How does one get direction , motivation and insight?

Mostly, it needs to start from within you. It helps to surround yourself with a medium(s) conducive to your particular interests.
That doesn’t mean that if you like skiing you should play a lot of ski video games, and watch lots of ski movies. In fact, that would have the opposite effect. It would pacify the desire, and make one complacent about that endeavor.
Some people become motivated by a particular type of music playing while they work, or muse. Some people derive inspiration from nature walks, alone, quiet, reflective and introspective.
Some people need a spa day.
Each person sort of needs to experiment and find what works for them. Role playing is not the way to go.
Whittling has been a great help to many people, and sometimes turns out to be productive directly also. Whittling

They stop messing around on internet escape sites (Fluther) and apply themselves to the real world.

I’ve been told the Marine Corps will do it for you. That insight thing in particular should quickly become apparent.

Just decide what it is you want to be motivated about and take that first step. The hard part is keeping it up. But if you just keep at it and at it, it becomes easier until you get to a point you don’t have to force yourself at all. It’s something you want to do.

My dining room walls are an example. I have seams where I mudded, in preparation for painting. I got side tracked by my new job, and kept putting off the sanding.

Today I just put the damn ladder where it needed to be. Then I walked away.

Then I came back and grabbed the damn sanding sponge and put it on the damn ladder. Then I walked away again.

The next time in I shut of the part of my brain that was whining that it didn’t want to do it. I just went blank and I got on that damn ladder and started sanding. Then I got into it.

I still get frustrated because I’m not as good as my son at it, though.

@elbanditoroso – I guess your profile pic is suggesting that thing…no directions..))

That’s what bootstraps are for. It sounds trite, but sometimes that’s what you do. It’s not easy, but all you have to do is get things started and it all takes on a life of it’s own. My flip flops come with bootstraps.

@imrainmaker – actually my avatar is quite clear. No turning to the right. (politically)

Motivation arises from wanting things to be different.

Direction comes from being motivated to follow advice and guidance.

Insight arises from experience, from doing the work and spending the time to change things and then figuring out if that got one to where they want be, or if it was a mistake and need to try something different.

You can’t just buy these things.

Motivation = “wanting”. But it’s wanting beyond merely selecting a dinner from a restaurant menu. It’s “still wanting” when it’s raining outside and you could easily stay inside where it’s warm and dry – but going out anyway, to do what you wanted to do back when it wasn’t raining. It’s getting up early to do something that you want to do more than you want to sleep in. For some, motivation = “need”. When the government check runs out and you’re hungry, for example. (This is something that many of us understand who are perceived to be hard-hearted and cruel because we don’t want such great benefits from government, because if people do feel a pinch of hunger then they will generally “find a way” to earn or create their meals. Many of us have been there and felt that need.)

Insight = “understanding”. It comes easier for some than for others, granted, but absent epiphany, which is some kind of divine revelation (and which seems to imply no intellectual understanding is required), this is a factor of intellect and research. That is, the person seeking insight has to be looking for it – motivated to keep looking, that is – and capable of making the logical connections and reasoning required to have the understanding that insight implies.

Direction can be a lot of things, but it seems to come down to a plan set by someone who knows how to get to where one wants to be (and who understands where one’s starting point is): a coach, teacher, mentor or counselor. It can even be “a dead person”, in the form of a particular book or set of rules, “ancient wisdom” or “tribal lore”. It’s not as simple as finding the person who has the life that you want and asking, because sometimes those people can’t impart their wisdom very well – or they aren’t really who they seem to be, so the question seems like a challenge to them, and they won’t tell you what they haven’t actually achieved themselves.

Direction from those who don’t understand one’s starting point assume that if you want to get from A to Z, you need to start at A. But if they don’t get that you don’t know the alphabet, then their direction isn’t going to be very helpful.

All of it is from within. You have to provide your own motivation and stop expecting it to come from an outside source. Ditto direction, and you will never have any if you don;t know where you want to go.
Insight is something some people live their entire lives and never atain. It requires critical thought and socratic questioning.
One does not “get” motivation like a commodity that can be bought.

It comes down to this…“Don’t let the devil steal your joy”
Just keep saying that and you will be fine!

Find your passion. Find what makes time go fast. Find what gets you into the zone. I like creating reports from databases. I can do that for hours. I also can sort and tidy books for ages. Luckily I do both these things in my job. This was not an accident – I chose the job because I get to do these things. The other librarians on here will concur that we certainly don’t do it for the money.

^^^ Oh god. Fluther is my motivation in life…. :(

Decide what it is you want to do or to become. That accounts for the direction.

The motivation has to come from inside you. Devise a plan and carry it through, one step at a time. Be prepared to improvise if you hit roadblocks.

Insight will come from your experiences along the way, particularly from mistakes made, which should be appreciated as learning opportunities.

Education!