Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Thoughts that Bind! We talk so much on here about doing the work and achieving our goals (and so on), so today I thought we’d address an aspect of it that we haven’t really before: motivation.
What is motivation?
Whenever someone starts a new program, it’s common to be highly motivated to reach your goal, to check that box, get the achievement, whatever the right jargon for the situation is. We’re motivated, and that’s why we’re even starting this in the first place.
The feeling of motivation is like a fire in your belly. There’s a certain amount of confidence to it–an assuredness that you can, in fact, change your life. And an impetus to do just that. Motivation is a great feeling, and because of that, we tend to wish we could be in touch with it all the the time. But we can’t.
The problem with motivation
You see, motivation is great while it lasts. It carries us across the threshold of consideration into action. And when you get the snipits of motivation to improve yourself or change your life for the better, I think that you should definitely take them, and ride them as far as they will go. But thats just it, they only go so far.
The thing about motivation is that it wanes. And often. It wanes pretty easily. I think we’ve all experienced this at least once in our life. We get all geared up to make a positive change, and then a couple days, a week go by, and it fizzles out.
There are people who combat this problem by saying “no big deal, you just have to ramp it back up again!” These are the sorts who continually listen to motivational tapes or pay to go to seminars, or need constant pep talks. But if you ask me, not only is this approach insufficient, it’s unsustainable.
First of all, you’d need to spend an incredible amount of resources to stay motivated 24/7. (Time, money, attention.) All of that takes away from your ability to actually go and do the things that youre working so hard to be motivated for. But the other thing about it is that motivation is an incredible stress on the body if taken over a long period of time. There’s a lot of adrenaline pumping through your system when you’re motivated. Which is fine in the short term, but if you try to keep it that way all the time, you’re going to burn out. You get frazzled and ineffectual when you expect constant motivation from yourself. And eventually, you can’t really achieve anything at all. Because you ignore rest for so long, stuck in the “go, go, go” of it all. You do need a balance there.
What do I do instead?
So if you’re with me so far, you might be considering binning this philosophy of needing to keep your motivation steadily high. But you still want to achieve your goals, so what do you do? Well, if you ask me, your best bet is to strive for inspiration–not motivation. Motivation says, “you can’t live your life below your ultimate potential! Do you know how sad that would be?!” Whereas inspiration asks, “What kind of life do I want to live and create in the world around me? And how do I get there?” Motivation harps on how hard you work, and inspiration asks “Why? What am I working for?”
It’s a subtle difference, inspiration vs. motivation. Inspiration is a little quieter, a little more difficult to listen to. But inspiration is sustainable. It won’t burn you out like motivation will, because it affords nuance, rest, and careful planning. It asks for more tact than motivation, which is more like “give me 110 percent!!!!” And they can work together, because sometimes you will feel both, if you attune to yourself. But inspiration, if you continue to nourish it, won’t wane in the same way that motivation quickly does. Don’t count on willpower when what you really need is why-power.
Discipline, the necessary little annoyance
“So wait a second, I thought you just said don’t count on willpower, instead use why-power! Now we’re talking about self-discipline?” Well, yes. But I think discipline, when paired with inspiration, involves a little less willpower than you might be thinking.
You’re going to need a certain amount of willpower to get anything done. The problem with motivation is that you’re trying to mainly just effort your way to your goal, and as I already mentioned, that’s not super sustainable. Without inspiration, all you have is willpower. “I’m going to keep going, because I should. I know I should.” You know, that rarely ever works, long term. It’s like the students in school who always used to ask, “when are we going to use this in real life?” They were looking for a basis to found all their hard work on. And it’s simple human nature to want that. If we don’t have a compelling reason to put forth a ton of effort, it’s really de-motivating and eventually, you’ll give up. Inspiration is that basis for effort.
When you’re inspired, you see what the big picture is. You see what you’re trying to create or be a part of, and that gives you a good enough reason to keep working towards it. It can also give you a good measuring stick for your progress if you do it right. But it’s true, you’re going to need to use some will-power to make this happen.
I find it easiest to structure your life in such a way where it is easier to make the decisions you want to/know you need to in order to progress. For example, if there’s one little annoying thing you know you need to do today, do it first, or do it as early as possible so you don’t let yourself procrastinate. If you’re trying not to eat junk food because it sends you on a negative spiral, don’t buy any, etc. When you make the “wrong” choice harder for yourself, the “right” one becomes easier. And if you have the inspiration of the big picture behind the little annoying details, then you’ll have a better idea of the important choices you need to start making for yourself.
How to get inspired
I think we’re all on the same page as far as terms and reasons for them goes. So the only thing left to discuss is inspiration itself. Because you can get randomly motivated, but can you get randomly inspired?
I’m sure some people would disagree with me, but I would say no. I think you have to choose to get inspired, and choose to continually nourish your inspiration. That’s how we stay on top of our goals and desires. So how do we do that?
Well, first you want to look at your life. What do you see that you actually want improved? Not that you think other people would improve about you or you think society would wish you did, but what do you actually want to change about yourself and the life you’re living?
Then imagine what your life would really look like if you did reach your goal. How would you feel? Who would you be? How would your days be different? You really want to flesh this out in your mind, what is the big picture, with all the sensory and informational details. Once you’ve got this idea living and breathing within you, you can cement it by writing it down. What really sucks about the way things are right now? And what would be so great about having or being or doing this thing that you want? The more emotional you get while doing this, the better. Then you are more likely to have the new habit/habits stick.
Once you’ve done that, then it’s time to get to planning. Flesh out the things you need to learn and do to get to your goal, to the best of your understanding. There are going to be surprises along the way that you need to add later, but just do your best. And when you’re done, look over the list and see how small you can break down these steps. Break down the steps so small until the first one seems too easy. That’s when you’ve got a manageable plan.
Action!
Once you’re done fleshing out what you need to do, it’s time to get started on doing it. There’s no two ways about it. Even with inspiration on your side, you still need to take action. But when you stop relying on sheer motivation to keep you floating, the actions will be a little bit easier, because you’ve laid a more proper base. Remember: you deserve to see yourself accomplish your goals.
If you are looking for a little bit of motivation to keep doing the inner work it takes to grow, you can take a look at this post, entitled “It probably won’t be glamorous”, where I talk about the sometimes frustrating nature of self-improvement (click here to read that one). And if you know somebody who relies way too much on motivation without considering inspiration, share this post with them, to help them realize the path to their true potential! Thanks for reading, and get inspired!
