How to get motivated. The shocking lesson I learnt that motivation in fact DOES NOT lead to action

A few years back, I learnt a very useful lesson – a lesson that has stuck with me ever since and that I find myself applying whenever the need arises. It has to do with how to get motivated.

At the time I was suffering from situational depression. I have never been a great sleeper, often spending hours trying to fall asleep at night. In this particular season, my insomnia was insane. I was working a job that required me to wake up at 3:30am. The result of this was that, as I spent hours trying to fall asleep, I would most nights only manage to get 2 or 3 hours of proper sleep.

Medically, this took its toll. I depleted my serotonin stores and became pretty depressed.

Everything was a struggle. The smallest tasks became enormous and I would often avoid doing them because of the fear that they would produce too much anxiety and misery.

For example, brushing my hair. I have super long hair that is very prone to annoying tangling. The thought of having to mission though my knotty hair, at the time, was too much to handle. This was something that I avoided often – opting to wear hats or tie my hair in a bun instead.

The problem with this kind of avoidance, is that the list of things that need to get done just gets longer and longer. And, with the increasing list comes increasing anxiety, which in turn leads to more avoidance and a longer list. Know what I mean?

Just wait…the motivation will come

And so comes the problem of trying to get motivated, amidst the struggles of anxiety, stress, and other motivation-killing emotions.

The common belief is that one has to wait for the motivation to arrive and, once it does, everything will be ok and get ticked off the list. As soon as we feel motivated, the work will get done. I just have to get a little motivation and everything will be ok.

We sit around waiting, getting more and more frustrated as each motivation-less day passes. Once again, this contributes to the spiral.

Motivation does not lead to action

What if I suggested that motivation does not lead to action.

WTF?!

This is the lesson that I learnt. That motivation DOES NOT lead to action. Instead…

Action leads to motivation

I have just come back from 3 weeks with my family and friends in South Africa. It was an awesome trip – full of fun adventures and memory-making.

As I’m sure you all know, coming back from a vacation can be a serious motivation killer. It is so hard to get back into your pre-vacation rhythm.

That is how I am feeling right now – totally unmotivated and uninspired.

It is even harder if you work for yourself and have to get stuff done with only your own mind to keep an eye on you.

Before I went away, I had a great daily work system in place. Now that I am back, I am really struggling to find the motivation to get it going again. I just want to eat, sleep and watch Gilmore Girls for the 4th time.

Even as I write this, I am not really in the mood. However, the lesson that I was taught back when I was trying to get motivated to simply brush my hair, has come back to mind and I am forcing myself to apply it.

Start by brushing your hair

At the time of my season of depression, I needed to find the motivation to pick myself up and continue with my daily life. I needed to run, clean my house, go grocery shopping. But these tasks were too big at the time. I needed to start way smaller.

My therapist suggested that I pick the smallest task that caused me anxiety and start there. This, for me, was brushing my hair. He taught me that completing one tiny thing would give birth to a tiny bit of motivation, which in turn would lead to another tiny thing becoming manageable.

Brush your hair – that’s it. That is the only thing you need to accomplish today. Do that and see where it leads.

It may not happen that same day, but if I continued to just brush my hair, without worrying about anything else, the motivation would come.

Pick just one task

This is a very simple and specific example, but I am sure that you can understand how this may apply to your own life.

If you find yourself struggling with how to get motivated, try this:

Break down your list of tasks and pick one, the smallest one. Start there.

Remind yourself that motivation does not come out of nowhere. Motivation comes from action.

Tara 

Did you enjoy reading this? Then you may also enjoy:

The Importance of Letting Go of Your Goal

What Season of Life are You in?

Who Says Everyday Has to Be a Good Day?

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