Motivation: Catch It When You Can
In a burst of inspiration do you decide to change your life and then struggle to stick with your decision when the going gets tough?
Welcome to normal.
Motivation comes to us in waves.
Catch a strong one and we can make some real progress, but the wave will not stay. The strong wave of high motivation may quickly subside into a calm of low motivation.
Motivation is inconsistent, but not useless. When motivation is high, it has power.
Q: How can we harness the power of high motivation to keep going when the inevitable lows come?
A: Do the hard stuff when the motivation is high to make it extremely easy to keep going when motivation is low.
If we want to eat more fresh vegetables – do the shopping, cleaning, cutting-up and bagging when the motivation is high. (And hide the potato chips).
When our motivation is high to ride a bike more often, then is the moment to find the pump, pump-up the tires, find the helmet, and put both bike and helmet in an easy access location.
When my motivation is high I feel unstoppable. I forget that this high state of motivation will not stay. Because finding the tire pump right now does not feel too daunting, I assume it will not feel daunting tomorrow. Wrong.
When the enviable low motivation comes tomorrow, finding the pump sounds exhausting. So I will put off riding until another day.
When motivation is high, my job is to make it exceptionally easy to make the right choice when motivation is low.
This week I am on the look-out for motivation waves.
When a big one comes I will take big action.
In my wave watch I have noticed that big waves are rare, but small waves of motivation are frequent. So I have decided to catch the small waves for small actions.
I had a small wave of motivation to hurry less often. So I created reminder notes and placed them in strategic places.
I noticed a small wave of motivation to stretch more often. So I quickly used the wave to develop a Tiny Habit plan to stretch every time I sit down or stand up from my desk.
Soul Sculpting Project:Wave Watch and Ride
- Notice motivational waves: large or small
- Remind yourself that the wave will not stay.
- Take action while the wave is present to make reaching your goal as easy as possible.
To learn more check out the work of Stanford’s Dr. BJ Fogg.
Never underestimate the Power of High Motivation
and the Wimpyness of Low Motivation.
soulsculpting 