“The measure of your success usually comes down to who wins the battle between the two of you. The ‘you’ who wants to stop, give up, or take it easy, and the ‘you’ who chooses to beat that.” What would get in the way of your success: complacency.” Chris Widener
In all my interactions with people, I have never encountered anyone, regardless of their level of success, who sometimes just doesn’t want to do the things they need and want to do. It is part of human nature that there will be times when, despite everything we need to do, and even want to do, we find ourselves not wanting to do anything. And what separates those who will succeed from those who will maintain the status quo is the ability, in those crucial moments when we are making decisions about what to do, to choose to find the inner motivation that will allow us to conquer our complacency and take action. .
I realize I deal with this problem in my life on a regular basis, so the following success strategies are not simply “pie-in-the-sky techniques” but proven ways to get yourself to do it yourself, even when you don’t feel like it. Do nothing.
Honestly assess whether or not you need a break. This is the first thing I usually do, which I find I don’t want to get to a specific action. The fact is that many times we will have been working very hard and the lethargy we are feeling is really our body and our emotions telling us that we simply need a break. And this is where true intellectual honesty is needed because when we don’t need a break, our mind still tells us that we need a break. But sometimes we need a break. I’ll give you a good example. I don’t particularly like to exercise, but I do it almost every day. Sometimes, before going to the club, I find myself thinking that I didn’t feel like going. Most of the time I’m just being lazy. However, sometimes I realize that my body needs a break. So every once in a while I’ll take a day or two break from working out. The benefits of this are twofold: One, my body gets a break to regenerate. Two, after a day or two, I start to miss my workout and look forward to going to the gym.
Other examples: Maybe you are a salesperson who has been calling customers for a week straight, day and night. You wake up one morning and you don’t feel like doing it anymore. Well, take a break in the morning. Go to a coffee shop and read the newspaper. Go to the driving range and hit some golf balls. Take a break and then do it again!
Start small. I am now at a point in my exercise program where a typical exercise day for me consists of 30 to 45 minutes of aerobic exercise and about 30 minutes of weight lifting. So when I find myself not feeling like getting up and going to the gym, I sometimes commit to going and doing a smaller workout. Rather than decide not to go, I will commit to 15 to 20 minutes of aerobic exercise and 15 to 30 minutes of weight lifting. This is also good for two reasons. One, I actually do some exercise that day. And two, it keeps me from getting into a cycle of giving up when I don’t feel like taking action.
Other examples: Maybe you are a writer who just doesn’t want to write today. Instead of the long day of writing you had planned, decide that you will at least draft a couple of new articles. At least you will do this, and you may have realized that you are in the mood to write after all.
Change your routine. I’ve found that what keeps me in the best shape and burns the most calories is doing 30 to 45 minutes on the treadmill every day. Now let me be very frank. I find running on the treadmill extremely boring. I can usually do it myself, but sometimes I need to vary my routine. So instead of 30 to 45 minutes on a treadmill, I’ll break my aerobics routine into several different areas. I’ll do 10-15 minutes on the treadmill, 10-15 minutes on the recumbent cycle, 5-10 minutes on the rowing machine, 5-10 minutes on the stair climber, then back on the treadmill for five to 10 minutes. I still get my exercise, but I’m much less bored.
Other examples: Maybe you’re in construction and you’ve been working on plumbing for a week and it’s getting monotonous. Don’t do the plumbing today! Go frame up in the office.
Reward yourself. One way to motivate myself to do something when I don’t feel like doing it is to tell myself that if I finish the work I need to, I’ll give myself a small reward. For example, I can tell myself that if I get up and go to the club, I can take five to ten minutes off my treadmill workout, which will shorten my workout routine, and allow myself to sit in the hot tub for a while. a few extra minutes. Hey, it works!
Other examples: Maybe you are a mortgage broker who feels like sleeping. Tell yourself that after the next three mortgages you close, you’ll take your kids to the fair or your spouse to the movies. Maybe you’ll give yourself a night on the town with old friends.
Reconnect the action with pleasure instead of pain. Psychologists have long told us that we humans tend to connect every action with pleasure or pain. Tony Robbins has popularized this further in recent years with something he calls Neural Associations. That is, we connect each action with a pleasure or pain. When we find ourselves lacking in motivation, what we are probably discovering in ourselves is that we are associating the action we are thinking about with pain, rather than pleasure. For example, when I’m thinking about not going to the gym on a certain day, I usually associate going and working out with not having time, the pain of working out and lifting weights, or the boredom of running on a treadmill for a long period of time. of time. What I can do to re-associate is remind myself that by going in and doing my exercise I will feel better about myself, lose weight and live longer. This brings me pleasure. When we start playing those types of tapes in our minds, we find that our internal motivating force is unleashed and our attitude about the action we are considering changes.
Other examples: Maybe you are a counselor who really doesn’t want to spend all day listening to people. Your association may be that it will be boring, or that you will be inside while it is sunny outside. Instead, re-associate with the truth of the matter: someone will be better off because of your care and concern. Think about your clients and the progression they’ve made recently and how you’ve been a part of that.
