If you need a quick hit of motivation here are 10 easy ways to create some motivation. Read on for the hack.
- Focus on fun
- Do it with a friend or group
- Remind yourself of the purpose
- Make passion and energy the minimum requirement
- Do it for someone you care about
- Keep your promise
- Make it a game, compete and stay challenged
- Get encouragement or support from a friend or yourself
- Set up a reward for yourself if you get it done.
- Watch a video, read something that gets you excited or inspired.
Motivation is a Mirage
Productivity used to be an up and down roller coaster for me. Sometimes I’d feel motivated and inspired to get stuff done and so easy to do. But the motivation would eventually fade or the activity would stop being energizing. Then I’d have to recuperate to build the motivation back up to try and get started again. But each time I repeated that process it got harder and harder to get back into it. I’d have to build up the motivation to more than what it was before. This rinse and repeat cycle wasn’t sustainable.
I questioned myself, why I couldn’t maintain the consistency. I just thought I must not have enough discipline, will-power or passion. But as I dug into the question I think one of the reasons for this up and down cycle was I was relying too much on motivation as the emotional fuel. So I started to change my relationship with motivation. This is what I mean, I began to see motivation as the spark plug not the fuel. The real sustainable fuel and end goal is momentum.
If you have a difficult time sticking to a habit or activity because you run out of motivation. I want to share a motivation hack that might be helpful, a different way to use motivation.
You might have noticed motivation seems to be temporary and depends a lot on feeling and emotion. It could be that we get inspired, encouraged, challenged, you want to make a change, we buy the new shiny equipment or program, or maybe we’re just in a good mood. Whatever it is, motivation doesn’t seem to last and tends to rely on external factors that are inconsistent and come and go.
The Motivation Hack
Try this, think of motivation as the initial kickstarter, just a spark to get yourself started. But don’t rely on motivation to be the everyday, sustainable fuel. Use motivation to create movement and ultimately generate momentum. Momentum is much more powerful and sustainable than motivation.
Motivation is supposed to be just used as the spark, not the fuel. It helps you easily start the action you want to get into. Use motivation to generate the movement.
Movement is the action you generate to build momentum. At first it will feel inconsistent and clumsy, and be easy to skip or write off. The decision to do it or not do it is a chore. Skipping a day, week is still risky that you might not come back to it. It’s not a habit yet, but keep doing it step by step and it will eventually become momentum. Use motivation where you can but motivation starts to fade over time, so you’ll have to ween off motivation to get into momentum.
Momentum is when you’ve done that action consistently enough to become a habit. The question of should I do it or skip it is no longer a chore but a natural, easy “green light”. Once you get into momentum, skipping a day or even a week isn’t so risky any more. It’s very easy to get back into it. Momentum is the sustainable, regenerative fuel that keeps you going consistently, with more energy in the long run.
Movement Tip: Set yourself up for success. For example, it’s a lot more effective in creating lasting changes to do 10 minute workouts for 7 days as opposed to trying to do 1-2 hour workouts you might do 2-3 times a week. The initial friction you’re trying to overcome isn’t the physical obstacle or effort it’s the decision making and change in routine.