Motivation Follows Action
Don’t wait to feel motivated—start acting, and motivation will follow.
Do you ever have days or weeks where you feel like you’ve lost something? For me, it happens quickly. I’m crushing my to-do list and then, suddenly, I wake up one morning and somehow even the simplest task becomes intimidating, and my motivation is gone. There’s a routine to it. After completing a big race, or project, or goal, any motivation I have rapidly disappears as soon as I’ve crossed the finish line. There’s seasonality to it too – the dark, icy, winter months seem to steel any extra motivation I have, and even though I know it’s coming, feeling unmotivated, is, well, unmotivating. So, here’s what I’ve learned to do to get through it.
Motivation doesn’t just happen. It’s not a feeling, it’s an action. It’s like Newton’s first law of motion: An object at rest will remain at rest, and an object in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by a net external force. That last part is important. If you are unmotivated – let’s say at rest – the only way to become unmotivated – let’s say in motion – is to act and move. I’ve learned that external forces are particularly useful to make sure I stay in motion.
One way to get moving and to stay moving is to make plans with friends. Whether I’m needing accountability to get that run in, or motivation to be a bit more extraverted, or productive, making plans with friends is often the incentive I need to get out the door. Although there is no substitute for actually doing the hard work, having accountability built into my goals is enough to keep my momentum and motivation going.
Small rewards are also powerful tools to keep motivation high. These strategies are based on what I learned during my graduate studies in neuroscience. Does Pavlov’s dog ring a bell? Turns out, conditioned responses and rewards are powerful tools. Although I haven’t quite learned to salivate at the sound of my Coros Vertix watch finding it’s GPS signal, I have at least conditioned myself to do this after a run. But, more generally, scheduling small rewards after hard training runs, or hard tasks helps me accomplish the task itself.
For example, getting up early for a track workout – it’s a double whammy with the early wake up and the heavy breathing - so I make sure to have my favorite breakfast when I’m done, or I book a massage for later that day or make my own spa day in my bathtub with Epsom salts that evening. Knowing that I have those things to look forward to after a hard run, makes me look forward to the hard work too. The same is true for projects outside of running. This was another experiment I started toying around with in graduate school – every time I had a big exam or experiment, I would plan something fun in the days afterwards. It could be as simple as taking myself out to the movies (or the museum – I like that sort of thing) to have a small celebration. I noticed the more I did this, the more I was motivated to do the hard work and enjoy the reward afterwards.
Although I’d like to assume my motivation will just be there, to pick up with my running shoes by the door, that’s not always realistic. Sometimes we need to find, and use, those external net forces around us to keep the motivation rolling.
