The lesson about motivation I wish I learned many years ago
It happened yet again today. I spoke to someone who said that they wish they would exercise more often, but that they just don’t feel motivated to do so anymore. Instead, they’ve been idling in a rather inactive state where they’ve not felt too good about themselves. “I’ll just have to get by, and then things will be alright, motivation comes and goes”, was the statement.
We all know that inspiration, motivation, and action are linked. But in what order do they occur?
This all too common state to be in reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of how motivation works. Sadly, the vast majority of people everywhere not only has it wrong but have it all backward. The common idea or perception most people have goes something like this:
We hear, see, or think something that inspires us. This in turn makes us motivated to put in work and effort to achieve a meaningful goal. Sounds familiar? After all, companies, conferences, and events hire motivational speakers to share inspirational stories, hoping that their presentations will inspire people that will then be motivated to go out and do a lot of amazing work!
But does that really happen? Is the first thing you do after hearing such a talk to pull off a deep session of work or studies where you learn something new, solve a difficult problem, or give your best at a high-intensity workout? Or do you just go back to whatever you were doing before?
Probably the latter.
I would have loved to think that one of my many speeches and presentations throughout the years may have caused audience members to go out and do great work. Unfortunately, real inspiration and motivation are things they'll have to find and give to themselves. But I can at least be there and do difficult work alongside them! Picture of me in 2016 at Stavanger Forum
Because our brain doesn’t work that way. Our frontal lobe, which acquires, analyses, and forms an opinion on new information that we obtain is completely different from our central “animal brain” that uncontrollably gives us our emotions. Emotions that, in the end, are the true drivers of behaviors. Such as putting in the effort. To simply get information doesn’t work.
Start by doing
Instead, and contrary to what most people will have likely believed initially, it all works the other way around. Performing any meaningful action that helps us come closer to any of our goals, especially when we think that we’re incapable of doing so, is perhaps the most inspirational thing there is. This, in turn, will make us motivated that indeed we can accomplish what we want and thus put in more work and effort to reach our goals. Seeing progress in the quality of our effort, and its improved impact adds further inspiration which is again motivating. Thus, starting with action, we can make this a positively reinforcing cycle.
So while the bad news is that you’ll need to push yourself to do something without feeling motivated, the good news is that you won’t have to sit around and wait for something or someone to come along and inspire you. You can start right away! It really applies to anything. Want to lose weight? Instead of watching 8 YouTube videos about whatever “diet” happens to be the flavor of the month, go out and walk 10,000 steps or see how many body-weighted squats you can do inside 10 minutes on the floor. Feel that your life is a mess and that you’re not going anywhere? Start by cleaning your house or room, at least now something is looking alright.
In short: Motivation is not only the cause of action, but also the result. Inspiration -> Motivation -> Action Is actually: Action -> Inspiration -> Motivation.
It is the small things, done consistently and persistently that are the big things. It is the proof of work done that is the fuel needed to build anything worthwhile. I sure wish I understood this better when I was in school or early on at university. But while that time is already in the past, what I can do is share the lesson learned with those I see idling on the sofa or computer chair at home, thinking they need the motivation to do what they know they need to do. Well, just do it!
