The Myth of Motivation

motivation

What is motivation?

We all know when we have it – and when we don’t. When it’s missing, we chide ourselves in the hope that that will make it appear again. Wikipedia defines it for us as “the internal condition that activates behavior and gives it direction”. In our society, we’re often told – explicitly and implicitly – that without motivation, nothing would ever get done, and that if we don’t have it, we won’t amount to anything, to boot. No wonder this mysterious motivation stuff is so sought after!

Yet despite the constant quest for the Holy Grail of motivation, I don’t think it’s something we can ever “find”. In fact, I don’t believe it actually exists. It’s a myth.

The truth is, motivation is the state that naturally arises when our desire for something – or to do something – overrides our desire to stay put. When that happens, we find ourselves moving forward effortlessly, almost mindlessly, in a natural flow of action, often accompanied by feelings of excitement, expectation, and pleasure.

Motivation isn’t a thing we find, it’s a state we become. Motivation is you, moving forward. In fact, looking around for motivation – when it isn’t there – is a sure-fire way of making ourselves feel woefully demotivated. This fruitless quest usually just makes us painfully aware of the fact that we’re not in action yet. When we feel that we should be in action and we’re not in action, discomfort (guilt, frustration, depression, anger….) is the result.

Can you make yourself want something, before you do? No, neither can I. Everything in its time. When the desire/inertia equation tips in the favour of desire, you’ll start moving – and not a minute before.

It’s time to make peace with that fact, and to reach a whole new, comfortable relationship with the concept of motivation.

“I have to be motivated, and I’m sure time will avail itself.” – Bobby Sherman

How To Make Peace With Motivation:

Respect your inertia. When you’re not motivated, don’t jump to the immediate conclusion that you should be (there’s that “should” word again – more on that little bugger in a future blog). Take time to tune into why you’re not motivated. It could be that your energy levels are low, and that you need a rest before you charge off in the direction of your latest goal. You wouldn’t set out on a long, fast journey in your car with no oil, little fuel, and a rusty engine, would you? No – you’d have the engine tuned and oiled, and the tank filled. Afford yourself the same respect and common sense, and take some rest and recuperation, if you need it.

If you’re actively demotivated – that is, if you feel yourself actually resisting moving towards something – again, ask yourself why. Become still and go inside – do you really want the thing you’re trying to become motivated about – or do you just want to want it? There’s a significant difference, and you won’t be able to properly awaken your desire until you know which position you’re coming from. Also, make sure that it’s you that’s doing the wanting. No one else can be motivated on your behalf. Are you going after your own goal, or a goal that someone else has set for you, that you’re none too thrilled about?

“One of the things that has always motivated me to write is the desire to get it out and look at it in an objective way, so that it doesn’t cause me any serious pain by staying inside.” – Carly Simon

Awaken your desire. Motivation appears when your desire is stronger than any barrier or obstacle it’s going to have to face. It doesn’t always seem that way – we can be motivated and terrified at the same time, moving forward in a state of fear (during an exam, for example). And yes, of course we can be motivated to move away from something, as well as towards something. Nonetheless, the fact that you are able to move at all is an indication that something in you is stronger than any force – internal or external – that’s trying to keep you still.

To realise motivation, you have to do at least one of two things – overcome resistance, and awaken desire. Overcoming resistance was discussed in a previous blog post, here. To awaken desire, you need to focus in on what you stand to gain from moving forward. By all means, focus on the ultimate goal, but you must focus on the small steps too. In fact, it’s best to find the smallest unit of gain you possibly can, and focus on building your desire for that.

An example: if you start working out to lose weight and get fit, your ultimate goal – a fit, healthy body – may be some way away, depending on where you’re starting from. If your desire for it is strong enough, you’ll be prepared to work out in all weathers, and forego your favourite sweet treats. But what if your desire is dimmed by the fact that that ultimate goal seems very far away? You need to find a benefit even closer to home in space and time - for example, how good you feel every time you work out, or eat a healthy meal.

This is the approach I took whilst getting fit; focusing, after every single workout, on how alive and energised my body felt, and reminding myself of that the next time I woke up and felt like staying in bed instead of picking up my weights.

So, the next time you have big task to tackle, such as a disseration to write – don’t sit staring blankly at a pile of paper; pick up just one sheet, and look forward, with all your heart, to the feeling you’ll have when you’ve written just one sentence. Love it for its own sake, and write it. Then write the next for the same reason…and the next…and the next. Before long, you’ll have the first of many pages, and you’ll be on your way.

“Way down deep, we’re all motivated by the same urges. Cats have the courage to live by them.” – Jim Davis

Just do it! You will know by now that I normally steer clear of positive thinking slogans like “just do it”, because I find myself thinking “if it was that easy, we would! The fact we’re not doing it means something’s stopping us.” But in this case, it is useful to remind ourselves that motivation is a state of action. Without taking action, we can’t find the smallest unit of gain. Once we’ve checked we don’t need some fallow time to recharge, we need to get moving. Getting started – no matter how small the step – will put us in touch with what it was that attracted us to starting in the first place, and give us the opportunity to build the strength of that connection. By taking even that smallest step – and a small step is always worth taking – we’ll awaken and feed our desire, and – as if by magic – motivation will appear, and we’ll be moving forward again. Not because we went looking for motivation, but because we got out of our own way, and let motivation appear naturally, in perfect timing.

“Motivation is in the doing.” – Susan Powter

(Apologies, by the way, for the lateness of this blog post. I just somehow couldn’t get motivated to start…)

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