Stop Waiting for Motivation

Action precedes inspiration

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I’m writing this on Tuesday afternoon, I’m tired as hell after a long day of work, and I really don’t want to write… but here I am doing it.

Why?

Is it because of my willpower, unstoppable discipline, or that magic word everyone loves… motivation?

No.

It’s because I told myself I would sit down and write, so I’m doing it.

Did I feel like it? No.

Was I motivated? No.

And yet as I sit here writing, the words are flowing easier and easier, and I’m already starting to love the process of putting words down on the page.

And honestly, this is how it goes with almost everything in my life at one point or another.

Most days when I wake up early for the gym, I’m not motivated to go workout…

It’s not until I get to the gym and start warming up, that I feel the beginnings of what people call “motivation”.

See, most people have the order of operations off in this equation.

Because we’ve all been told at some point or another that you have to feel motivated to get fit, to start a business, to get your work done, to read, etc.

But if you just take action, you’ll get into flow without ever needing to feel motivated.

It’s not:

Feel Motivated → Take Action → See Results

More often it’s:

Take Action → (Maybe) Feel Motivated → See Results

The other part of this is that it’s not about feeling motivated, it’s about doing what you told yourself you would do.

Your word is your bond.

And we all know how important it is to keep our commitments to others…

If we tell our significant other we’re gonna do something, we should follow through.

If we tell our boss we’re gonna do something, we’ll almost definitely follow through.

So why is it that when it comes to our commitments to ourselves, we tend to let the ball drop without a second thought?

It’s time for a mindset shift.

The new rule is this:

When you tell yourself you’re gonna do something, take that commitment just as serious as you would if you made it to your boss, spouse, kids, etc.

If we do that, we won’t fall into the trap of having to feel “motivated” to do what we said we’d do.

We’ll do it because we told ourselves we would, and that will be enough.

Thanks for reading,

— Josh