Stop waiting for motivation and DO something

 None of it works unless YOU work. We have to do our part. If knowing is half the battle, action is the second half of the battle.”

― Jim Kwik

It's a problem everybody faces at some point, lack of motivation can derail progress in any area of life.

I used to feel like I'd go weeks, or even months waiting on the motivation to start a new project.  I'd wait to start small household projects, personal projects, and countless little things needing attention.  And I'd continue waiting...

Sure, sometimes I'd find some motivation to get some tasks going, but it felt hit or miss.  Sometimes I'd have the momentum to get on a roll, but it wasn't consistent.  

Millions of people have this same issue, and some people, who I personally know,  are in a constant, almost paralyzing rut.  

But, there are people who consistently find the motivation to consistently reach their goals, and stay motivated time and time again.  Authors write hundreds of books, entrepreneurs start successful businesses, and people drastically improve their lives.  How do some people seem to do it, yet the majority hit major roadblocks, creating years of setbacks?  

Of course, passion has a lot to do with finding motivation, yet so many people still don't pursue their interests and talents.  Someone may be an excellent cook, but never really make food for themselves or anybody else.  They may desperately want to open a restaurant, be a chef, or write a cookbook, but they never get around to it.

We all know people like that. Actually,  I'm someone like that.  I've had so many interests in my life, that I almost felt paralyzed about pursuing any of them.  I would bounce from one interest to the other without ever really doing anything.  

I knew I'd enjoy writing, but I never got around to it.  The more I put off trying to start writing, the less motivation I had to ever do it.

I also struggle with finding the motivation for the routine, basic duties in my life.  I like doing house projects, but I have a hard time starting them.  The motivation never seems to slap me in the face, no matter how long I wait.

So, where does motivation come from?

How can we spark motivation, which seems to always be just out of reach?

As I've stated in other posts, I'm a slow learner, but I'm also persistent.  

At a certain point, I began to analyze how I've managed to accomplish certain things in my life; certain events, like Combat Control training, puzzle me when I can't seem to clean out  my closet, which has been a disaster for months.  I can't clean and organize the garage either, but I trained for, and ran a marathon.

I began to realize that action creates motivation, not the other way around.  

Somewhere along the way, my my theory about motivation was:  Motivation comes and goes.  When it comes along, I'd better be ready to take action.  

If I didn't have any motivation, I sat around and tried to listen to music, read something inspirational, or just avoided what I wanted to do for a while. 

If you want the motivation to do something, take some sort of action.  It doesn't matter how big or small the action is, as long as the momentum is started.  Once the momentum is started, it creates motivation.

This seems obvious to me now; it helps me have motivation in a consistent and reliable manner, nearly everyday.

To compare how I used to think, to how I operate now:  

Let's say you have a closet that needs to be cleaned out.  For me, cleaning out the closet never happens.  It's something I never get around to doing, yet every so often it becomes a complete mess because I get into a habit of just throwing stuff everywhere  and sliding the door closed. After a while, it becomes a pile of clothes that is hidden behind a door, and I can't find my favorite shirt anymore, ( I'm a slob, I know).

I would wait weeks, months, or even longer for the motivation to get it cleaned out, but the longer I waited, the more I never really felt like doing it.  The longer I waited, the worse it got, and the harder it was for me to feel motivated to clean it up.

Instead of waiting for a the spark that never came, one day I just decided, reluctantly, to start cleaning it up.  At first, I moved slow, but after a while, I had momentum.  20 minutes later I was done.  I had so much motivation, I started taking clothes out I don't touch anymore.

I know this is a simple example. but for me this is real.  When I analyze why I had the motivation to complete a marathon,  complete some of the toughest military training in the U.S., write blogs, and even work on a book for years, not being able to handle other things, or completely avoiding them seems ridiculous.  Understanding my thoughts on motivation were actually the reverse of my old way of thinking, makes me understand how I've had so much motivation, and makes getting motivation for some of my weaknesses even easier.  

Cleaning out the garage, doing chores I do not like, and having the energy for other areas of my life starts to get easier, and I'm less frustrated.

When I stared at my messy closet, I was confused about how I harnessed the motivation to complete Combat Control training.  

How could that be?

Well, I just jumped into the process, each little accomplishment built on another, until I was standing in the training.  Not only did I make it there, I got through it.

It all started with running.  It wasn't on purpose, but starting the process of running became a snowball that kept growing, until one day I held the scarlet beret on graduation day.

Since I was 18 years old, I wanted to join the military.  I wanted to be a special operator, but I could never get the motivation to walk into the recruiter's office.  When I finally did get the process going, I backed out.  I felt the motivation to sign up,and go through the military in processing,  at the end, ( where they swear you in), I backed out.  My motivation evaporated, and I went home exhausted.

My life went on, but it wasn't until I was 24 years old, that I joined the military, full of motivation, discipline, and confidence.

What happened?

I took action.  Although I didn't join the military, I still wanted to do the physical training, like a special operator.  I found a document online, the BUD/s Warning Order, designed to get a person of average fitness into into good enough shape to handle the physical demands of BUD/S. It's a fantastic, simple document. It's purpose is to build up physical stamina in a short amount of time.  In a matter of months, a person could go from barely running, or no running at all, up to 30 miles per week.

When I ran, I was able to spend time alone, in my head, so I could think about what I really wanted to do in my life.  I was free of distractions, and able to think clearly.  

Running became a habit, like breathing, I ran all the time without thinking about it.  

It wasn't just running; there were push up, sit up, pull up, and swimming exercises that built you up in the same way as the running program.

At first, I just did the running.  I went from 8 miles per week, up to 30 miles per week.  I enjoyed being in shape, but something happened.  Because I enjoyed the running so much, it inspired me to find more information about special ops physical training.  

I found a book called The Complete Guide to Navy SEAL Fitness, by Stew Smith.  The work outs in the book looked insane.  700 push up, 600 abdominal exercise sets in a short amount of time, 4 mile run, 1 mile swim, then 3 mile run work outs, and even hypoxic swimming, ( holding your breath up to 12 freestyle strokes), this book was intense, and looked impossible on the hardest weeks.  I had so much motivation from running, I picked the book up and completed the 12 week workout... twice.  In the book it stated: Every person who completed the workout ,as Navy midshipmen with Stew Smith, actually completed BUD/s training.  After the second time through, I joined the Air Force, extremely motivated, and became a Combat Controller.

I didn't have to beg for, or try to find the motivation; it just appeared, and it was very high after the second run through the book.  

After some time, I've realized action creates motivation in all aspects of my life.  There will be many things I will have trouble finding the motivation for.  For those tasks, I know I just need to get started, no matter how much I don't want to do it.  Eventually, there will be some motivation.  A lot of tasks I won't be that thrilled to do, but at least I won't be paralyzed with inaction, which only gets worse the longer I wait.

The same idea applied to writing a book.  For years, I had an idea, and desperately wanted to write a novel.  One day, I just started the first sentence.  After that, I was writing a paragraph a day, then I was done with the first draft.  I have the motivation edit, spark new ideas, and have a way better story than I started with because I forced myself to start.

Everybody feels unmotivated, even with things they really want to do. Sometimes you have to ignite the spark, just by doing something, no matter how small it may be.

Whether it's your closet, or a million dollar business,  just get started.  Let the action create your motivation.