We all go through times in our life when even the thought of getting started on something seems impossible. And that’s not always a bad thing — while we’ve become obsessed with the cult of productivity, balance between goal-oriented time and leisure time is essential for health, not to mention a life you can actually enjoy living. But falling too far on the other end of the spectrum will hurt you too. So if you find that you regularly struggle to motivate yourself, try this process:
Think it through…
When you’re faced with the beginning of a project, or multiple projects, it’s easy to start to blend them into an overwhelming, monolithic issue. To counteract this, add value to the situation by asking yourself the right questions. As Kim Brorfelde says, “The quality of life is determined by the quality of the questions you are willing to ask yourself.”
So ask yourself, what really needs to happen here? What’s the very first step? And, most importantly, does this actually need to be done at all? Is it valuable enough to you for you to take action? If not, then release it. If so, then start visualizing the end result you want to accomplish.
Sit with yourself and really feel what it’s going to be like when you’ve accomplished this goal. Get as specific as possible, The more concrete you can make this outcome in your mind, the easier you’ll find it to get started.
… then do it!
Once you’ve done your visualization, just dive in. Do whatever it takes to talk yourself into it, or just decide that you’re going to start right now, even if that means you can only do one tiny step. The most difficult part of motivating yourself is often self-initiation. Once you start doing what you need to do, the motivation often follows.
Or don’t.
If you’ve asked your questions and done your visualization and you still just can’t make yourself take even one tiny step, then don’t. Remember what I said about balance being critical for life? It may be that you’ve been so far out of balance on the productivity end of the spectrum that you need the off time before you can start again. So allow yourself to be unmotivated, even outright lazy, until you recharge. Sooner than you think, you’ll be filled with energy again and ready to jump into action.
Either way, get some support.
Don’t try to do everything all on your own; look for external motivation as well. There are nearly endless sources of it, from people to activities to books to images that inspire you. If you’re not sure where to start, why not try watching an inspiring YouTube video, or talking to someone and asking for their advice?
There’s just one caveat here, and it’s to make sure that you don’t compare yourself to others. When you’re looking outside yourself for motivation, you can slip from “inspired” to “envious” before you know it, but this will just bring down your self esteem. While it’s fine to model other people if you’re trying to do something similar, always remember that you are your own, special individual.
Above all, believe in yourself.
Everything originates from within you, so if you believe that you can do it, you can! This doesn’t mean that you’ll never ever fail, or that you won’t be tempted to procrastinate — these things take time, and failure is a part of being human. But if you are kind to yourself, proud of yourself, and reward yourself for taking even the smallest of steps, you’ll build up momentum in no time.
Do you often struggle with procrastination? It could be that there’s a deeper issue at play, like self worth or limiting beliefs. Click here to find out how I can support you as you figure out what’s really underlying your lack of motivation and remove those blocks so you can live a life you truly love.