How to Get Motivated When You Don't Feel Like It
If you’re trying to get motivated when you don’t feel like it, what do you think comes first: motivation or action?
If you said “motivation” you made an excellent logical choice. But you would be wrong!
Human behavior does not always follow what appears to be a logical course of action.
We often need to prime motivation with action, the same way we prime a pump to get water. Once we take that first step, we begin to feel motivated. Like the water drawn with the pump, energy and action will begin to flow spontaneously.
But if you wait until you “feel like it,” you may never get started. The key is to get into action by taking a step. Any step. Just start moving!
Ask yourself, “What single step could I take right now that would move me in the direction of my dream?”
Now do it! Send that email, reach out to that person, book that appointment, write down that idea, clean out that drawer. Whatever it is, take that one step right now, and watch the magic of momentum start to build.
Share below the one step you’ll be taking today!
3 thoughts on “How to Get Motivated When You Don’t Feel Like It”
2 things. First I make a very short to do list @3 tasks that are totally doable. Schedule my start to do time. If I finish those tasks and get other tasks done, I feel better than having not finished my big list.
I have been doing an exercise video that uses a chair. I put the chair in front of the TV. It motivates me to get started.
Nice, Mary!! That is brilliant about making a short to-do list and mastering that! And placing the chair in front of the tv to motivate you is fabulous also!!! Way to go, Mary! Thanks for sharing!!
I love your very short to-do list of totally doable things! Tiny tasks! I’ve found this approach powerful, but let myself get out of the habit. Seeing your comment is a great reminder to start up again!
And I especially LOOOOVE that you put the chair in front of the TV to motivate you to do the exercise video! I have one of those big exercise balls that I sit on in front of the TV so I can bounce when I watch. I discovered that my FitBit registers my bounces as steps. It sounds like cheating, but my heart rate actually gets into the fat burn zone when I bounce. 🤣