The Motivation Myth

How Do You Get and Stay Motivated

Motivation is fleeting, inconsistent, and maybe not even a thing.  Sometimes we like the idea of doing an activity, but when the moment comes, we freeze.  We don’t feel like it.  A million excuses enter our minds, to justify why we shouldn’t do it.   There is no such thing as motivation.  You have to do the hard things, even when you don’t feel like it.  Perhaps, especially when you don’t feel like it.  Building daily routines that you just do out of a sense of discipline and habit will trump motivation every time.

How Do You Develop Discipline and Habit?

The only way to build a habit is to plan for it.  We need to plan tasks for a convenient time.  It has to be realistic with the other things going on in your day.   You have to make it so that there are no excuses possible.  If I want to build the habit of a daily outdoor walk, I need to do it at the best time.  For me, this is right after work, before the chaos of dinner, chores, and kids’ rides sets in.  I can wait until later in the evening, but the odds of it happening will decrease. 

Habit stacking is when you start a new activity alongside an existing one.  To build a routine of taking my vitamins, I started taking them as the final activity of cleaning the kitchen each night.  To develop my walking habit, I have my change of clothes and shoes in the laundry room right where I come in the house so that I can change and go right away.

Anything We Do Regularly is a Routine

I use routines to ensure that I clean my house bi-weekly. I break it down to two-three days, depending on the week.  A day for dusting, one for bathrooms, and one for floors. If I need to, I combine two of these.  On alternate weeks, I add in the basement with one of these.  I never fail to clean my house bi-weekly, even though I never want to do it.  There is never a surge of motivation to do it.  I literally just do it.  It is a routine and is not up for debate. The same is true of grocery shopping, meal planning, food prepping, and laundry. 

Plan a Routine for Desired Tasks

 I don’t negotiate with myself about doing these basic chores.  Yet I would constantly avoid things I actually wanted to do.  Read my novels.  Write.  Walk outdoors.  Work on hobbies.  Do strength training workouts.  Finally, I started to build them into my day as habits.  I don’t ask myself any longer if I want to do it or not.  I check my schedule for the day or evening, then I do it.  It might be a later start than planned, but I do it.  I might switch the order of things to accommodate life, but I do it.  I am still a work in progress, but I am achieving all of my goals much more consistently. 

The Trick to Feeling Motivated

Do you know when I actually feel motivated?  Once I have completed the goal!  The feeling of accomplishment creates energy.   This propels me to want to complete the next task.  It creates momentum, or dare I say, motivation?  You have to expend energy to create energy when you “don’t feel like” working out.  This same principle holds true for any activity we wish to complete in our day.  The act of doing it, as a habit or routine, creates motivation.  

There is no secret hack.  You need to do the thing.  Then do it again, and again.  Create the best schedule, create the conditions you need, and do the thing.  This is how we create balance.  Throughout your month, your week, and your day, schedule a balance of tasks and make yourself do them.  The more consistently you do them, the sooner they will become routine.  Motivation does not exist outside of discipline.