These 7 Words Can Squeeze More Motivation Out of You to Take Action
Convincing yourself to take action is an uphill battle, but the right set of words can help you through it
Starting a new habit typically requires a lot of willpower.
That’s what I notice whenever I want to incorporate a new productive approach to increase my productivity. That could be taking cold showers, meditating for 10-minutes or fasting for 12 hours. Everyone knows how the first week of incorporating the habit is going to be challenging, but what’s more challenging is maintaining the habit.
In the beginning, our excitement (to get started) is often enough to get us to take action. But as we progress, that excitement fades (along with our motivation to keep doing them).
That’s when our ability to make the habit stick (for the long haul) is tested.
When motivation is low, you have to find good reasons why you need to push yourself to get through the feeling of “I don’t feel like doing this right now”. Otherwise, you will lose momentum and most likely fail to build a habit. But there’s a bigger problem:
If you had to convince yourself to take action, it’s typically a sign of misalignment between what you think you want and what you really want.
Self-talk can help you get through that internal conflict.
I should do this…
Convincing myself I should do something doesn’t really get me to take action.
This is when I come up with logical reasons why I should do it in the hopes of changing what I feel about it. But a lot of times, thinking my way to take action, is just that — thinking. Thinking becomes so mentally draining that I end up doing nothing.
When that fails, the next thing I do is add the negative consequences that could happen if I fail to take action.
I need to do this…
Understanding the negative consequences of inaction can work (especially when we’re talking about a life or death situation).
However, if we’re talking about something that doesn’t really put our life into misery (such as meditation, cold showers or fasting), chances are, we are probably not going to do anything about it. Humans are wired to seek convenience. I can easily cater to my own bias (to avoid doing anything) by asking, “What’s the worst that could happen if I don’t do this?”
Chances are, nothing much is going to change. Therefore, I’m not going to force myself to do it.
When that fails, I will add “identity” into the equation.
I have to do this…
Then I tell myself, “I have to do this…because I’m not a lazy person.”
Identity weighs a lot in terms of influencing our actions. I wouldn’t want to call myself “lazy” or “undisciplined”. And because I’m reluctant to call myself those, I will push myself to take action.
That almost always works, but sometimes, my inner critic chimes in and asks, “Why are you trying to be someone you’re not?”
I want to do this…
I refuse to be bossed around by my inner critic.
Sure, I want to be labelled as a “productive person”, but at the same time, I don’t want to be forced to be that way. Whatever I decide to do is my choice. I don’t wanna give others credit for getting me to do the work other than myself.
But then I learned something (might be from Chris Do?) that I found to be way more effective to get me to take action.
I am still able to do this…
Those seven words have a way of making me feel lucky.
I’m more motivated to take action when a feeling of gratitude flows in. That’s important because the world can be a rough place to live in. Whatever I have at the moment, including my ability to build whatever habit I wanna build is considered a luxury.
Life can take it all away in one blink.
I can see, hear, feel, walk, lift, run and do all sorts of things that others may not have. There’s not much room for complaining. I prefer this set of words because it pushes me to take action and feel good about doing it.
Sometimes, all it takes is figuring out the right words to kick you to take action.
