Are you motivated?

Motivation. At times we struggle to find it. Each day, there’s a task we know would be good to do. We know we’ll feel better when we’ve completed it, but we just can’t quite get there to begin…why do we find it so difficult?

I think we often want motivation to come to us. We will it to come, to take us over and make us finish the task in spite of ourselves.

The reality is that motivation often follows action. We need to do first, to take a step. Then, as we see progress, we feel we can continue on (cue fanfare and slow motion running!) The positive result from starting something spurs us on. However, we need to start.

Just somewhere. A little action. Something towards an end goal.

Often our end goals feel so big, so difficult to achieve that we don’t know how or simply don’t want to begin.

But we can start somewhere and we can start small.

We can remember that often tasks don’t take as long as we think they will, so thinking we don’t have enough time need not hold us back.

What could you do today on a small scale that could make things better?

If you make this your goal, to do what is needed to make the situation better, you’ll see improvement, a result and more motivation will come. This doesn’t just apply to decluttering and tidying your home, it can apply to anything; walking closer with the Lord, parenting, being a good friend etc.

One thing to make it better.

With our homes it can be one countertop, one drawer, hoovering the stairs, tidying out one cupboard, picking clothes off the floor, making the bed.

This small action immediately makes a visual difference and therefore visual progress. We are spurred on by what we have already done and how that makes us feel.

If you really struggle with simply starting, go for things without an emotional connection. Clear rubbish. Grab a box and remove all the things that definitely don’t belong in a place and already have a different home before dealing with things that are yet to have a fixed space.

Identify one thing that you can completely finish and enjoy seeing the finished task.

Then move on.

Don’t overthink it. If we add lots of emotion or thought to a task, we can worry about it needlessly, talk ourselves out of it and add to our feelings of demotivation.

If it helps, you can count yourself down from 5-1, this psychologically prepares you for action at number one, you are ready to begin whatever task you’ve earmarked to be done. (I need to do this to get out of bed sometimes!)

You don’t need to live with a lack of motivation. Everyone experiences this at one time or another and there will be days that automatically feel more productive, with more of a leaning towards getting up and getting things done. Sunny days are often helpful in this! However, on the darkest of days, we can know that we aren’t alone, we can take a step forward and even a small task done is worth the effort.

I really hope that this post helps you to take a step forward in whatever that is and that the motivation you gain from action increases as you go!

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