We’re not consistently motivated because we’re collectively relying on externals for our motivation.
Listening to music that pumps you up, watching an inspirational video, reading a motivational book/article — These are all external.
Now, don’t get me wrong; External stimuli does help. Even I feel more motivated to work out when I’m listening to good music. And watching sports documentaries on Netflix inspires me to be better.
Money is also a form of motivation. I’m sure we all have, at one point in our lives, done things primarily for financial reasons.
But going after these things only gives you temporary motivation. Even money motivates to a certain extent only. True motivation is something deeper and more internal. We need to have a good “why.”
“I have a good ‘why’ but I’m still not feeling motivated!”
If that’s the case, then look at these two factors:
Lack of energy — without enough energy, it’s easy to procrastinate and not get things done.
Lack of focus — when you find yourself always bouncing between your phone and the actual tasks you’re supposed to be doing; you lengthen the time it takes to finish a task. This prolongs our work, which also delays us from achieving the success we want.
If your main concern is finding your “why” — your internal motivation — then read this article.
Once you have your “why” mostly figured out, then the next steps are increasing your energy and improving your focus.
Increasing your energy
Several years ago, I started to notice that I was getting less and less done each day.
It was getting longer for me to finish certain tasks that I used to do faster. So I had little to show for after each work day. And even though I was doing less, I still felt sluggish.
To me, that was the most important thing. I don’t necessarily have to get a lot of things done in a day. I just don’t like to feel tired and down.