I’m just not motivated……

By

Malec and Associates

Have you ever had to do something or even wanted to do something, but you just couldn’t “get motivated” to do it? It could be to clean out of closest, finish a report, get to the gym, really anything and find yourself unable to motivate yourself to “just do it”! This is a common situation, and it may surprise you, but there is a simple way to find motivation.

Often when we need to do something that requires time, attention, focus or effort, we can have an approach-avoidance experience of it. We need or want to take care of a task because it has a benefit. We need to make 15 cold calls in a day, or we need to get to the gym because our weight is creeping up or we want to finish a report because our meeting is coming up. However, this activity will require an allocation of our physical and mental energy which is currently allocated to other activities. We must pull that energy away from those tasks and use it to target a specific endeavor. That can often feel overwhelming and create a feeling of avoidance. We might be experiencing feelings of fatigue, “It’s just too hard” or we might feel a sense of apathy, “I just don’t care enough” or “I don’t feel like it” or some other internal resistance, robbing us of any forward movement.

You may be surprised to know that motivation doesn’t come before you get started but afterwards! Yep! If you want to be motivated to go to the gym, you will feel motivated to go to the gym after you go. If you want to feel motivated to complete a report, get started on the report. Motivated begins to build after we have begun to invest in the activity we need to accomplish. It is though our brains need to get in the groove before it will give into the re-distribution of resources.

If you are having problems “getting motivated”, accept that you aren’t feeling motivated and break the process down into the smallest pieces and begin that piece. If going to the gym is your goal, for example, put your gym clothes on and drive to the gym. This small step will often lead to going inside and then can lead to participating in a physical activity, circumventing the resistance.

So, when you aren’t feeling particularly motivated to do an activity, just remember this simple solution.