A clearer picture of my future

I recently got great news: I have secured a position as a loadmaster in the Air Force! I will leave for Basic Training (BMT) on April 27th. By this time next year, I should be completing my on-the-job training, and headed towards my first duty station...from which I will travel all over the world delivering troops and supplies to those in need.

I am extremely excited to begin this new adventure, even with the many challenges I will face. And equally as exciting is the fact that I recently discovered the key to dedicating myself to successfully completing my training...which I felt would be the hardest obstacle in this process, considering my documented problems with motivation.

After speaking with a clinical psychologist (thanks Reddit!) I have identified the major causes for lack of motivation. Anytime in my past that I've tried to motivate myself to do something, it has been difficult because I could never quite see the end of the road. While, on some level, I knew my work would have a positive outcome, there was never a tangible thing that I could point to and say "THIS is what I've been working towards." In college, for example, I knew that having a degree could be helpful to me. However, the degree itself was never something I desired, and there was no guarantee of success afterwards. Because of this, I struggled to motivate myself.

However, with my future in the Air Force, I can easily point to a number of direct benefits that completing my training will afford me. Most importantly, I have a vivid image that sums up what I hope to achieve with my career, and a clear path to that image. Because of this, it is much easier for me to motivate myself to work towards this goal, even though the path will be much more difficult than some of my goals in the past.

I certainly have a long way to go, and I have merely scratched the surface of what a life in the Air Force will entail. However, I remain hopeful that the outcome of my training will be a rewarding couple of years, and perhaps even a rewarding career. And I plan on dedicating myself wholeheartedly to that hope.