WHEN MOTIVATION GOES MISSING

There are times when we sit at our desks and can’t move. Can’t pick up the phone, can’t write an email, can’t start the project. We feel stuck and just can’t get going. Sometimes there's a reason: lack of sleep, personal challenges, a disappointment, or a setback that took the wind out of your sails.

And sometimes there isn't.

No crisis. No catastrophe. No obvious explanation.

Motivation, focus, and determination seem to have slipped away.

Here’s the thing: we’re human. As humans, we experience ups and downs. The truth is everything in nature does. Think about the seasons, the tides, day and night. Cycles are natural—and necessary.

The trouble is that we often interpret our down periods as problems. We tell ourselves we’re not up to the job, losing our edge, or that something must be wrong. And while maintaining your health and getting regular checkups is always a good idea, most of the time there’s nothing wrong with you at all.

You’re human.

We move through "seasons" of motivation, ambition, focus, determination, and purpose. We also experience their counterparts: doubt, procrastination, distraction, apathy, and mental paralysis. In those counterparts, if we believe them, we can make deisions that take us in the wrong direction. The key is recognizing that these seasons are part of a cycle.

A complicating factor is that malaise, lack of motivation, even rest can build upon itself; can snowball.  Meaning once we’re in it, it gets bigger and can be really difficult to get out of it! 

The law of entropy affects everything on the planet. This law says it’s harder to GET THE BALL ROLLING than it is to KEEP IT ROLLING.  Said another way: a BODY IN MOTION tends to STAY IN MOTION and a BODY AT REST tends to STAY AT REST. 

These definitions leave out the ebbs and flows even while in forward motion. Suffice it to say, motivation is not constant. Progress doesn't proceed in a straight line. Those are the facts.

What we want to know is how to work when we’re in the ebb so we can get back to the flow! 

First, remember that in times of ebb, energy is being re-collected, rejuvenated.  This means WORK is still happening!  You’re filling up your tanks so you can get back on the road you’ve mapped out for yourself. You are actually working!

The best thing to do? DON'T WORK. don't interfere with the process of rejuvinating. Doing so always makes it take longer.

Give yourself the day or even just the morning to NOT WORK. Allow yourself to re-fill. (If you work for yourelf, you can make this choice pretty easily. If you work for someone else, read on.)

But here's the kicker: DO SOMETHING ELSE. Don't just veg. Do something you love like a walk in nature, a yoga or stretch session, the hobby you never have time for (play your instrument, draw, sing, dance, write, go to the beach, or bake!) This is the time for that activity, even if it's just for 20 minutes. See what happens when you tap into a different energy.

If you work for someone else, you've given a commitment of your time, so you have to assess if you need to take a personal half or full day. When due dates and deadlines loom (which may exacerbate the overwhelm) and time off would jeopardise your work, try this to get moving again...

Do ONE THING.  That's right. Just one thing. Decide what it's going to be, clear your mind and your desk from everything else. Close all the open tabs on your computer except the ones relating to this single thing you're going to do, start to finish. (Make sure it's not a big project. It should take less than an hour to complete.) Then do it.

By doing ONE THING, you "break the seal." You're kind of sealed up in the feelings of malaise, overwhelm, etc. ONE THING can break that seal and let you out of it so you can move forward again.

In doing ONE THING, you've become a "body in motion." And very often, that's all it takes.