Motivation is a funny thing ... sometimes we have it and sometimes we don't. Although if we're all being completely honest, most days we don't. I mean don't get me wrong, I know there are people out there who bound out of bed at 5:30 every morning, over eager to start the day, but If you're the other 98% of us, you know that motivation takes work.
I found myself in a serious drought of motivation the other day. I am taking three online classes this summer (barf), and let's be honest, I've never been a school person. Often times I'll be working on my homework and all of the sudden I'm three years into some random person's Instagram timeline with no hope of returning to reality. When I finally pulled myself back to reality I was so exhausted from the journey that I naturally needed to take a nap. But the problem with that was, I wasn't really physically tired, my brain just shuts off because I was mindlessly looking at pictures of people I didn't even know. So I just laid on the couch until I finally came up with a new fix for my recent lack of motivation.
I vowed to myself on that couch that I would not just mindlessly do nothing when I am not feeling motivated. If I am not motivated to do school that's fine, but I have to do something productive instead. I have to read an educational book, research a topic I know nothing about, work out, purge my closet of the 50 pairs of shoes and 100 t-shirts I never glance at, etc.
Literally, anything that will keep my brain active and my mind from shutting off. So I researched a topic I know nothing about and wrote out every assignment I have left in my daily planner. When I was finished doing these things an amazing thing happened: I was motivated to do my homework. Because I didn't let myself continue to let my brain fall asleep I was able to re-energize myself and finish my assignments.
We all have goals and aspirations in life and I am willing to bet that every one of them requires a lot of hard work and determination. If they don't, I want to challenge you to think and dream bigger. I work very hard- I always have. Ever since I can remember, I was doing something productive from sun up to sundown, sometimes longer. The example I used isn't a representation of my everyday life, but I do want to be real in sharing my motivation struggles.
I used to think that motivation just came naturally and some people had it and others didn't. The older I get the more I realize that motivation is a choice. If we waited until we felt motivated to do things, we would never do them. Just like everything else in life, we choose which road to take.
We may not always feel motivated, but we can choose to be productive anyway.
