Motivation despite your situation …
Motivation is a tricky bugger to be honest, especially during coronavirus and isolation. I mean the whole situation is hitting us all world wide and as we are all starting to get the message that isolation is being lengthened many people, including myself have been finding it hard to stay motivated to work or study.
To be honest as a transformational life coach motivation is the bread and butter of my work. Even before Coronavirus many of my clients have come to me to ask for help with motivation. And to be fair it’s been something I have been challenged by myself.
Now before I start to give you some ideas on how to deal with your motivation issues I am going to bust a myth about motivation. And that is simply motivation is NOT what you imagine it to be.
What do I mean? Well into today’s world with all the inspirational motivational speakers we often confuse feeling inspired with feeling motivated. William McRaven, US Navy Admiral did the inspiring speech that started:
“If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.”
It was amazing. Inspiring. It got 91 million views. And because of this speech millions of people the world over started to make their beds. I wonder how many of them still do it today.
When we get inspired we feel elated. Something clicks. We have an ah! Experience. When listening to this inspiring speech 91 mil people experienced the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something,
But inspiration is only one part of motivation.
Inspiration is the catalyst for our motivation but it is not the experience of feeling motivated over a long period of time. Motivation is about the actions we take. Maintaining those actions. And it is about the amazing feeling we get by keeping on doing those actions despite how hard we find it.
Somebody once said something like “success is doing what you have to do on the days when you don’t feel like doing it.”
Doing, taking action in itself is what creates the feeling of motivation.
It’s the bit that keeps us going.
So motivation comes in two parts inspiration and in actions.
Now as I am sure you all know there are many, many, many things that affect our motivation. Internal factors and external factors.
Many of my clients get surprised when they come to me for help with motivation and they discover that their lack of motivation comes from the way they are physically taking care of their body. We have this powerful machine. But when we don’t feed it, don’t rest it and don’t move it. We feel less and less motivated.
If you don’t eat breakfast you will find it hard to concentrate in class. If you are constantly on the go and don’t get enough sleep and rest, then you are going to find it hard to be motivated to keep on going because your energy is too low.
If you want to stay motivated you have to take care of the machine.
Now one of the biggest factors in motivation is feeling as though you are in control of your life. A study of kids solving puzzles identified that the children who were told they were smart were more demotivated than children who were told they worked hard who were super motivated. Why? Because being smart is something you are born with. Working hard is something you can do, something you can control.
When you feel like you have nothing under control you feel demotivated.
And alot of us are affected by this at the moment with Coronavirus because we cannot control it, we are seeing suffering everywhere, globally every walk of life is impacted socially, economically, we are worried about our family, our friends and ourselves, our future, the world’s future. And those feelings are valid.
We can’t control this situation and that is compounding our lack of motivation globally.
So what can we do to feel motivated right now? Well the good news is we can do a lot! And it is simpler than you think.
Here are my 7 practical Tips for getting motivated despite your situation:
Put some fuel in your tank!
If the tank is empty then its impossible to drive the car. Your body is the same. We put fuel in our bodies tank by eating, sleeping, exercising, having fun and relaxing. If you are feeling demotivate then the first place to start looking to fix it is on how you are taking care of yourself and make that a priority for the next 48 hours (if not more).
Get moving!
Exercise stimulates the brain’s pituitary gland to release chemicals called endorphins. These endorphins trigger a euphoric feeling, often referred to as a “runner’s high” (non-runners don’t worry, this can occur with any form of aerobic exercise!)The release of these endorphins occurs approximately 20-30 minutes from the start of exercise, and can help to spur you on, both during exercise and in the office or wherever you need to do stuff afterwards
Create habits to help you!
Habits are the most awesome underrated sidekicks to motivation. They are like Robin to Batman, the woodstock to Snoopy. Creating a habit around the actions will make you take the action. Doing the action makes you motivated. Its a total win win! If you want to get some ideas on how you can create habits to help with your motivation read my post Creating Healthy Habits For Real Work/Life Balance.
Focus on the process of completing your goals!
Goals and habits are intertwined. Setting a goal and achieving a goal on changes you life for a moment. We think that it is the results that needs to change but its actually the process behind the results that needs to change. Set a goal messy room – clean up- 2 weeks later you have a messy room – actually you don’t need a clean room you need to create better cleaning habits and then your room will always be clean. Don’t need to loose weight you need better eating habits then your body will always be where you want it to be. Small habits, Actions you do every day don’t transform your life they do affect the way you want to live your life the way you want to be. Meditating for one minute won’t make you feel calm instantly but it does take you a step forward to becoming someone who is calmer. Reading one paragraph of your text book won’t make you instantly pass your course but it is a step to becoming educated. So when you set a goal think of who you want to become and what habits you will need to create in order to become that person. Reaching your goals is a journey .
Focus on what you can do!
Focus on what you can do, what you are doing. You can’t compare your progess , your journey to someone else’s progress. You can only compare your progress and your actions to you in the past. Remind yourself if you are staying home, you are social distancing that is what you can do. If you focus on what you aren’t doing that will consume you. Focus on what you can do and it will keep you going.
Find a light in every dark tunnel!
Through all the shit I have been through, all the heavy and dark moments there has always been a sliver of light.There is always something that is positive. And that light is the inspiration that powers my motivation. And I get it. I have a prayer something I say which reminds me of that light. Even in the darkest of times. And it goes like this. Thank you for all that I am/ have, all that I have been and all that I will be. Be grateful for the small things and allow those things to keep you moving forward.
Praise yourself!
Acknowledge the effort you put in especially when it is difficult to keep motivated. Tell yourself this has worked because of the changes I made, because of my effort. It’s not only ok to pat yourself on the shoulder and say well done its necciasary. Again praise gives us a dophamine boost. And we believe the voice we hear the most our own. So praise yourself daily!
Motivation comes from giving your body the best possible care to allow it to realise its potential, making your goals about the person you want to become, making the habits that get the job done, finding the light, and celebrating the action you take.
There is no magic button for motivation, it’s all about the long game. The journey.
And ultimately about taking the action. No matter what. If you take action, if you keep moving forward you will be motivated. Because you have moved forward. And you did that. Noone else.
How do you stay motivated during the hard times?
Let me know down below!
I hope this helps you
Enjoy your journey
<3 Emma-Jane xxx
