It's a hot mess

Clarisse, daughter of Ares, Drakon Slayer: “Believe me, revenge is coming. One of these days, he’s going to be sorry. Why am I waiting? Just strategy. Biding my time and waiting for the right moment to strike. I am not scared, okay? Anybody says different, I’ll rearrange their dental work.” - Demigod Files (Interview with Clarisse LaRue, Daughter of Ares)

Luke Castellan: “‘Luke feared you,’ the Titan’s voice said. ‘His jealously and hatred have been powerful tools. It has kept him obedient. For that I thank you.’” -BotL

Kronos himself: “"Perseus Jackson,“ one of them said. “Yes,” mused another. “I do not see why he is a threat.” “Who said I was a threat?” The first Hesperid glanced behind her, toward the top of the mountain. “They fear thee. They are unhappy that this one has not yet killed thee.” She pointed at Thalia.” -TTC

Leneus, a member of The Council of Cloven Elders: ”I didn’t push him very hard, but he was kind of top-heavy. He fell on his furry rump, then scrambled to his hooves and ran away with his belly jiggling.” - TLO

Hades, Lord of the Underworld: “Hades swallowed. ‘Now, Jackson, listen here…’ He was immortal. There was no way I could kill him, but gods can be wounded.” -TLO 

Phobos, the God of Fear himself: “I couldn’t kill him. He was immortal. But you wouldn’t have known that from his expression. The fear god looked afraid.” -Demigod Files (Percy Jackson and the Stolen Chariot) 

Leo Valdez: “Leo’s legs trembled. The way Percy looked at him made him feel the same as when Jason summoned lightning. Leo’s skin tingled, and every instinct in his body screamed, Duck!” -MoA

Piper McLean: “Piper guessed that Percy hadn’t meant to cause so much damage, but his glowering expression made her want to leave the ship as soon as possible.” -BoO

fucking Annabeth Chase: “Since she’d come back from Tartarus, Annabeth had told Piper about a lot of scary things that had happened down there. At the top of her list: Percy controlling a tide of poison and suffocating the goddess Akhlys.”- BoO

And let’s not forget:

How Percy looks when he fights: “My expression in the picture was fierce—disturbing, even—so it was hard to tell if I was the good guy or the bad guy, but Rachel said I’d looked just like that after the battle.” - TLO

Hazel’s first impression of him: “Then she’d met Percy. At first, when she saw him stumbling up the highway with the old lady in his arms, Hazel had thought he might be a god in disguise. Even though he was beat up, dirty, and stooped with exhaustion, he’d had an aura of power. He had the good looks of a Roman god, with sea-green eyes and wind blown black hair.”

Hephaestus’s words to him in BotL: “The god grunted. “Not that powerful, eh? Could have fooled me. You’re the son of the Earthshaker, lad. You don’t know your own strength.””

“Nico twisted his silver skull ring. “Percy is the most powerful demigod I’ve ever met. No offense to you guys, but it’s true. If anybody can survive, he will, especially if he’s got Annabeth at his side.“ -MoA

Percy can warm his hot chocolate when it gets cold and make insta Popsicles for Estelle

He’s always the last to take a shower in the morning because the cold water doesn’t bother him.

Winter is the Jackson-Blofis kids favorite time of year. After watching Frozen Estelle begs Percy to “Do the magic! Do the magic!” At first he’s not sure he knows how but they go to Central Park after a snowfall and find a private space all to themselves for him to practice.

He learns how to control snow and ice much better. He creates slides and ice they can skate on in the meadows. He learns how to control the temperature of water to the extent that he can keep the air warm with steam while he and Estelle skate on their makeshift rinks.

He becomes a little obsessed with controlling the phasing of water more. He learns to hold all three phases of water in a single glass. He learns to make miniature hurricanes and thunderstorms in the palm of his hand. He learns to mold little figurines for Estelle out of water and freeze them as gifts for her.

One day she asks him to make her mermaid dance and he is thrilled to discover he can make the little ice figure around in the air to make it look likes she’s swimming.

One day they watch Avatar the last Airbender and Percy is enchanted by Katara. He learns that he can use water as a literal weapon and shield. He started off using it like a whip, a living coil of water that could reach as far as he wanted and do exactly as he commands. Then he learn he can fashion weapons out of ice. Monsters quickly learn that as long as there is water around, Percy Jackson is armed.

But Percy takes it a step further when he sees Katara and Toph escape the wooden prison by water ending sweat. He learns to manifest water. At first he is simply absorbing moisture from the air but soon he learns to create water from nothing. With a wave of his hand he can manifest the water and then form a dagger from it in seconds. Monsters quickly learn, Percy Jackson is Always armed.

The first time he created a sentient being he killed it. Estelle and him were playing with her ice mermaid as usual. Percy was focused on making it as realistic as possible when suddenly it began to glow a light blue. Estelle was delighted but Percy had his eyes closed in concentration. It wasn’t until the mermaid dropped out of the air and into his lap, gasping and withering around that he realized it had come to life. But like real mermaids of the sea she could not survive out of water. By the time he shook out of his shock and got her submerged in water she had already passed in what he knew was extricating pain.

He went to his father for advice after that, carrying the tiny creature in some satin his mother gave him for her. His father was shocked when he found out the extent of Percy’s powers. He was so proud of the accomplishment he didn’t realize how devastated Percy was about unintentionally killing his little creation. Poseidon brought the mermaid back to life for him along with some advice on the art of creation.

Before Percy left he warned him to not let all his abilities be public knowledge, it was better to be underestimated. What he didn’t tell Percy that the ability to fashion and create life was something only the gods could do. The fact a demigod had that ability without the restrictions of being a deity would not sit well with the other Gods, especially Zeus.

Percy went to buy a large tank and some friendly fish from his local pet store and had it all ready for when Estelle arrived from school. They named her Elsa and took very good care of her.

The first time he bloodbended was accidental too. They were at the park on a warm summer day eating Popsicle sticks Percy had made out of a carton of orange juice. Percy ran into an old friend and was chatting while Estelle played. Neither of them noticed the dog. Estelle was rather fond of animals so naturally she tried to pet the animal not noticing all the warning signs. When it mauled her Percy felt as if the very blood in his vines had boiled and busted. The dog had Estelle’s arm in its jaw for all of five seconds before it became a soup of blood, fur and bone on the forest floor. Estelle was okay and bandaged and cleaned up at home

Sally sat Percy down to have a Long talk about the weight and responsibilities of his powers. He completely understood and agreed that bloodbending was an Off Menu power.

But he was still intrigued by bloodbending on a smaller level. He started off practicing on himself. He could make his skin move around and wiggle his ears using his powers, soon he learned that he could change certain things about his body. He fixed his teeth himself, he toned his tan lines and made his hair instantly as long or as short as he wanted.

It came as a surprised to no one in the Jackson-Blofis household that he later figured out how to shape shift. But he still kept it small. A few pounds of muscle here, take off a few pound of fat there. He could quicken and lower his own metabolism with ease. He could control how much adrenaline was coursing through his body as he pleased. He began actually reading up on biology to see how much he was able to control.

It was one night when he went out looking for Estelle - who had stormed off angry about something -  that he was nearly killed. He had been looking for an hour unaware she had already come home when the mortal approached him with a gun demanding all his money. Of course he didn’t bring any money out to look for his sister but the guy didn’t believe him. Honestly Percy didn’t expect the guy to Actually shoot and when he did Percy was more upset at the fact that he was actually shot then the fact that he was in danger.

The man had run off and Percy not liking hospitals went back home for ambrosia. But the bullet had hit an artery and he was bleeding heavily. He collapsed halfway home panicked and not sure how to stop the bleeding. That’s when he remembered his mermaid and how Estelle said she glowed before coming to life. He manifested some water in his hand and willed it to glow. He put it to his chest and the water latched to him, stopping the bleeding and numbing the pain. By the time he got home he wound had nearly finished healing. Sally watched in awe as the last few bits of water fused and merged with his skin.

After that he started keeping jugs of this strange glowing life giving water in his house. He carried a water bottle of it around with him all the time. It was a safer alternative to ambrosia and mortals could use it too. He would go to CHB and CJ and fill large barrels with this water which he named katara (cause he’s a HUGE nerd at the end of the day)

Pretty soon katara became more popular than ambrosia among demigods and mortal in the know. They found that if they added regular water to katara it would gain the properties of katara. Pretty soon a pool was built at both camps to house katara. Percy was glad to see his creation helping so many people but he had unfortunately caught the gods attention.

He was called to Olympus and questioned about what he was trying to do with this “katara”. He told it how it was. He had accidently created it so he gave it to other people as well. He wasn’t even making a profit off of it which he easily could if he wanted too.

The gods in reality didn’t have a problem with katara, they knew it was helpful and did nothing but benefit people. The underlying message in calling upon Perseus Jackson was to let him know he was being observed and to warn him to watch himself.

Percy understand that message loud and clear, but he really didn’t give a fuck. He especially didn’t give a fuck when he made his own island in the Gulf of Mexico. Grover actually helped him with that. Grover created a list of endangered species that needed a safe haven from human intervention and would coexist well. Hazel helped them create a barrier similar to the barriers at the camps around the island. Percy set to work with making the water surrounding the island rich with katara. And in a few months they had a lush and beautiful island that Percy dubbed the Garden of Me.

Poseidon actually came to visit Percy’s island and he was surprised when he saw his son, asleep in a field of rare flowers glowing with dormant power. Of course only a god could see that glow from within. Poseidon began to realize his son was unintentionally becoming an immortal at the least, a powerful god at the most. That’s when he decided to train Percy.

He taught him how to mold and shape lifeforms that already existed to help with Grover’s cause of saving the Wild. He taught him the limits and devastating abilities Percy contained. He showed him how to properly shapeshift into anything he wanted without having to alter his original form. He taught him how to materialize not only water but other liquids and water based materials.

Percy reveled in his new found powers. He not only got to spend time with his father but being TAUGHT was sooo much better than just figuring it out on his own. He found that he and his father are actually pretty similar and get along really well.

As for Annabeth at first she was worried about the path Percy was going down with his powers but she is realized to see him focus his powers on the creation of his little island. Well, not so little anymore. Percy continued to expand the island to accommodate the now hundreds of endangered species of plants and animals residing there. As far as the outside world was concerned some of these animals had gone extinct, but they lived peacefully on Garden of Me. Now the island was nearly 200,000 sq miles and took up most of the Gulf of Mexico. Annabeth could only guess how Hermes managed to explain that to the mortals.

Annabeth and Percy spend a lot of their free time on the island. In fact the whole Jackson-Blofis household do. Afterall the island is big enough to house a small nation. But Percy and Annabeth still love the idea of having an entire island to themselves to do whatever they want. When Annabeth gets pregnant Percy nearly erupts one of his rivers with joy. Although marriage had never been on their minds (they kind of just assumed they would just always be together regardless) they decide to get married on their private island.

It was a wedding that rivaled even the gods weddings. Mortals, demigods, gods, nymphs, satyrs, dryads, cyclopes and more all came to the celebration that lasted nearly an entire week. At first Percy was nervous about inviting so many people. Afterall it wasn’t just an island but a sanctuary for plants and animals that didn’t exist anywhere else on Earth. But Grover ensured Percy he and his helpers would take care of crowd control. Annabeth and Percy honeymooned in one of the beautiful underwater caves on the island while their wedding raged on for days. Clean up was a bitch but the next few weeks were the happiest of their lives.

That was of course, until the war began. Oddly enough it was a war between mortals but it had devastating implications. The threat of nuclear war had never been so real between the US and Korea. Percy and Annabeth (now 5 months pregnant) anxiously moved their mortal families to the island and offered sanctuary to their friends as well. Percy strengthened the barrier to his island and discussed with Grover about making a pop up second island to house other animal species that would be devastated by the event of nuclear war. In the end He, Grover and Annabeth decided a second island was a necessity.

It was enormous. Nearly 600,000 sq miles and hugged the shared coast of California and Mexico. The plan was to evacuate the camps. A third of the island would be used as a third camp safe from the war of mortals. This part of the island would have everyday animals and plants. Cows, pigs, horses, dogs, foxes, bats, vegetables, fruits, grains etc. It would serve as a human sanctuary while the other ⅔  of the island would be reserved for other endangered species. The planning was intense. They had to be careful to keep species that would compete to extinction seperate, they had to avoid invasive plants and animals or at the least keep them contained. And they had to explain to people why they’re pet cats were Absolutely NOT allowed on the island. (Cats are one of the deadliest animals of earth accounting for the majority of extinctions among small animals).

The gods were helpful too. They could see the danger the mortal war posed to the demigods and knew they needed demigods. The only god that as far as Percy was concerned was not being helpful was his father. Poseidon insisted Perceus took up godhood, but Percy had a family on the way and he couldn’t imagine a life where he continued to exist without them. Poseidon tried to convince him to just make Annabeth immortal as well, after all that’s what he did to his wife. But Percy didn’t want to think about it. He just wanted to focus on keeping everyone alive.

That’s when the boats began to arrive. People in California fleeing the conflict but with no funds for now overpriced flight began to take boats and try to cross the borders of Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador. But Percy’s island was only a few hundred miles off shore. The boat that got lost on the way down the coast ended up on the second island. Percy couldn’t turn them away.

Despite all their preparation they weren’t ready for when the first missile struck. In fact no one was ready. Everyone expected the obvious targets. Major cities, military bases, maybe even the white house. No one could have guessed their target was the top left corner of Wyoming, where the Yellowstone National Park sat unassuming. No one could have guessed anyone would be that crazy.

I believe motivation is highly subjective and that each person has a unique motivational catalyst. So this post isn’t actually written to motivate you (LOL). What this post will do, however, is give you 3 distinct suggestions on how you can generally stay motivated by yourself. These are based on observations made in my brief time working with entrepreneurs. Of course, like with anything, this is not a closed list.

1. Have Passion For What You Do:

You’ve heard this plenty of times, I know, it’s annoying to me too. But we wouldn’t hear it so often if it wasn’t so important.

Steve Jobs, when addressing a crowd at his alma mater, famously said “You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers.”

Do what you love, and not in an airy fairy, kumbaya kind of way. If you derive actual pleasure from what you do, you are likely to be more motivated than the average person. It follows that people who do what they love will approach their work with a guaranteed level of enthusiasm. I don’t think this needs a great deal of explanation.

2. Find A Suitable Co-Founder:

Some of the best companies in the world were started by co-founders (e.g. Apple, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, etc.). Often, a start-up is launched and maintained through a combination of expertise, which, for complex projects, is hardly ever held by a single person. Sometimes it takes 2 or 3 people to start a project. So the importance of compatible co-founders cannot be stressed enough.

Like with every endeavour, there will be challenges that dampen the passion. The honeymoon period WILL end, and co-founders need to understand their effect on each other because this can serve as the necessary spark to push each other forward. During a slump in motivation, if you don’t feel more motivated after speaking with your co-founder, he or she may not be the right person for you to work with.

Some questions you should ask about your co-founder - When you are not feeling your best will they be able to take control? Do they create a mood which is conducive to productivity? How do you feel after talking to them about a hurdle you are facing? Do they actually have the capacity to perform the tasks that are needed to drive the project forward?

To achieve the best results, be brutally honest with yourself when answering these questions. Based on your answers, you may need to make some changes.

I left the first business I started at University because I could no longer work with my co-founder. The person whom I had originally chosen as my co-founder because of his technical knowledge of the (media) industry became the reason for my loss of enthusiasm. I am not sure what the root cause was, but my co-founder started developing a habit of killing the business relationships I had worked hard to build (and other bad habits, which are best left unmentioned). In turn, our reputation as a serious business began to take a knock. But this wasn’t yet the issue. The real issue was his inability to realise his problem, and then act in accordance with such realisation. 

Needless to say, I was brutally honest with myself - I just did not believe that he had the capacity to perform necessary tasks anymore, so I cut all professional ties with him.

3. Figure Out Your Motivational Currency

I define motivational currency as: a positive response which fuels the desire to be productive.

For example, I run a consulting business. Now, as much as I love what I do, there are mornings which feel completely hopeless (because - life) and my reason for continuing has escaped me. However, my mood suddenly changes when I get up from my bed, check my mail, and find an email from an entrepreneur requesting my services. After viewing this email, I feel a new energy, a sense of purpose, which prompts me to keep going. I am motivated, and the email is my motivational currency. 

If you are an outdoor event organiser whose event receives good reviews on social media and in the local papers, such reviews are your motivational currency because they prompt you to repeat the amount of effort put into your work, in pursuit of the same or an even better response from your market. 

This type of “currency” is different for different businesses, and is usually controlled by external factors. We cannot determine when motivational currency will be forthcoming, but the more work we put in, the more motivational currency we are likely to receive. (i.e. the more good work I do for my existing clients, the more likely I am to wake up to an email requesting my services.)

Conclusion:

Staying motivated is, in my opinion, the most important thing for any entrepreneur. You can do anything you set your mind to with the right amount of motivation. Conversely, you can do very little without it. This is why it is crucial for entrepreneurs to find what motivates them, and have ready access to it whenever it’s needed.

So print this. Put it on your wall, and highlight the points which speak to you the most. Every time you feel demotivated, give it a quick read, and remind yourself of the ways in which you can regain your motivation.