Inviting Motivation

You hear your alarm going off. It always seems to ring too quickly. You hit snooze and roll over. Five more minutes... Yet when it goes off again you are somehow more groggy than just five minutes before. You flap your hand around to find the off switch, grab your phone, and start scrolling. The light in your eyes is bright, but you just want to relax for a few more minutes. Maybe you scroll through social. Maybe you check your email. Maybe you glance through your calendar. Regardless, it stresses you out. You finally pull yourself out of bed and zone out staring at yourself in the mirror while you brush your teeth. Your morning becomes a rush after that. Regardless of if it is just you, you and dogs, you and kids, or all of it combined... there never seems to be enough time. 

And when you finally sit down in front of your computer to do work, you feel like you need a break. You feel like you DESERVE a break. But no, you have emails to respond to, someone's fire to put out, a zoom to hop onto. Oy. It's exhausting. 

This is that daily grind. Unfortunately, it is often our daily grind. And we do it to ourselves - day in, and day out. It doesn't stop with our morning - it continues with a quick run to the grocery store, cooking something that turns your kitchen into a disaster zone, and then zoning out in front of the TV because let's face it: you worked all day. You deserve a break. 

And then we wonder why we lack the motivation we claim we crave. 

I will fill you in on a secret: Motivation doesn't arrive uninvited. And not only do you have to invite motivation, you have to then prepare for its arrival. 

The life we have created does not often have space for motivation... even if it did just randomly show up. It would be left out in the cold feeling unwanted and unloved. 

Stop expecting to feel motivated. Erase that narrative in your head. Instead, take charge of your life. Invite motivation and start preparing for its arrival by:

STOP TELLING YOURSELF MOTIVATION IS A G-D GIVEN RIGHT.
"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." The pursuit. Nothing guarantees happiness. No one has ever said happiness is a given. Instead, we have the right to work towards it. It adds action to happiness. The pursuit of happiness. The same is true with motivation. Stop feeling deserving of motivation. Stop feeling unlucky that motivation hasn't struck. Stop glamorizing your perception of other's motivation. Every-time you tell yourself they are so lucky and wonder why motivation doesn't ever happen to you is the second you limit the opportunity for yourself. Those who are motivated are not lucky and you are not unlucky. 

CREATE DISCIPLINE IN YOUR DAYS. 
Structure equals freedom. 

-Wake up when your alarm rings. When you set your alarm at night, set it for the time you actually want to get up and then stop hitting snooze. Do you really want the first decision you make in your day to be a choice to procrastinate? NO. 

-Create processes to enhance your efficiency. I wake up at 5:00am every day. My husband and I leave for the gym at 5:17am. I have 17 precious minutes to accomplish everything I need to do (brush teeth, wash face, change, take salt shot, take vitamins, make and drink a smoothie). To make those 17 minutes less frantic, I prep everything the night before. This includes folding our workout towels and filling our water bottles, putting salt in my shot glass, pulling out my vitamins, filling my portable blender with protein powder and joi. Figure out where you need a process. Write it down and follow it. 

-Start owning your schedule. There is literally zero space for motivated behavior if you let the rest of the world dictate your schedule. I block off a substantial amount of time on my calendar to set me up for success. I put 15 minutes of White Space before and after client meetings. The time before a client meeting allows me to clear my head, run to the rest room, read through notes from last time, and prepare for the conversation. The time after allows me to not rush them off the call, finish any notes, identify action items, have a snack, and check email. That time is precious. It helps me be the best me. 

You have to create space to invite motivation. When you are running back-to-back all day, or, worse - overbooked, you do not own your schedule. People often tell me, "I was so busy today! I don't think I even had time to breath!" They say it with pride. Like they expect me to hand them a gold star for being so committed to what - not breathing? Being that "busy" tells me you are not managing your time effectively. 

MAKE A MOTIVATION LIST. 
Do you know what you want to be motivated to do? Is it to go for a run? Is it to work on a specific project? Is it to write a book? Or start a garden? Or learn a skill? If you are just wishing you were "motivated" and have no idea where you would channel that motivation, you are squandering the opportunities when they are possibly right in front of your face. If you woke up tomorrow with an influx of energy and focus, what would you spend it on? Those things go on your motivation list. That way, the second you get that energy you don't have to waste it trying to figure out what to do with it. YOU ALREADY KNOW. 

DON'T EXPECT THE STRUGGLE TO EVAPORATE. My husband was super vulnerable in sharing an experience of his. He was reflecting on our morning routine (which again, starts at 5:00am) and he commented that he really thought after doing it for a few months it would be easier to get up at 5:00. We both chuckled because we both feel pain when it's time to get up. It doesn't matter if you have been doing it for one week, one month, one year, or a lifetime. It takes discipline to continue to choose the long term benefit over the short term gratification. Just because you feel motivated doesn't mean you don't feel the struggle. 

"You are not your struggles. You are the survivor who keeps moving forward in spite of them." -Lori Deschene

BEING MOTIVATED DOESN'T MAKE IT EASY. In fact, the mere act of being motivated is hard. It takes energy and discipline and focus. It requires you extend an invitation and requires you prepare yourself to receive it. 

The best part about it? You have access. Create it and move yourself forward!