Motivation!
Yup, I’ll need to get motivated, I’ll do that once I’ve got the motivation, I won’t be able to do that because I am rubbish at motivating myself ~ blah blah blah blah blah.
HOLD ON A SECOND.
Stop waiting for motivation.
Motivation is fickle AF!
So, there are times when you simply need to knuckle down, you need to get on with shit. Something I shared on my Facebook page the other day was around the fact that that particular morning I felt scared, apprehensive, a little nervous BUT by lunchtime I felt proud of myself and a little smug AF. Sometimes we have to feel the fear but not focus on it. Focus on the outcome of moving beyond it. If I do this thing then I’m gonna feel…………………(fill in the blank).
Perhaps instead of seeking to find motivation for the task why not consider being motivated by the outcome/result of having done it. Pride/accomplishment/a tick on the list/being one step closer or whatever it might be.
In life we do “non-negogitables” ~ shit that needs to get done regardless of whether or not we feel motivated to do. I put the bins (trash) out each week regardless of whether or not I feel motivated to do so. I take the kids to school each day regardless of whether or not I feel motivated to do so. When we make something non-negogitable it happens without us analysing whether or not we are in the mood to do it.
One of the things I’ve been asked A LOT with reference to my fitness journey in 2019 has been “how do you stay motivated” and, at first I found myself trying to analyse my motivation behind it. At the very beginning I didn’t have any specific goals. Specifics seemed ridiculously overwhelming. I simply decided to back myself and give it a punt. I decided that I was allowed to prioritse time for ME within my hectic schedule and that I would just see what I could do. I started taking steps. Did I always feel like it? FUCK NO. But it became a non-negogitable and I set out down the path.
I then knew that every day I stepped down that path that I didn’t come this far to only come this far and that’s still a little mantra I use now.
I didn’t come this far to only come this far.
I never wanted to return to square one. I understood acutely how ridiculously uncomfortable square one was and the fact that I had had to get to the point of being prepared to take that punt. I didn’t want to be back there. My journey wasn’t a return journey (and still it’s about the next step forwards).
People say “don’t look back because you’re not going that way” BUT you can use it to continue to inspire the rest of the journey.
I suppose some of what I’m saying here is ~ sometimes you need to side step the mindset, stop trying to think it through, stop it becoming something that’s analyse-able and start to take the steps.
Just consider for a moment the earlier point, being motivated by the outcome, let’s just take that one steps further ~ I DON’T WANT TO LET DOWN MY FUTURE SELF, I HAVEN’T MET HER YET AND IT WOULD BE TERRIBLE TO SET OFF ON A FOOTING OF LET DOWN.
Here’s the thing. Yup motivation is fickle. Motivation tos and fros like the tides. You can’t always be motivated. Sometimes you just have to steady yourself and DO rather than THINK.
Yup, there’ll be occasions where you don’t need to DO and instead you need to BE. Remember that it’s not always about striving for more, more, more and be forever reaching for that which feels outside of your grasp.
🌎 The Universal Law states – That Which Is Chased Will Move Away From You 🌎
Whether that be;
Squirrels 🐿
Sleep 😴
Money 💸
Clients 🙍
Productivity 💻
Ideas 💡
Creativity ✒️
AND IN PARTICULAR MOTIVATION
The minute it becomes a desperate chase is the minute that it becomes harder. The desperate energy makes you feel stressy and that stress hits on everything that you do.
It’s easy for me to sit here and say that you have to let things happen BUT I think that would be an untruth and an injustice to you too because you simply can’t put these things into the hands of others.
You need to know what you seek to achieve ✔️
You need to be aligned to that goal or target or thing 💖 If the mind isn’t aligned then the action is irrelevant
You have to let go of the angsty energy that you have injected into it.
You have to look at a practical action plan – broken down into steps – to make it happen.
You have to take that action | no one will do it for you and whilst the Universe can join the jots it won’t create the whole story if you sit on your bum.
Stop the chase.
Remove the angst
Align to the outcome
Know that you can make it happen.
Take action to make it a reality.
If things are feeling incredibly tricky then here’s some suggestions;
✔️ Unplug the mindset on it for a moment. Are you making it into a thing by the way you’re thinking about it? Are you creating a tsunami when in fact the waves are gently lapping? I so often see people who have removed themselves so far away for the actual factual circumstances/situation that’s going on and have heaped a whole new story and a range of emotions on top. Take it back to the facts ~ where are you right now? What’s the truth of it? What CAN you do to move forwards?
✔️ Following on from the first one – stop focusing on what you CAN’T do and look at the stuff that you can do.
✔️ Motivation and evidence that you CAN can be found in doing the thing and creating momentum.
✔️ Some days you WON’T do all the things, you’ll be tired and that’s ok AND some days you need to do the thing to shift the tiredness.
✔️ Make shit non-negogitable. I put time in my diary for stuff and treat it like a client/doctors appointment ~ would I cancel that appointment today? If the answer is NO then I can’t cancel the appointment to do that workout or whatever it might be.
✔️ Stop grappling to grasp all the things that seem outside of your grip. Hold on to what is actually there right now and work with that!
My parting thought;
Your outcomes are the sum of the action that you take on a consistent basis ~ not one off stuff. Ditch the guilt when you don’t and embrace the doing to achieve the outcomes you desire 😉
