The past few days, I have felt myself becoming demotivated towards my goals and my ambitions. For me, this doesn’t happen too often, but when it does I find myself getting into a pattern.
Instead of getting on with the actions that I know will lead towards my goals, I started to reflect on why I’m not motivated. I begin asking whether I really want to achieve the results I am after, and whether my values and priorities have changed.
All this inner reflection about what I wanted lead to one thing: uncertainty.
I somehow end up feeling worse than I did; less motivated to get on with the tasks that are part of my goal plan.
Today, even though I felt myself in a slump, I had some deadlines to meet. Thus, I just decided to shut off my brain and do the work.
I forced myself to start on my tasks even though I wasn’t excited or motivated in the slightest.
You know what I discovered?
I was able to do the work even though I felt no motivation.
I think this is an important point to remember: when you don’t feel motivated, it doesn’t mean you can’t actually do something. It doesn’t really matter what you feel, you can still do what you want or need to do.
As I got through my list of actions, I felt a rhythm kicking in. Slowly, I found my motivation starting to rise. From the tasks themselves, it seemed I was gathering energy to keep going, to keep moving towards my goals.
The work itself has intrinsic value. The work has it’s own gravity that starts to direct you once you get going.
So here’s my rather obvious, yet valuable realization: do the work.
Whether you feel like it or not, it doesn’t mean you can’t do it. Do the work, and it will provide you the motivation you need.
You know what, lately I’ve felt the same way but still managed to accomplish my duties as a mother. Sometimes feel like giving up, but my kids are my motivation, nomatter how I feel. Stress, depression, anxiety and other things in life make me feel this way, but when it comes to things I have to do for my 3 kids, I get things accomplished. Just yesterday, had to drive my 2 year old to her check up, in a severe thunderstorm, and almost didn’t go, and believe me, my anxiety was very high, but I did it, and felt better afterwords.
Thanks for sharing this. I think the more honest we are about how we feel, and what we learn from experiences, the better we can use them in the future. I appreciate your honesty! – DMS
I’m so glad you found your mojo. It’s hard to sit down and get on with things when you have no inclination to do so, but you found a way round it. Bravo!
Thanks Barbara, I appreciate you! As I said it’s a rare occurrence for me to feel that way, but realizing the value of the work, and how it creates motivation was a good reminder. – DMS
Sometimes I fell less motivated on the things I’m doing especially in my writing, but its like I HV gotten new are after reading your post, thanks dear
Jimon, that is wonderful to hear! Glad it was valuable and helped you!