The Dirty Little Secret To Unlimited Motivation
Most people rely on motivation to get things done.
Unfortunately, this is incredibly ineffective. Whenever they don’t feel motivated, they don’t act and don’t make progress.
No motivation to go to the gym? Just stay on the couch and eat more snacks.
No motivation to study? Just keep watching Netflix.
No motivation to work? Just keep procrastinating.
The result: inaction. Procrastination.
To be successful in any area of life, you need the ability to do what’s necessary. Even when you don’t feel like it.
Let me tell you how to acquire this skill (a concept from Mark Manson’s book “The Subtle Art …)
The Motivation Loop
People who rely on motivation and emotional inspiration believe that those feelings are a prerequisite for taking action.
In their mind, action happens as a result of the following chain reaction:
Inspiration -> Motivation -> Action
In reality, however, motivation is both the cause and the result of an action. So motivation arises much more within a loop:
Inspiration -> Motivation -> Action -> Inspiration -> Motivation -> Action
So here’s the secret:
Knowing this, we can generate our own motivation.
We can do so by simply getting started even if we don’t feel like it. Motivation will follow soon.
The activity itself starts the motivation loop. It inspires us to keep going, which increases motivation and reinforces our actions.
But that is easier said than done.
Small Steps To Avoid Procrastination
Fortunately, I have a strategy for you that makes it easier to get started and create your own motivation:
Break down your tasks into small steps.
Writing an entire book or building a million-dollar business are tasks that are likely to overwhelm you.
Writing the first chapter or making your first sale seems manageable.
Writing the first page or writing the first cold email seems easy.
You see: break your goals down into small, actionable steps to avoid overwhelm and it will be way easier to get started.
The less overwhelmed you feel, the less you procrastinate.
