Motivation is Overrated

I woke up today not feeling like doing anything. In fact, most of this week has been that way where I’ve been lacking motivation to work, or do anything for that matter. I think it’s safe to say I’ve had my share of problems with ‘motivation’. But despite that, I’ve checked three big things off my to-do list today, I’m here writing this newsletter now, and I have a few other things scheduled for the rest of my day. 

Over the past few months, I’ve been thinking a lot about motivation and how to better deal with not feeling motivated, and I’ve come to realise that motivation is overrated. If you’re someone who doesn’t believe that, then it’s very likely you’ve experienced the ‘motivation trap’ at some point. 

A motivation trap basically states that we wait to feel motivated before we take any action. Now you might be wondering what the problem is with that. 

The problem is that if you’re always waiting for motivation to hit you, you might be waiting your whole life. Usually we wait until we feel like doing something before doing it. But while you’re waiting on motivation, motivation is waiting on you.

Let me give you an example. Have you ever felt like skipping going to the gym and just chilling at home instead? Yeah, me too. But have you noticed how sometimes despite feeling that way, you go to the gym and you end up feeling even better and more motivated to go back again the next day? I don’t know about you but this happens with me all the time. 

This is not to say that you shouldn’t take a break every now and then and let yourself relax if you need it, but my point is that motivation doesn’t precede action, rather action precedes motivation. Action always comes first. 

So next time you have something to do and you’re just not feeling it, push yourself to do it anyway, and before you know it, you’ll be motivated to keep going.