Motivation Starvation
March 27th, 2008 by Andrew BolisI tend to go through periods where I don’t feel motivated to do anything. Such a period can last an afternoon, a whole day or two, even a week or a month. Such periods tend to arise especially as I’m trying to implement a new habit, whether it’s working out regularly, eating healthier, watching less TV, attending more social events, traveling more often etc.
Some people swear by motivation, they say that motivation is everything. I even remember reading editorials about success models such as Tiger Woods, Oprah, or Donald Trump which indicated that all of them were highly motivated from a young age. Is there truth to these editorials? Are some people motivated 24/7 while others including me and maybe you go through periods of motivation starvation?
To dive into this more, I started reflecting on very productive periods of my life. One such period is my college years where I had a full time schedule, worked 25-35 hours a week, had an active social life and still maintained good grades. Interestingly those years were also when I dropped about 50 pounds and achieved the best shape in my life up to that point. Diving more into the day to day emotions, I remember I wasn’t always motivated. There were many days where I didn’t get an ideal amount of sleep, skipped a workout, rushed through writing a school paper etc. I was a lot more worried about getting things done, and keeping up with all of my commitments than about motivation. The thought of “do I feel like doing this or that” never even occurred to me. Whether I had to study for a test, wake up a 6am to exercise before going to class, or go to a long tedious night class after 8 hours of work, I never questioned my feelings; I just did it, plain and simple.
This is sort of an interesting realization for me. Because to be honest, I have been slacking lately. For one I haven’t been posting on here as often or as regularly as I’d like. I’ll skip making the good excuses, life is always full of circumstances, and who wants to hear another excuse, we are all sick of them. I noticed that “I don’t feel like it” or “this is scary” has been a good enough reason for me lately to avoid doing something. I guess I should also point out that this reasoning process isn’t always conscious. Here is how it works. I know I’m supposed to go work out, yet I don’t feel like it, so unconsciously my brain will come up with all kinds of good reasons and excuses for why I should skip my workout. This is usually pretty quick and unconscious. Does your brain ever do that? Think about it.
So what was the secret to my success in my college years? Was it an abundance of motivation and drive? Not really, that might have had to do with it a bit however, if anything that’s probably 10%. The other 90% is just doing it, getting out there and doing what I had to do whether or not I felt like it.
There is a common pitfall we tend to encounter, and that is the lack of perfection that leads to guilt. Say I plan to work out 5 times a week. And I skip working out 3 days in a row, throwing off my schedule and therefore falling short of accomplishing the goal. On the 4th day I might feel really guilty about this broken promise, I might even feel disappointed at myself and decide to just give up. I might think working out is just not for me, and that I’m a slacker etc. This sounds stupid as I write it down or maybe as you read it, however we do it all the times. We make the mistake of thinking that those who are successful always follow the perfect path to success without once making a mistake or encountering a setback 
How dumb is that? Even personal trainers and athletes at times skip workouts because of circumstances or plain laziness. Perfection is an ideal it doesn’t exist in reality. What defines a successful person is how they act in those tough times where things aren’t going as well as they should be.
So do we need motivation? Well motivation is nice, if you find motivational readings, resources etc. great, however you don’t need it. All you need is a “just do it” attitude. You also have to realize that perfectionism is just an idea, it’s not real, just do your best.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Good point! For me it seems that the less I do the lees I want to do. As for working out, I have decided not to make a regiment of time and frequency. I go, I have fun. Since I have turned into fun instead of a duty, I enjoy it more - plus my body let me know I need to go back soon enough.
I remember reading that the way to success is to do what you love. In light of you post god question comes to mind.. How much motivation do you need to do something you love? As in something you REALLY love not just something you think you love.
March 29th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Paul, thanks for brining up that great point about doing what you love and how that is related to motivation. That’s an interesting topic that I’ve battled with myself and will certainly post about soon