Where Does Human Motivation Hide?
Find Your Inner Energy Through Action and Healthy Habits
If you are like most of us, you know there are things that “need” to be done, but it is very hard to self-motivate for action. Whether it is about physical exercise, a new diet, changing something at work, cleaning the house, or going out with friends, you feel these things simply cannot become reality. This “motivation anemia” can make you feel depressed, feel like you are doing almost nothing, realize you haven’t lost weight, and lose connection with those who care about you.
5 Things You Can Apply to Regain Your Motivation
What is the starting line? Motivation is not the force that appears before action — motivation is you acting for yourself. Motivation appears after engaging in action and performing a behavior. And self-esteem does not spring from “I am wonderful because I exist,” but from “I am proud to do what is hard to do.” True things in life do not come without effort.
1. Keep your goals alive — start by being open to your goals and aware of what you feel — without judging or rejecting the state of affairs. Choose to become the person you want to be by doing what you truly want — thus becoming curious about your life values. Decide and visualize that you will become the person who loses weight, gets the desired job, and builds friendships. These involve the commitment to sometimes do what you don’t feel like doing to become the person you want to be, and self-compassion can become your best ally. It is important to be guided by intention and not by resistance — “it is natural to be hard, but I know I can grow.”
2. Stop waiting for motivation— Motivation is not the same as deciding to choose for yourself. Don’t wait for motivation to push you further. Allow your goals to guide you toward your life values and future. Act based on your interests and personal values, not your feelings. Our feelings are like clouds in the sky; they come and go, but the sky remains — and the sky is represented by your life values, the essence of your life.
3. Rely on habits, not just feelings –try not to hope to get up in the first part of the day and have inspiration “strike you out of the blue.” Spotlight on pursuing sound routines consistently — in any event, when you don’t feel like it. Decide to do what is troublesome now with the goal that it will be simpler later. The more you pursue the routine of doing sound things (workout, diet, and so on), the simpler it will be from here on out. It is troublesome before it turns out to be simple! According to the individual who, “I can do hard things” — it is a very good mantra. Learn that you can do things, and don’t think about what you can’t do. What we do shapes the human brain — if we repeat old behaviors, nothing will change, but new behaviors create new neural networks — thus life experiences influence our entire existence.
4. Act now and you will feel better afterward — achieving goals means tolerating discomfort. At first, the discomfort may even increase, and anxiety and depression may intensify. But if you act now, you will feel much better afterward. Be friendly with constructive discomfort — exercise your brain muscles to do what your mind tells you you can’t do. If you don’t confront something unpleasant, you won’t make progress. Any difficult situation involves both a danger and an opportunity.
5. Don’t wait to feel ready — you have many things to do for which you are not ready — and thus you will grow. Doing hard things is a process of preparation to better face future obstacles. The greatest obstruction to accomplishing individual objectives is your psyche. Holding on to feel prepared is one more approach to saying, “I would rather not do this.” Yet here and there it is fitting to do how you would rather not get where you need to go. Choose to choose rather than wait for an “infusion of energy.” You create your energy through action. If you exercise, your energy increases, if you see your friends, you find they are there for you. It is important to remember that you don’t have to wait, you can choose to do things, act as if you are motivated, and just act — support yourself. And over time, you will realize you have done things you didn’t believe you could do.
