Don’t wait for motivation
You’ll be waiting forever
Not doing something because you don’t feel motivated is a huge mistake. If you’re going to wait until you’re motivated, you might wait forever. I used to tell myself things like “I’ll do it when I’m motivated” when I started my business, especially with things that weren’t directly client-related or didn’t add numbers to my bank account. A good example is writing blog posts. I knew that through those blog posts, potential clients would find me in search engines and eventually drive more sales. Still, I kept putting it off — telling myself that I’m not motivated enough to write. It’s easy when you’re by yourself, with no client or boss watching what you’re doing. One day I read a blog post where I saw a picture like this:
It’s one of those things where you go “Duh” when you see it, you think that it’s obvious and everyone knows it. But it gives you a different meaning when you really “live it”. After seeing that image, I didn’t start writing 5 articles every day — but I gave it a chance. Some days I still didn’t get anything done, but other days I wrote for hours. The key is to break down the task into smaller pieces and start with the easiest things when you aren’t motivated. So for the blog articles, instead of thinking “I need to write a 1000-word article today” I started with one of the easier things: coming up with topics for new articles, getting images for articles, writing the introduction for an article, etc. Most of the time, that action got me motivated — writing the whole blog article in one go.
Motivation to exercise
Most of us can relate to this: not being motivated to work out. It’s difficult to be motivated when you wake up in the morning, or after a long day at work. I dare to say that only sick people are truly motivated to go for a run at 6 AM directly after waking up and it’s cold, dark, and raining outside.
Still, we all know that 99% of the time we feel great after the workout. After just 10 minutes in the gym, we feel inspired/motivated and the workout itself is no problem. The problem is just actually getting to the gym. It’s just about training the mind to do it. By doing it consistently, it becomes a routine and gets easier.
Don’t push it
Yesterday, my body was sore. I had been training a lot the past few days and didn’t sleep well the previous night. Still, I pushed myself to go to the gym. However, I ended up doing a shorter workout mainly stretching and doing mobility exercises. My body told me to take it easy. But I still gave it a chance and actually went to the gym. My point is, especially when it comes to working out — remember to listen to your body as well and don’t push it if it isn’t good for your health.
