Motivation is like a moving train, it comes and it goes. Sometimes so quickly you don’t have time to hop on board. Other times you’re chasing after it, sweat beads dripping through your cute silk shirt. And if you’re lucky, you’re settled comfortably in your window seat, cruising through, enjoying the scenery of the ride.
From this train analogy, you might deduce that motivation is all about timing. But it’s not. Not really. Sure, sometimes you’re in just the right mood, just the perfect mental state to be open and ready for the motivation train to pick you up. But usually, motivation is about what you’re doing, not what you’re waiting for. This revelation came to me while I was waiting at the station, looking around, wondering where the hell my motivation was. Quite literally waiting. Clock ticking. Days went by. Weeks. Then months. How many tears I cried waiting for it to come. How is this happening to me? I am so full of great ideas. There are so many things I want to do. I’m a go-getter damnit. Where the hell is my motivation to actually do what I say I want to do?! Why meeee?!?!
And then. One morning it hit me. Whatever I was (or wasn’t, truth be told) doing, clearly wasn’t working. Suddenly it became equally obvious that I just needed to do something differently. Actually (truth be told), I just needed to do something. Anything, really. Just to get me moving again.
Now, if you’ve ever been lost, you know that without some sort of indicator or landmark, you feel pretty helpless and confused taking a step in any direction. You really have no clue where you are so how do you know where to go? (If you’re thinking “I’d Google it”, try to imagine a time before the smart phone, smart ass.) But if you’re on vacation, having a walkabout with an ice cream in hand, getting lost is exactly what you want to do. You enjoy it. You take in new things, stop and look around, people watch, observe…and eventually you find yourself on the path to wherever you were meant to go.
That’s the same thing with motivation. If you’re waiting for it, swimming in the lack of it, you feel helpless and confused. But if you move and take action in any direction, you will quickly find clarity in what your next step should be. Once you know where you’re headed, you’ll be excited to get there and next thing you know, you’ve got yourself a first class ticket on the Motivation Express.
Setting my intention for this month, I had only one thing in mind: take action. As I’ve already explained, action ignites motivation. Motivation fuels inspiration. Inspiration ignites more action. You get the gist. So how did I go from my cemented, stuck-where-I-stood stationary panic to Motivated Mary in three weeks? Baby steps. But steps. Some things that worked for me:
- Understanding my goals/wants/desires. I have about five billion different ideas rolling by like tumbleweeds in my head at any given moment. Most of them are things I want to do, achieve, or learn. This is a good thing, it keeps me feeling excited about life…until it becomes overwhelming. If this resonates with you, grab a pen and paper and write down every single one of your goals/wants/to-do list brain occupying space things. Every single one. Then immediately mark which ones are the most exciting to do and write down why. Digging into your why will help you understand your real motivation. You might learn that the thing you think you want doesn’t really matter that much to you at all. Or at the very least, that it’s not that important to you right now.
- Giving myself one job. I am a 0-60, all or nothing kind of girl. Or I was. Until I burnt out. Now, I’m more of a I-really-better-want-this-and-be-so-absolutely-stoked-about-it-or-I-certainly-won’t-give-it-my-all kind of girl. Each week, I give myself one action item per goal that I can actually get done. Now before you start getting judgy, this isn’t a cop-out on hard work. It’s a simple and effective way to build momentum towards change – change being actually going after that goal. It also gives time to gather more clarity on which direction to make your next move. Plus, actually getting things done feels so much better than seeing another huge to-do list left undone. You’ll probably feel inspired to keep going. Just wait and see. No, don’t wait. Just do and see!
- Draw the correlation. I’m a curious girl and I need to know my why. Understanding how that small step is going to impact your larger goal is mission critical. You need to truly find value in each part of the process to fuel the motivation to keep moving. Sometimes just wanting to do something isn’t enough. You might need to feel a little validation for your own effort for making a change and that’s all good. Praise yo’self.
- Don’t focus on the effort. Speaking of effort, try not to think about it. Yes, we live in a meritocracy where we are told that if we work hard enough, if we roll up our sleeves and get down and dirty in our work, we will achieve our goals. Now, I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but sometimes it’s the exact thing that stops you from climbing higher. When I look back at my achievements I’m most proud of, I certainly give a nod to the effort I put in to get my goal. Hell yeah, I worked hard. But in the moment it’s easy to be deterred from continuing the effort when you feel the weight of how hard it actually is. What do I mean? Well, let’s say you want to lose 50 pounds. Girl, that’s going to be hard. I mean, you’ll have to put in the work. But focusing on how hard it is/going to be is the quickest way to halt your progress. Instead, turn your focus on those crossed out action items, the things you did do and how awesome it feels to actually take steps towards where you want to be.
So what am I saying here? Do something. Something you want to do. Something that gets you one step closer to the places you are in your day dreams. It’s true that it might not be the right time for everything, but it’s the right time for something. And you’ve got time for something. Take it. It’s yours.
If you’re feeling gung-ho, sweet. I did my job! If you’re feeling gung-ho and now looking for the next step, reach out. I’ve got an exercise that will light the motivation fire right under that groovy booty of yours.