Finding Motivation: What To Do When You Don't Feel Like Doing Anything
by
Chris Widener |
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| Chris is a popular speaker and writer as well as the President of
Made for Success and
Extraordinary Leaders, two companies helping individuals and organizations
turn their potential into performance, succeed in every area of their lives and
achieve their dreams. |
“The
measure of your success usually comes down to who wins the battle
that rages between the two of you. The ‘you’ who wants to stop,
give up, or take it easy, and the ‘you’ who chooses to beat back
that which would stand in the way of your success --complacency.”
Chris Widener
 In all of my interactions with
people, I've never found anyone, regardless of their level of
success, who doesn't sometimes find themselves simply not wanting to
do the things that they need and want to do. It is a part of human
nature that there will be times that, in spite of all that we need
to do, and even desire to, we will find ourselves not wanting to do
anything. And what separates those who will become successful from
those who will maintain the status-quo, is the ability at those very
crucial moments of time when we are making decisions about what we
will do, to choose to find the inner motivation that will enable us
to conquer our complacency and move on in action.
I find that I confront this issue in
my life on a regular basis, so the following success strategies are
not merely pie in the sky techniques, but proven ways to get
yourself to go even when you don't feel like doing anything.
Honestly evaluate whether or not you
need a break. This is the first thing that I usually do what I find
that I don't want to get to a specific action. The fact is that
oftentimes we will have been working very hard and the lethargy we
are feeling is really our body and emotions telling us that we
simply need a break. And this is where it takes real intellectual
honesty because when we don't need a break our mind is still telling
us we need a break! But sometimes we do need a break. I'll give you
a good example. I don't particularly like to exercise, but I do
almost every day. Sometimes, I find myself before going to the club
thinking about how I just didn't feel like going. Most of the time I
am just being lazy. However, sometimes I realize that my body needs
a break. So from time to time I will take a one or two daybreak from
working out. The benefits of this are two-fold: One, my body gets a
break to regenerate itself. Two, after a day or two, I begin to miss
my workout, and eagerly anticipate a turning to the gym.
Other examples: Perhaps you are a
salesman who has been phoning clients for a week straight, day and
night. You wake up one morning and just don’t feel like doing it
any more. Well, take a break for the morning. Go to a coffee shop
and read the paper. Go to the driving range and hit some golf balls.
Take a break and then get back to it!
Start small. I'm at a point in my
workout schedule now where a typical workout day for me consists of
30 to 45 minutes of aerobic exercise, and about 30 minutes of weight
lifting. So when I find myself not wanting to get up and go to the
gym, I will sometimes make a commitment to go and just do a smaller
workout. Instead of deciding not to go, I'll commit to doing 15 to
20 minutes of aerobic exercise and 15 to 30 minutes of weight
lifting. This is also good for two reasons. One, I actually get some
exercise that day. And two, it keeps me from getting into a cycle of
giving up when I don't feel like moving toward action. Other
examples: Maybe you are a writer who simply doesn’t want to write
today. Instead of the long day writing you had planned, decide that
you will at least outline a couple of new articles. You will at
least get these done, and you may have found that you put yourself
into the writing mood after all.
Change your routine. I have found
that what keeps me in the best shape and burns the most calories for
me, is to do 30 to 45 minutes on the treadmill every day. Now let me
be very blunt. I find running on the treadmill to be extremely
boring. Usually I can get myself to do it, but sometimes I need to
vary my routine. So instead of 30 to 45 minutes on a treadmill, I
will break down my aerobic exercise routine into a number of
different areas. I will do ten to 15 minutes on treadmills, 10 to 15
minutes on the reclining cycle, 5 to 10 minutes on the rowing
machine, 5 to 10 minutes on the stair stepper, and then back on to
the treadmill for five to 10 minutes. I still get my exercise, but
I'm bored a lot less.
Other examples: Maybe you are in
construction and you have been working on the plumbing for a week,
and it is getting monotonous. Don’t do the plumbing today! Go
frame-in the office.
Reward yourself. One way that I
motivate myself to do something when I don't feel like doing it, is
to tell myself that if I get through the work that I need to, I will
give myself a little reward. For instance, I may tell myself if I to
get up and go to the club I can take five to 10 minutes off my
treadmill exercise, which will shorten my workout routine, and I'll
allow myself to sit in the hot tub for a few extra minutes. Hey, it
works!
Other examples: Maybe you are a
mortgage broker who feels like sleeping in. Tell yourself that after
the next three mortgages you close you will take your kids to the
fair, or your spouse to the movies. Maybe you’ll give yourself a
night on the town with old friends.
Reconnect the action with pleasure
rather than pain. Psychologists have long told us that we humans
tend to connect every action with either pleasure or pain. Tony
Robbins has popularized this even further in the last few years with
something he calls Neural Associations. That is, we connect every
action with either a pleasure, or pain. When we are finding
ourselves lacking motivation, what we are probably finding about
ourselves is that we are associating the action that we are thinking
about with pain, rather than pleasure. For instance, when I'm
considering that not going to the health club on any given day, I am
usually associating going and working out with having no time, the
pain of exercising and weight lifting, or the boringness of running
on a treadmill for an extended period of time. What I can do to
re-associate is to remind myself that by going in and doing my
exercise I will feel better about myself, I will lose weight, and I
will live longer. This brings me pleasure. When we begin to run
those kinds of tapes through our minds, we find our internal
motivating force unleashed and changing our attitude about the
action that we are considering.
Other examples: Maybe you are a
counselor who really doesn’t want to spend the day listening to
people. Your association may be that it will be boring, or that you
will be inside while it is sunny outside. Instead, re-associate
yourself to the truth of the matter: Someone will be better off
because of your care and concern. Think of your clients and the
progression they have been making recently and how you have been a
part of that.
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