Why Motivation Isn’t Enough
It’s easy to feel motivated in the beginning. You get the new job, start the new project, take on a new challenge. You’re excited, focused, and giving it 1000%.
But what happens when it’s been months, or even years?
We all know that when the excitement wears off, and you start to get tired, and suddenly you’re sick of doing the same thing every day, then what do you do?
That’s the part no one talks about enough because motivation is hard to sustain.
And honestly, I don’t think it’s supposed to be sustained. It’s why having a plan matters more. The plan must be enough to move you, but made up of small steps so that it can be done consistently. Daily, weekly, every Tuesday (ha), whatever works for you.
It’s like filling a jar with coins. Little by little, eventually it becomes something substantial.
I’ve been working on a book, and it’s finally in the last stages before going to an editor.
And this last push has been the hardest part.
Why?
Because I’m tired. I’m sick of working on it. I’m feeling lost with it. I have every reason to stop pushing. But for this last push, I committed to myself to write 1–2 hours a day and then tell someone I did it.
So later today, I’ll spend 60 minutes doing exactly that.
Not because someone is forcing me, although the accountability is helpful, it’s because some days you want to do the work and other days you just don’t.
But on those days, the plan pulls me through. Whenever I don’t feel like writing, I tell myself to just do 10 minutes.
That’s it.
And almost every time, an hour passes before I even realize it.
Because starting is usually the hardest part. Not motivation. Just motion.
