself enjoying more
> and more the other end of my hobbies; software and writing. Motivation
> to actually do things in the lab is hard to maintain without successes
> or support, unless you have something else to go on. For most people,
> that's company and camaraderie, but I lacked that in Cork for a long time.
>
> Another thing that was keeping me going was a mission to develop "open
> biotech", but I learned that, as an end in itself, it's sadly not very
> rewarding. I still develop open, but I realised that few people besides
> myself care that much: http://www.indiebiotech.com/?p=245
>
> Of late, my motivation problem has been turning around. We've received
> verbal agreement from the Cork City Council that we can use a lovely
> city centre building for a minimal fee per month, to establish a
> biomakerspace, and I have found a nice nucleus of DIYbio founders to
> back it up. We have Synbio Axlr8r in Cork for at least another month,
> and some teams may choose to remain for a while or indefinitely.
>
> So, my mission right now is to somehow raise enough money in the next
> month to actually fund a biohackerspace, and my own survival, in order
> to give it all a good shot. Probably corporate sponsorship, if we can
> find a local company with enough vision. I feel like if I can get the
> doors open, and invite people into a communal DIYbio lab in my own city,
> that I'll never want for motivation again. Time will tell!
>
> On 06/06/14 17:25, Dakota Hamill wrote:
>> No science here, but nonetheless important.
>>
>> It's been interesting reading the posts on this group over the years and
>> even meeting some people in person.  The group is an eclectic bunch that
>> spans the gamut from academic professionals to people who've never picked
>> up a pipette in their life, and all are part of the family!  It's great
>> when that many people come together because they want to learn something.
>>  Curiosity is no doubt an important human trait, as is the desire to teach
>> others.
>>
>> I know many people each have their own little projects they are working on,
>> with some people intent on changing the world and others just happy to see
>> that a transformation worked.  Nevertheless I'd venture to say that many of
>> us all share something in common, and that's that we all are a little
>> "different" from the normal crowd.
>>
>> I never liked jumping through hoops and life has an odd way of punishing
>> you for that.  Many of us are or were students, undergraduate or graduate,
>> and I feel like academia can sometimes be the worst perpetrator of elitism.
>>
>> I'll be completely honest here and say part of me really desires to be part
>> of "the club" of elite institutions because it is a form of validation, of
>> saying, you made it, you're good enough.  And then the other half of me,
>> which brings me to this place filled with all you fine people, says #$%&
>> the club.  It says to me, you don't need external validation to be great.
>>  You create greatness through your actions, you inspire greatness with your
>> ideas, and you nurture greatness by helping others.
>>
>> Maybe I'm going through a quarter life crisis because I fear committing to
>> graduate school prior to taking a chance in life, but it seems like you're
>> up against the world when you're outside the bubble of rich schools and
>> rich companies.  I guess that never stopped many great people in the past
>> though, so why should it stop any of us?
>>
>> I suppose part of it is feeling guilty for asking for help without a
>> perfect product, or a flawless plan of execution, or an already finished
>> proof of concept.  But...often times you need help in order to make a
>> better product, or to build a better plan of execution, or to achieve a
>> proof of concept.
>>
>> Before I write a book that no one wants to read I think I'll stop there and
>> just ask, what inspires you?  What motivates you?  What are your successes
>> and failures? Do you fear living your entire life without being validated
>> for something you've worked very hard for?  How do you overcome caring
>> about what other people think to just get shit done?
>>
>> -Dakota
>>
>

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