No Need For Motivation.
How to Get Going Without.
Only a few things will let us feel the intense fire of motivation. When we really get hyped up inside out, tons of energy available to put towards our goals. Sleepless nights, long workdays — no problem. Until, yeah, until routine sets in or something get’s in the way. Usually, life. Then, all of a sudden, what once was a blazing fire has now turned into a flickering flame at its best.
Unfortunately, motivation is that one thing that never seems to be around when it's needed the most.
Does that mean that we cannot get back to the highs we experienced before? Or even start something entirely new, something we have dreamed about for a while, but never felt to be in the right mood to go after it?
Absolutely not.
All it takes is an understanding of why motivation doesn’t serve us long term and what we can do, once it leaves us and things start to get hard.
In general, motivation describes the desire to act and move toward a goal. It can be extrinsic — as in, something coming from the outside, like a pay raise inspires us to work harder; or it can be intrinsic, meaning the inspiration comes from within us. For example, we are trying to reach a goal that is linked to a higher believe or value, i. e. getting healthy to see our children graduate.
No matter where the source of motivation is located, it can be very easy to fall victim to the so-called motivation trap. Dr. Russ Harris describes this as the state of waiting to feel motivated before we take action.
So what to do when motivation never shows up?
Believes and values
First, take a good look at your goals. Do they match what you believe and value in your life? If there are great discrepancies it can become excruciatingly hard to start and follow through with action. Maybe you picked the wrong field to study or got stuck in a career that has evolved into another direction then you anticipated. This is something that needs fixing. Figure out what it is, that inspires and excites you and then seek goals that can be set in that framework. That doesn’t necessarily mean you have to make drastic changes. Sometimes a few little adjustments go a long way — is there another area within your field of study that you can focus on? Can you make connections to other areas that interest you? Has your company vacant positions in departments that suit your personal goals? Often enough, we can find what we’re looking for in close proximity.
Break down the process
Big goals can be overwhelming and even scary at times. However, having big goals is also what can keep us going and usually get us a lot more excited than small ones. A trick to overcome anxiety and fear when reaching for greatness is to break the process down into smaller pieces. This can really work wonders. Imagine, you have always dreamed about packing your things and move to another country, just for the fun of it. Yet, you never do it. And while that seems somewhat okay-ish, it does bother you. You want to make those experiences, you want to have that story to tell, you want to be the person who packs her things and moves to a foreign place. Fearless and free.
Great. Great goal, a lot of work, and some obstacles to overcome. Obviously, there is no need to throw all of your belongings into your biggest backpack and just leave. Even though you can, if you want to. What you can do instead is to start with some research. Where do you want to go, what do you want to be doing there? Nothing scary here, right?
Next step. Figure out which legal documents you will need for the move and get those. For no serious reason. You won’t have to sign a contract that will make you actually move. Not too scary either, right?
And now keep going. One small piece at a time and sooner than you would think, you will have created your own big picture.
Visualize yourself in the process
You might have heard how everybody nowadays tells you to visualize your goals and poof somehow, magically, just by using your imagination, all your dreams and desires find their ways into your life. Well, that’s not really how it works.
Yet, visualization can be a powerful tool. Instead of visualizing yourself reaching the very end of your journey — visualize yourself by taking the steps that are needed to get there. Good thing, you already broke down the process into smaller pieces. This way, it will be more actionable compared to visualizing yourself in a situation that doesn’t fit what you currently believe to be true about yourself. As you have not reached that goal yet. Your brain will spot these “lies” and treat them as what they are: dreams. Visualizing yourself taking the necessary action to get there, however, will be a lot more realistic and therefore easier for your mind to digest.
Take Action
None of the advice will be any good if you fail to take ACTION. In case you still find it hard to just get started, try this little mind game: set your timer to 5 minutes and that is all you commit to. 5 minutes of what you hope to do, yet not really want to do. Everyone can do something for 5 minutes! And as soon as your clock hits zero, you’re done. Mission accomplished. Chances are though, that after those 5 minutes you will keep going. It is the initial hump that keeps us inactive, once that is conquered, the rest will be a breeze.
Accept it’s going to be hard
Motivated or not. The moment will come where it will be mind over matter and there is no way around this. Accepting that obstacles are an inevitable part of the journey and that there is something greater waiting on the other side might be all we need to push through the challenges. Truly accepting the pain in front of us is nothing but a mind game. And as such, by constantly seeking challenges and opting for the difficult routes, we can train ourselves to become more adapted to those kinds of situations. From now on, never take the easy way out.
