Lack of Knowledge or Motivation?
By Christian Knutson, P.E.
Throughout our engineering career we will be faced with obstacles. Challenges that seem to loom very large and appear to keep us from reaching what we’ve identified as our desired goal. It might be completion of our undergraduate degree, obtaining our PE, or working on a particular type of project. If left unaddressed, the obstacle might loom so large that it eclipses the spark of light that drove us to seek the goal in the first place. When this happens, you need to ask yourself if the obstacle is due to a lack of knowledge or motivation?
If you’re stymied in reaching your goal due to a lack of knowledge, then there’s an easy fix: gain the knowledge. You can gain it through more self-study or enlisting the help of a teacher, tutor, or mentor. Your natural talent may lack in a particular area, but given enough effort and time, you’ll develop the knowledge needed. You can overcome the lack of knowledge and hence, overcome the obstacle.
If you’re held-up due to a lack of motivation, then it’s time to do some serious self-inspection. Why? What’s caused you to lose the motivation to achieve the goal that you began seeking with high motivation? Is it because you sought after a goal simply because others sought it, and like a lemming, you were compelled to do the same? Or is it because you didn’t do enough homework in advance to realize that it’s a goal you truly don’t care about achieving? Or is it because you took on more than you can handle? In any case, you need to come clean with yourself and drop the goal. Or come clean with yourself and reignite the fire. In either case, make an honest decision and move on.
On the hard goals in your life, only lack of knowledge or lack of motivation will keep you from achievement. Figure out which one that’s holding your back and take action to fix it. As Vince Lombardi so aptly put it: “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.”
NSPE member Chris Knutson, P.E., PMP, is a lieutenant colonel in the U.S.
Air Force with over 18 years of leadership and management experience in the
United States, Europe, and the Middle East. He’s also the author of The Engineer
Leader blog; you can read more at www.engineerleader.com.
