Finding motivation: what to do when you don’t feel like doing anything
“The measure of your success generally comes down to who wins the battle between the two of you. The ‘you’ who wants to stop, give up, or take it easy, and the ‘you’ who choose to fight back. It would get in the way of your success: complacency. ” Chris Widener
In all my interactions with people, I have never encountered anyone, regardless of their level of success, who sometimes just doesn’t find themselves inadvertently doing the things they need and want to do. It is part of human nature that there will be times when, despite everything we have to do, and even want to, we will find ourselves without wanting to do anything. And what separates those who will succeed from those who will maintain the status quo, is the ability at those crucial moments in time when we are making decisions about what to do, to choose to find the inner motivation that will allow us to conquer our complacency and move on. get on with the action.
It seems to me that I face this problem in my life on a regular basis, which is why the following successful strategies are not simply “pie-in-the-sky techniques” but proven ways to get going even when you don’t feel like doing anything.
Honestly assess whether or not you need a break. This is the first thing I usually do, which I find that I don’t want to get to a specific action. The fact is that many times we have been working very hard and the lethargy we are feeling is actually our body and our emotions telling us that we simply need a break. And this is where true intellectual honesty is needed because when we don’t need a break, our mind still tells us we need a break! But sometimes we need a break. I will give you a good example. I don’t particularly like to exercise, but I do it almost every day. Sometimes before going to the club, I find myself thinking that I didn’t feel like going. Most of the time I am lazy. However, sometimes I find that my body needs a break. So every now and then I take a day or two break to exercise. The benefits of this are twofold: one, my body has a break to regenerate. Two, after a day or two, I start to miss my training and look forward to hitting the gym.
Other examples: Maybe it’s a salesperson who’s been calling clients for a week in a row, day and night. You wake up one morning and you don’t feel like doing it anymore. Well, take a break in the morning. Go to a coffee shop and read the newspaper. Go to the driving range and hit some golf balls. Take a break and do it again!
Start small. I am now at a point in my training program where a typical training day for me consists of 30 to 45 minutes of aerobic exercise and approximately 30 minutes of weight lifting. So when I realize I don’t want to get up and go to the gym, I sometimes commit to going and doing a smaller workout. Instead of deciding not to go, I commit to 15-20 minutes of aerobic exercise and 15-30 minutes of weight lifting. This is also good for two reasons. One, I actually do some exercise that day. And two, it prevents me from entering a cycle of giving up when I don’t feel like moving into action.
Other examples: maybe you are a writer who just doesn’t want to write today. Instead of the long day of writing you had planned, decide that you will at least describe a couple of new articles. At least he will, and you may have found that he does put you in the mood to write after all.
Change your routine. I’ve found that the thing that keeps me in top shape and burns the most calories is doing 30 to 45 minutes on the treadmill every day. Now let me be very direct. I find running on the treadmill extremely boring. Usually I can do it myself, but sometimes I need to vary my routine. So instead of 30 to 45 minutes on a treadmill, I will divide my aerobic exercise routine into several different areas. I will do 10 to 15 minutes on the treadmills, 10 to 15 minutes on the recline cycle, 5 to 10 minutes on the rowing machine, 5 to 10 minutes on the stair, and then return to the treadmill for five to 10 minutes. I still exercise, but I get a lot less bored.
Other examples: maybe you’re under construction and you’ve been working on the plumbing for a week, and it’s getting monotonous. Don’t do the plumbing today! What a framing in the office.
Reward yourself. One way I motivate myself to do something when I don’t feel like doing it is to tell myself that if I do the work I need, I will give myself a small reward. For example, I can tell myself that if I get up and go to the club, I can take five to 10 minutes of my exercise on the treadmill, which will shorten my exercise routine, and allow myself to sit in the hot tub for a bit. a few extra minutes. Hey, it works!
Other examples: maybe you are a mortgage broker who wants to fall asleep. Tell yourself that after the next three mortgages you close, you will take your children to the fair or your spouse to the movies. Maybe you get a night out on the town with old friends.
Reconnect action with pleasure instead of pain. Psychologists have long told us that human beings tend to connect every action with pleasure or pain. Tony Robbins has popularized this even more in recent years with something he calls Neural Associations. That is, we connect each action with a pleasure or pain. When we find ourselves unmotivated, what we are probably finding about ourselves is that we are associating the action we are thinking about with pain, rather than pleasure. For example, when I consider that not going to the gym on a certain day, I usually associate going and exercising with not having time, the pain of exercising and lifting weights, or the boring of running on a treadmill for a long time. . an extended period of time. What I can do to re-associate is remind myself that by coming in and exercising I will feel better about myself, lose weight, and live longer. This gives me pleasure. When we start running such tapes through our minds, we find our inner motivating force unleashed and we change our attitude about the action we are considering.
Other examples: maybe you are a counselor who really doesn’t want to spend the day listening to people. Your association may be that it will be boring, or that you will be inside while it’s sunny outside. Instead, re-associate yourself with the truth of the matter: someone will be better off because of your care and concern. Think about your clients and the progression they have been making recently and how you have been a part of that.