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On Motivation

2017-01-24 · letter vlog · John · 3:28 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Everyday life (also: Personal life) · mode: Personal essay · tags: self promotion

John, long an enemy of motivational quotes (untrue, misattributed, plastered on gyms), admits that 100 Days has made him a fan; his adult life keeps forcing him to take seriously what he once dismissed, and fitness has taught him there is no hard line between body and brain.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Greeting; John's 100 Days health and fitness journey with Chris

  • ★★ John says that on 100 Days he is on a health and fitness journey with his best friend Chris, and jokes that he is becoming a self-help book. — 00:00:02 · 100 Days

00:00:10 — Why John hates motivational quotes: untrue, misattributed, plastered on gyms

  • ★★★ John says he has long been an avowed enemy of motivational quotes such as 'tough times don't last, but tough people do' and 'nothing worth having comes easy'. — 00:00:10
  • ★ John notes that one such line, about trying to do something remarkable, is from his own novel An Abundance of Katherines: 'so my bad'. (playful) — 00:00:19 · An Abundance of Katherines
  • ★★ John's first problem with motivational quotes is that they aren't true: tough people die like everyone, and many worthwhile things, like bananas, come easily. (playful) — 00:00:26
  • ★★ John says the characters in An Abundance of Katherines hopefully spend the novel learning that an unremarkable life can be fulfilling and meaningful. (hedged) — 00:00:40 · An Abundance of Katherines
  • ★★ John calls the line 'if you can dream it, you can do it', attributed to Walt Disney and on countless posters, manifestly untrue. (playful) — 00:00:47
  • ★ John mocks 'the mountain we must conquer exists within ourselves': then why did Edmund Hillary climb actual mountains? (playful) — 00:00:57
  • ★★ John says neither Walt Disney nor Sir Edmund Hillary ever said the quotes so often attributed to them. — 00:01:07
  • ★★ John says the motivational-quote plague is worst at gyms: his gym has a Steve Prefontaine quote, and a boxing gym's sign read 'you don't have to get ready if you stay ready'. — 00:01:13

00:01:28 — Becoming a fan anyway: adult life forces him to reckon with what he once dismissed

  • ★★ John finds these little aphorisms not just annoying but kind of insulting. (hedged) — 00:01:28
  • ★★ John ran nine miles yesterday and around mile four caught himself thinking 'you don't have to get ready if you stay ready': he has become a fan of motivational quotes. — 00:01:33
  • ★★★ John feels his whole adult life has been a series of circumstances forcing him to reckon seriously with things he once easily dismissed. (hedged) — 00:01:44
  • ★★ Living in New York in 2007, John railed against 'sheeple' buying houses in the Midwest; now he owns a home in Indianapolis and quite likes it. — 00:01:50 · New York City, Indianapolis, Sheeple
  • ★★ John used to think bestselling books were by definition crap, then quickly backtracked when he unexpectedly wrote one. — 00:01:59
  • ★★ John ridiculed parents for focusing on their own kids instead of the world's kids, until he became a parent and understood the impulse. — 00:02:06
  • ★★ John once said popular music was dead, only to really like Beyoncé's album Lemonade. — 00:02:12
  • ★★★ John says he still hasn't learned that when he wants to roll his eyes, he should be alive to the possibility that the object of his disdain is more complex than he imagines. (hedged) — 00:02:17 · perspective-taking

00:02:26 — Fitness after years of dismissing it: no hard line between body and brain, more writing; sign-off

  • ★★ John says he has become a person who revels in clichéd, usually misattributed quotes to motivate himself toward physical fitness. — 00:02:26
  • ★★ John says he long dismissed physical fitness as a waste of energy, since all that really matters about humans is their minds. — 00:02:33
  • ★★★ The past few weeks have taught John there is no hard line between body and brain: running can be good for his writing, and writing for his running. — 00:02:41
  • ★★ Instead of abandoning his real work for 100 days as he expected, John is enjoying writing more than in years, has more time for it, and writes pretty much every day. — 00:02:50 · 100 Days

00:03:11 — End screen: VidCon Europe, 100 Days, anniversary woodcuts, Rosianna's self-care bunny

  • ★★ John says he will be at VidCon Europe in Amsterdam in April with many other YouTubers. — 00:03:12 · Amsterdam
  • ★★ John says the 10th-anniversary Vlogbrothers woodcuts are available at DFTBA.com for a couple more weeks. — 00:03:17 · Vlogbrothers, DFTBA Records
  • ★ John passes on that Rosianna's self-care bunny wants viewers to know they are enough. — 00:03:23 · Rosianna Halse Rojas

Humor (significant)

  • John lists cheesy motivational quotes, the last of which turns out to be his own — 00:00:19

    “which is actually a quote from my book, An Abundance of Katherines, so my bad.”

  • To disprove 'if you can dream it, you can do it', John asks if we've ever had a dream — 00:00:54

    “I once had a dream I was a tuatara.”

  • Taking 'the mountain within ourselves' literally, John scolds Edmund Hillary — 00:00:57

    “You should have been at home meditating, conquering the mountain within yourself.”

  • After calling aphorisms insulting, John catches himself repeating one mid-run — 00:01:38

    “God help me, Hank, I've become a fan of motivational quotes. I'm on a frickin' journey.”

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: 100 Days · motivational quote

Also: People: Beyoncé · Chris Waters · Edmund Hillary · Justin Bieber · Rosianna Halse Rojas · Steve Prefontaine · Walt Disney

Projects: DFTBA Records · VidCon Europe

Works: An Abundance of Katherines · Lemonade

Concepts: mind-body dualism · misquotation · perspective-taking · tuatara

Places: Amsterdam · Indianapolis · Midwestern United States · New York City

Characters: Self-Care Bunny

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