What motivates you to do something? I mean, what really gets you up out of your seat and moving toward an end goal--especially when that goal may be somewhat difficult or time consuming to accomplish?
In "Motivation Part I" I wrote about the motivation factors that moved me to obtaining my motorcycle license. While I was working toward obtaining my license, I met another person on the same path. I told Angie about this person and she made me promise to post about this encounter and this other person's motivating force, so here it is.
The first class I was required to attend was an orientation class. During this class we were introduced to the training center and the Honda motorcycles we would be learning on. The instructor taught us useful information such as how to use the motorcycle controls, how to start the motorcycle, and how to get the motorcycle back on its wheels after a fall. We had not yet obtained our learner's permits so we were not allowed to actually get on the motorcycles--that would be covered in the first real skills class.
I looked around my classmates and noticed something--I was a bit out of place. First, I was the only "ang moh" (Caucasian) in the class. Second, I was a bit older than all of the other people in the class. In Singapore, the minimum age for a drivers license is 18. Since cars are so very expensive, the first license many people get is a motorcycle license. Therefore, all of the other people in the class were probably very close to 18 years old. Well, almost all--I noticed there was one other person that appeared a bit older than me. I have not quite learned how to judge an Asian person's age, so I had no idea how much older he might be. His was a larger man with his head completely shaved--so I couldn't even use his hair color as an indicator.
A couple of weeks later I was able to attend the first theory class. When I entered the classroom, I recognized a familiar face--this same person that was in my orientation class. Happy to see at least one familiar face, I waved hello. He smiled and appeared to recognize me as well. I sat down in the desk next to him and we began to talk. I found out his name was Christopher. Like me, he had a car license and several years of driving experience. Christopher has a couple of dogs. He is Singaporean and has recently retired--turns out he was quite a bit older than I had originally thought.
A few days later, I attended the second theory class. I entered the room and sat down. Within a few minutes, Christopher appeared at the doorway. Seeing a familiar face, he walked over and sat down next to me. Again, we started talking. This time about why we were gettting our motorcycle license and what type of motorcycle we wanted to get. I told Christopher that I wanted to get a cruiser style bike and that I was getting a motorcycle so I could still drive to work when my wife needed the car.
Christopher then told me that he wanted to get a bike with a side car. I found this a little peculiar because the motorcycles with side cars are usually smaller bikes. Christopher was quite a bit larger than the typical Singaporean and seemed to me to be disproportionate to the bike he was describing. When I asked him how he planned on using the side car, he told me his motivation for getting a motorcycle. Christopher wanted to get a motorcycle with a side car so he can transport his dogs. At this point I was envisioning this large man on a small motorcycle with two dogs in the side car with their riding goggles over their eyes and riding scarves waving in the wind trailing behind.
Christopher continued his explanation by telling me his dogs suffer from motion sickness. When he has to take them somewhere in the car, it turns out to be a messy experience. If he can transport them in the side car, then he will be able to clean up after them much more easily--he can simply hose off the side car and let it air dry. I found this a very peculiar motivation for a retired man to decide he needed to get a motorcycle license after all these years of driving a car.
I continued on with my classes as fast as the class and test schedules would allow. I ran into Christopher a few other times, but he seemed to be progressing through the classes a bit slower. I hope he was able to make it through to the end. If you see a motorcycle travelling down the road with a couple of dogs in the side car, wave hi for me.
In "Motivation Part I" I wrote about the motivation factors that moved me to obtaining my motorcycle license. While I was working toward obtaining my license, I met another person on the same path. I told Angie about this person and she made me promise to post about this encounter and this other person's motivating force, so here it is.
The first class I was required to attend was an orientation class. During this class we were introduced to the training center and the Honda motorcycles we would be learning on. The instructor taught us useful information such as how to use the motorcycle controls, how to start the motorcycle, and how to get the motorcycle back on its wheels after a fall. We had not yet obtained our learner's permits so we were not allowed to actually get on the motorcycles--that would be covered in the first real skills class.
I looked around my classmates and noticed something--I was a bit out of place. First, I was the only "ang moh" (Caucasian) in the class. Second, I was a bit older than all of the other people in the class. In Singapore, the minimum age for a drivers license is 18. Since cars are so very expensive, the first license many people get is a motorcycle license. Therefore, all of the other people in the class were probably very close to 18 years old. Well, almost all--I noticed there was one other person that appeared a bit older than me. I have not quite learned how to judge an Asian person's age, so I had no idea how much older he might be. His was a larger man with his head completely shaved--so I couldn't even use his hair color as an indicator.
A couple of weeks later I was able to attend the first theory class. When I entered the classroom, I recognized a familiar face--this same person that was in my orientation class. Happy to see at least one familiar face, I waved hello. He smiled and appeared to recognize me as well. I sat down in the desk next to him and we began to talk. I found out his name was Christopher. Like me, he had a car license and several years of driving experience. Christopher has a couple of dogs. He is Singaporean and has recently retired--turns out he was quite a bit older than I had originally thought.
A few days later, I attended the second theory class. I entered the room and sat down. Within a few minutes, Christopher appeared at the doorway. Seeing a familiar face, he walked over and sat down next to me. Again, we started talking. This time about why we were gettting our motorcycle license and what type of motorcycle we wanted to get. I told Christopher that I wanted to get a cruiser style bike and that I was getting a motorcycle so I could still drive to work when my wife needed the car.
Christopher then told me that he wanted to get a bike with a side car. I found this a little peculiar because the motorcycles with side cars are usually smaller bikes. Christopher was quite a bit larger than the typical Singaporean and seemed to me to be disproportionate to the bike he was describing. When I asked him how he planned on using the side car, he told me his motivation for getting a motorcycle. Christopher wanted to get a motorcycle with a side car so he can transport his dogs. At this point I was envisioning this large man on a small motorcycle with two dogs in the side car with their riding goggles over their eyes and riding scarves waving in the wind trailing behind.
Christopher continued his explanation by telling me his dogs suffer from motion sickness. When he has to take them somewhere in the car, it turns out to be a messy experience. If he can transport them in the side car, then he will be able to clean up after them much more easily--he can simply hose off the side car and let it air dry. I found this a very peculiar motivation for a retired man to decide he needed to get a motorcycle license after all these years of driving a car.
I continued on with my classes as fast as the class and test schedules would allow. I ran into Christopher a few other times, but he seemed to be progressing through the classes a bit slower. I hope he was able to make it through to the end. If you see a motorcycle travelling down the road with a couple of dogs in the side car, wave hi for me.
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