Hey y’all! It’s been a long time and part of it is the topic of this post. This is gonna be another short one. So pull up a chair and let’s talk motivation.
I haven’t been very motivated lately
I’m not sure whether it’s cause of everything going on, but I haven’t really had the urge to get up and write. Which is wild cause there was a point I was doing every week. But that’s obviously not happening anymore. It seemed to get progressively harder to keep myself motivated. But what is motivation?
What is motivation?
Motivation is “the state or condition of being motivated or having a strong reason to act or accomplish something”. I think it’s important to emphasize that it’s a state of being, just like flow is a state of being. It’s hard to constantly be in a mental state, which means it’s damn near impossible to constantly be motivated.
This is obviously a problem when motivation is the primary driver for many to act. The good news is that there are ways to, like flow, put ourselves in that state. Or circumvent it entirely. So how do we do that?
Find something that jazzes us up
So beyond the task to be done, is there something that helps get us get in the mood? Could be music (here’s what I write to), working out, or something else. Anything that gets us ready to do what we need to do. But what if that doesn’t work?
Just get started
This is kind of a tough one since not being motivated makes it harder to dive in. But on top of that, it’s also counter-intuitive. How does getting started help with motivation?
The irony is that while feelings often precipitate action, they definitely tend to follow it. And that’s important to note. That’s why when people talk about combating procrastination, they say to break a task into its smallest possible chunks. For example, brushing one tooth. Like, who would just brush ONE tooth? Invariably, one would end up brushing the rest as well.
It’s the same with most other tasks. I do that a lot with working out. I personally just write out what I’m going to do that day, and that one step propels me to to do the rest. Again, just starting is definitely counter-intuitive. But it’s definitely effective. The last point piggy backs on this idea.
Trust discipline
One of the main issues with tasks is consistency. And we already know that we don’t always feel motivated to do things on a regular basis. Things change, motivation fades, etc. That’s where discipline comes in. Most of the time, we do actually want to do things, motivation or not. Discipline can help us get started, and let motivation carry us the rest of the way.
It’s important to note these two concepts work in tandem. Cause more likely than not if we don’t like something, we won’t do it. So it’s important to consistently revisit our goals and desires to see if they’re still in-line with who were are as people, or vice-versa. But either way, discipline is a catalyst for helping us stay motivated and accomplishing our goals.
So when things feel grim and pointless or you can’t motivate yourself to do things, just remember you have it in you. Remember that sometimes that first step is the force that’s needed to achieve. Remember that discipline drives motivation and vice-versa. And most importantly of all, remember that you are worth striving for. That your happiness is important, that you matter, and that no matter what is going on, you’re strong enough to make it through. You deserve to be happy. That’s what life’s about.
Thanks for talking humans with me today. How do you keep yourself motivated? Let me know in the comments below. Subscribe and share with one person you think could get something from this. And don’t forget to talk humans with someone this week. Catch y’all later.