What To Do When Your Motivation Is Missing

Motivation is an elusive mistress. I mean, in an average month, how many times can you say you’ve felt truly motivated to get shit done? Once? Twice?

Too often, I’d get a burst of motivation in the middle of the evening but foolishly believed that it was better to ignore the pull of productivity at that hour because I’d only end up on an all-nighter and spending the following day half-asleep. But guess what? That motivation slipped out during the night and I woke up feeling like it had never even been there. So now I’m a firm believer in grabbing the motivation moment when it arrives and keeping a tight grip on that sucker until it eventually wriggles away, leaving you wrecked.

But today, I want to talk about the 99.9% of the time that you don’t feel super motivated. Or, worse, when you just plain don’t want to do something. In those cases, there’s a simple trick I’ve learned to vastly increase productivity — do it anyway.

If we were to wait around until Mother Motivation came a-calling, we’d barely get anything done. A lot of the things we accomplish on a day-to-day basis aren’t necessarily things we want to do, but we do them because we have to, like working, shopping, washing clothes… I mean, if we only washed the dishes when we felt like it, would there ever be a clean plate in the house?

I’m currently trying to get into the habit of exercising more. (Who isn’t?) I decided a while ago that, on Saturday and Sunday mornings, I was going to go for a run. That had been going reasonably well for a few weeks but, last weekend, I wanted to lace up my running shoes about as much as I wanted to watch paint dry. I’m guessing that’s something we can all relate to, right?

But I laced them up anyway and got out the door. And guess what? Those two runs were two of my best ever, and I came back feeling rejuvenated and ready to face the day.

You see, sometimes you have to just go out there and make your own motivation. Not wanting to do something is no longer a valid excuse.

• You don’t feel like exercising? So what? Do it anyway.
• You don’t feel like cleaning up after the kids? So what? Do it anyway.
• You don’t feel like working on your thesis right now? So what? Do it anyway.

And think how much better you’ll “feel” then!

Productivity means getting things done, not just getting them done when you want to. So quit “feeling” and just start acting.

For more help, read my posts on how to overcome procrastination, how to build habits, and another way to overcome lack of motivation.

Don’t feel like it?

Do it anyway. 😉