Motivation plays a role in almost everything we do. From getting out of bed in the morning to dealing with a chore or going after a new role at work, it's finally the sense of motivation that drives us from beginning to completion of any task that life throws to us. 【小题1】 They can complete daily tasks without a second thought and remain efficient from morning to evening. Others, however, may struggle to find a sense of motivation for different reasons. Fortunately, here are a few ways you can introduce motivation into your daily routine.

●Create attainable goals. Feeling stressed because of a goal or a project is normal. Even if the task is a big one, you can break it down into small goals to work your way to the finish line. For example, if you have a difficult project coming up, don't wait until the last minute to begin. 【小题2】 This will make you feel challenged, while also allowing you to feel as if you've completed important activities.

●【小题3】 By rewarding yourself one thing at a time or at the end of the day, you can also teach yourself to be a more motivated person. This is about treating yourself for good work! Every time you complete a task, you know you're going to get a reward. Likewise, if you don't complete any task, you won't get a reward. 【小题4】

●Create positive habits over time. 【小题5】 In order to make motivation a positive habit, a person needs to try and start completing activities every single day. Of course, it is fine to miss a day here and there but that should be done cautiously.

When considering the kind of experience that makes life better, most people first think that happiness consists in experiencing pleasure: good food, all the comforts that money can buy. We imagine the satisfaction of traveling to exciting places or being surrounded by expensive devices. If we cannot afford those goals, then we are happy to settle for a quiet evening in front of the television set with a drink close by.

Pleasure is a feeling of contentment that one achieves whenever expectations set by biological programs or by social conditioning have been met. The taste of food when we are hungry is pleasant because it reduces a physiological (生理的) imbalance. Resting in the evening while passively absorbing information from TV, with alcohol or drugs to dull the mind overexcited by the demands of work, is pleasantly relaxing. Traveling to Acapulco is pleasant because the exciting novelty (新奇) restores our sensations (感觉) exhausted by the repetitive routines of everyday life.

When people think further about what makes their lives rewarding, they tend to move beyond pleasant memories and begin to remember other events, other experiences that overlap (重叠) with pleasurable ones but fall into a category that deserves a separate name: enjoyment. Enjoyable events occur when a person has not only met some expectation or satisfied a need or a desire but also gone beyond what he or she has been programmed to do and achieved something unexpected, perhaps something even unimagined before.

Enjoyment is characterized by this forward movement: by a sense of novelty, of accomplishment. Playing a close game of tennis that stretches one’s ability is enjoyable, as is reading a book that reveals things in a new light, as is having a conversation that leads us to express ideas we didn’t know we had. Closing a contested business deal, or any piece of work well done, is enjoyable. None of these experiences may be particularly pleasurable at the time they are taking place, but afterward we think back on them and say, “That really was fun” and wish they would happen again. After an enjoyable event we know that we have changed, that our self has grown: in some respect, we have become more complex as a result of it.

Experiences that give pleasure can also give enjoyment, but the two sensations are quite different. For instance, everybody takes pleasure in eating. To enjoy food, however, is more difficult. A gourmet (美食家) enjoys eating, as does anyone who pays enough attention to a meal so as to discriminate the various sensations provided by it. As this example suggests, we can experience pleasure without any investment of psychic energy, whereas enjoyment happens only as a result of unusual investments of attention. A person can feel pleasure without any effort, but it is impossible to enjoy a tennis game, a book, or a conversation unless attention is fully concentrated on the activity.

When you finish your day at school, you probably rush to your dormitory or home as quickly as possible. But for some people, their day begins in the middle of the night.

Welcome to the interesting world of “the Master”, the owner of a small restaurant located in a busy district that only opens from midnight to 7 am.

Earlier this month, Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Ka-fai announced that he had directed and starred as the Master in a remake of Japanese director Joji Matsuoka’s famous comedy Midnight Diner. The new movie is expected to come out in Chinese mainland cinemas later this year.

While serving regular soup every night, the Master is also willing to make customized (定制的) dishes if his customers ask. Besides its delicious food, what makes this eatery special is that it’s a place of sanctuary and togetherness.

Midnight is often when worries, loneliness, and sadness creep up on people, and midnight diner provides the simple comforts of food and drink, and more importantly, a warm place where people can keep each other company, talk, and share their stories. The customers’ stories cover everything, from problems at work to parenthood, romance, friendship, and the regrets of a wasted life. Listening to their stories, customers offer encouragement and advice to one another. But the Master only provides the life lesson-- a good day must follow a bad one-when necessary.

Despite facing different kinds of disappointment, people need to find their own satisfaction in their seemingly messy lives. “The small pleasure can be a good hot-pot meal,” Japanese culture website JapanPowered.com noted. “It’s easy to lose sight of what gives life meaning as we go about the daily routine of work and home life.”

After all, no one is flawless and no one’s life is perfect, but imperfections are the space where possibilities live. As Kelly Mcneils, author of Your Messy Brilliance, wrote, “ The good, the bad, and the ugly, they are our greatest assets because they include every single part of ourselves and leave nothing out--and when we fully embrace all parts of ourselves, we discover our true power.”