Here's the secret to motivation: You don't need it!
I search the internet from time to time looking for information on motivation, and the queries I find are all pretty similar. They typically are in the vein of, "I don't feel motivated" or "How do I feel more motivated?"
They all have a few underlying assumptions. The first is that you can conjure up a feeling whenever you want.
The second is that a necessary prerequisite to completing an action is to feel a certain way. The third is that motivation is consistent and predictable: for example, there is an idea that I critiqued in my previous article that doing what you love will automatically result in motivation.
What if I told you that feeling motivated prior to action is actually unnecessary? To understand this, let's discuss a wonderful concept called inertia.
Inertia
In physics, we learn that an object at rest tends to stay at rest, and an object in motion tends to stay in motion. This is an idea that applies to our day-to-day life.
If you're lying in bed you tend to want to stay in bed. If you're occupied with your job you tend to feel okay about continuing.
Put differently, one of the reasons that you don't feel like doing something is simply because you haven't started doing it.
The solution is pretty straightforward: just start whether you feel motivated or not. The desire to continue will typically follow.
This of us who are chronic procrastinators are probably very familiar with the following experience: We really don't want to do something but once we get started we realize, "oh, it's actually not that bad" and have little trouble continuing.
Oftentimes it's the starting that's the issue. Not the actual work.
One barrier to starting is the preconception that we have to feel like doing something before we start. If we don't feel motivated, we don't start working and consequently, kick off the procrastination cycle.
A better approach to working is to just start working. Rather than looking for ways to conjure up specific feelings on command (good luck with that), you can just decide that such and such time is when I start working and do it whether you feel motivated or not.
There are a few strategies you can use to actually transform this into a consistent habit.
Forming a habit
Reduce friction: Habit scientists refer to reducing friction to good habits. An example of this is having dedicated spaces It's not a good idea to work, eat and sleep in the same place. That only increases the likelihood that you procrastinate. If your bed or fridge are distractions, then dedicate a space to work that is away from them
Increase friction to bad habits: Say you're constantly distracted from work by social media. You can increase the friction of this bad habit by turning off your phone, putting it in a different room, or setting rules that make using your phone unappealing (say every time you check social media you have to text a friend and tell them you're a phone addict).,
Stack habits: You can develop good habits by stacking them on top of pre-existing habits. If your habit is social media, you can set a rule that every time you click on a notification you have to research that book you've been claiming you're going to write for six months (or whatever habit you're trying to build).
Conclusion
The need to feel motivated is unnecessary as a prerequisite to starting working. A better alternative is to work on developing good habits and dedicate yourself to starting whether or not you feel like it.
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