Action Leads to Motivation
It’s February and we’re more than one month into the new year. How are you doing with any resolutions or goals you may have set for yourself? You likely started the year with high hopes and high motivation, looking forward to starting fresh and anew. And now that it’s February, your motivation and desire may already be waning. You might feel stuck and perhaps have lost interest in working toward those resolutions or goals. Does this sound like you?
The majority of people looking to regain that motivation will wait for someone or something to come around to help motivate them before they can get up and motivate themselves. But that’s the wrong approach. I once read that the lifespan of motivation is a lot like the honeymoon phase of a new relationship – it’s really exciting at first, but that feeling doesn’t last.
So what to do?
Take action! Action leads to motivation. I wanted to share some thoughts from Dean Bokhari, a writer, speaker, and personal development coach. He shares how motivation really works:
ACTION -> MOTIVATION -> MORE MOTIVATION
Bokhari writes, “It’s easier to act yourself into a better way of feeling than it is to feel yourself into a better way of acting.” Regardless of what you want to get motivated about, the answer always begins with action.
Often a goal or project is so big that it feels overwhelming and intimidating. Make it as easy as possible yourself by taking a small specific action to get the ball rolling. Once the ball starts rolling, it begins to gather momentum, and the motivation to continue naturally arises and on its own. Choose a small and simple thing you can do right now that gets you going. Doing this creates a continuous loop of taking action and feeling motivated, and then taking more action and feeling more motivated.
You’re procrastinating and not doing your work? Put 15 minutes on the clock and pick one important task to move your project/work forward. If it’s responding to email, just start typing. You don’t have to hit send or overly worry about etiquette. Just start!
Need to clean the kitchen but don’t feel like it? Set a timer for 15 minutes and simply begin by emptying the sink and loading the dishwasher. If time still remains, perhaps wipe down the counters or stovetop too. Just start!
Can’t get motivated to exercise? Start small by putting on your gym clothes. If that’s not enough, commit yourself to go to the gym and start on a piece of equipment or with an exercise that you like for 15 minutes. If after that time you’re not feeling it, then give yourself permission to leave. More often than not, you’ll start to feel in your groove and continue on. Just start!
Start small. Just start! 
~ Coach MJ