Motivation Dies When the Fire Goes Out
Do you ever find yourself with a million things to do, yet completely bored and unmotivated to do any of them? Whether you feel this way frequently or rarely, we all have periods in life when the fire goes out.
We know the fire has gone out when we aren’t really looking forward to any of the substantial things we need to do in our day. This is not to be confused with clinical depression or a true mental illness, but it is the mental dry spell that inevitably creeps up on us for whatever known or unknown reason.
While we were recently flourishing in our work or other passion and effortlessly pouring out productivity, we now find ourselves in a rut and feel the absence of any motivation. Maybe we are confused or, worse, we believe we are incapable of the task at hand. All of this can feel quite stagnant and discouraging. But we can get out of a mental rut by taking a little action.
Rekindle Momentum by Doing Something to Boost Confidence
All of us go through dry spells in productivity and motivation. While it can sap our confidence and feel most dispiriting, it is a phase we can break out of. It is as simple as garnering some kind of momentum, any momentum. We get out of a mental rut by breaking whatever broken loop is playing out in our mind and keeping us from moving forward.
Whatever we do that can churn up momentum will re-ignite something in our brain that remembers that we believe in ourselves and that we totally got this. We suddenly have the motivation to tackle a problem that previously seemed hopeless. It isn’t necessarily that we instantly have solutions, but we believe that we can come up with good ideas. And that belief makes all the difference.
What does momentum look like? Well, say you really need to take care of some administrative tasks on the computer – perhaps a financial application or other equally scintillating activity. For whatever reason – be it a cellular memory that’s bugging your subconscious and making you feel down and droopy on a Sunday evening, an ingrained distaste for anything that tethers you to a screen during your time home from work, or a concern that you won’t have all the answers and will be stuck and the internet will die and erase all of your progress – you just can’t get yourself to complete the task.
Fair enough. We don’t always feel like doing everything all the time. If it isn’t absolutely urgent and can be done just as well at a later time that won’t strain your schedule, you can postpone the task. But don’t postpone everything.
Sometimes, feeling stuck on one thing paralyzes us from doing other things. To that effect we say, No, No, No. Combat paralysis with momentum. Your job now is to find something else to do that is also productive and which will help you move from ‘I can’t do this’ mode into ‘look how clever I am!’ mode. The more confident you feel in your capability to do any one thing, the more eager and likely you are to do another thing. And there are several ways you can incentivize any task to make it more appealing. Just by taking the smallest action, you can get out of a mental rut by proving to yourself your own capability.
Start with Beneficial Activities You Know You Can Handle, Including/Especially Self-Care
Don’t confuse productive with difficult. Perhaps you also need to clear out your closet and make a donation trip to the thrift store. If it’s something you’ve been meaning to do eventually, you could tackle this activity with ease. Or, cook a meal you’ve been hoping to make at some point. Take a walk. Call someone you’ve been meaning to call. Anything to get you out of the ‘I can’t and won’t’ rut.
and instead do something else for a motivational mental break
Keep in mind, too, that this step into momentum is not for the sake of productivity or the tasks themselves. Rather, it is to free our mind from feeling incapable and unmotivated to do anything useful. And do not rule out rest. When we genuinely need it, restful activities are considered productive because they rejuvenate us. We shouldn’t feel like we have to be productive machines all of the time. Just as we take vacation from a paid job, we all need to regularly pause and relax from life’s unpaid jobs.
The Difference Between Mindful Resting and Useless Lazing
It’s okay if you sometimes don’t do as many productive things in your spare time as you normally try to do. It’s fine to lay back and lounge on the slow train any given morning, afternoon, evening, day, or week. Your body and heart will tell you when you need to do this and how often.
What’s not okay is feeling stuck and unmotivated to do the regular things you do to have a healthy life, and then not doing anything about the fact that you feel stuck and unmotivated even though you are unhappy.
The difference here is between actual rest and wallowing in absence of motivation. You will know the difference because rest and relaxation is enjoyable and rejuvenating. You should feel good about whatever carefree or restful things you do, when and however often you need to do these things.
On the contrary, feeling stuck and apathetic in your work or in any part of your life is neither relaxing nor enjoyable. It’s mentally draining and leaves you feeling stale and more receptive to mind-numbing distractions such as unwise eating or drinking choices. There’s nothing wrong with feeling anything, including apathetic and unmotivated. What matters is what you do about it.
The Takeaway: Identify the Mental Rut and Take Action to Progress
Misery loves company, so don’t invite it. Let’s repeat: misery is not invited. If there are real problems and issues to resolve, maybe you don’t have the resources or time to address them right now. But you can at least honestly face them and resolve to take care of them the right way, when you can. In the meantime, there are other positive things you can do to get out of a mental rut and prevent yourself from spiraling into Stuckville.
There is always time to rest, but not to stay stuck, which is different. We need to rest, usually more often than we do. We don’t need to feel stuck and laze around doing nothing about it. Whatever it takes – whether reading motivational quotes from people who inspire us or talking to someone who always cheers us up, reach out for help as needed. This is how you make your hours and days on this earth yield joy and purpose, one small effort at a time. And what better way to cheer yourself up and boost your self-confidence than by accomplishing any small feat? Never underestimate the power of a brief, loving phone call, or doing twenty jumping jacks to boost your circulation. Pick your potion and use it!