Screw motivation
Posted by Janka
Merriam-Webster defines “motive” as “something (as a need or desire) that causes a person to act” and motivation as “the condition of being motivated”, that is, of possessing a motive, or “a motivating [something that provides a motive] force, stimulus, or influence : incentive, drive”. I do not personally like the word much, the way it is usually used in my hearing. I am ok with the usage that emphasizes the “need or desire”, the personal reason for to do something, as in “my sole motivation to do X is that it is necessary for Y, which I really want”, though even then I would prefer “reason” or “incentive”.
Motivation seems to separate into three things:
1. a need or desire for something (motive),
2. something that causes one to act on that need or desire (incentive), and
3. the energy to stay at the task (drive).
When people say “I do not have the motivation” or “I do not feel motivated”, they can mean any or any combination of these. Saying that alone is not usually helpful. To figure out how to solve your “lack of motivation”, you need to figure out which of these it is, and then act on that. If you wait until you “feel motivated”, chances are it will never happen, because three such complex things will need to coincide by chance. It is possible to desire something because it is The Thing to desire, act on it simply because you expect praise or rewards from others if you succeed, and have energy simply because you are feeling energetic in general. I would guess a lot of us have managed at least a couple of major life goals simply by that, by a combination of energy of youth, strikes of luck, and the design of the society. This might be what creates the expectation that we need to “be motivated” to achieve things.
1. The motive.
First question to ask yourself when you do not feel motivated is this: do I actually really want this thing to happen? If so, why exactly? Here are two test questions: A. If I did not know any of the people I know now, would I still want it? B. If I had enough wealth that I could amuse myself in any way I wanted without the fear of ever being hungry or homeless, would I still want it? Wanting things because they bring company or security is not bad. It is, however, crucial to understand that you want something because you enjoy the company, or because you want the additional freedom that wealth brings, instead of the something itself.
Self-awareness to the level where you figure what you really want is not easy. I suppose that a lot of our stories and other escapism deal with people with Fates and Missions and stuff because it would be ever so much easier to have one given to us than it is to figure it out ourselves.
But the truth remains that if you do not have a motive, you will not have motivation, and you can as well stop wishing you did, and start doing something else.
2. The incentive
If the motive is about “why exactly do I want this in the first place”, the incentive is about “what all will I miss or lose if I do not do get off my arse and actually do this thing?” The trick is not to be stuck with the first answer, but to do a chain of so-whats.
If I do not finish this document today, then I will not finish it by the deadline, because there will not be enough time. So what? Well, then I will have to go to the team meeting and explain why it is not ready. So what? The others will be pissed off. So what? I really don’t want N.N. to be pissed off with me. Bingo—apparently N.N. being pissed off is something that you really care of. Would that be an incentive enough to actually get off your arse: “I really like N.N. and do not want her to feel angry or her work to suffer because I do not do my part”?
Or maybe there is no N.N and the chain goes on. If they are pissed off, that could reflect badly on my review. So what? These are uncertain times, and there might be layoffs. So what? If I am fired, I am not sure I can get another job. So what? I do not have enough savings to live on just social security and keep my house. So what? Well I really goddamn like that house! Would that be incentive enough? “I want to do well in this job so that I do not have to face the insecurity of having to find another one.”
Or maybe it goes on until you arrive to “oh screw it, I don’t even want this job”, in which case you are back to the motivation step. That’s ok.
3. The drive
Once you have the motive and the incentive, this step is relatively easy. Here’s how. Realize these points: A. You will never feel energetic all the time, and B. If you do fifteen minutes of it, it is more than not at all.
If you labor under the illusion (surprisingly common these days) that healthy, happy people are energetic and “motivated” and driven and light-hearted all or even most the time, get rid of that idea right now. It is simply not true. Energy levels and moods come and go. Spikes are fun, but for the most of us, they are rare. If you wait until you are highly “motivated” (with the meaning of energetic and feeling like it) before you do things, you will accomplish very little and spend a lot of time feeling bad and wrong about “not being motivated”, when in fact there is nothing whatsoever bad or wrong about you.
If you really want to do something (you have the motive and the incentive) but you do not seem to be able to find the energy, then make a deal with yourself: agree that you will do something for it for fifteen minutes, and then you are free to go and not worry about it anymore today (this morning, this evening, this week, for an hour, whatever). Fifteen minutes sounds like nothing. It is nothing. It should be easy accomplish. Think of the tiniest little thing that you can do right now to promote your pursuit, set a timer to fifteen minutes and then think about your motive and your incentive, and do that thing or nothing until the alarm goes (and when I say nothing I mean absolutely nothing: no web, no IRC, no getting up and walking around, no TV or radio, no reading a book, no drinking tea or having a sandwich or going to the toilet).
Of course, often after the first fifteen minutes or tiniest little thing you will feel like doing more, because the hardest thing is to start—and you can, if you want to. But that is not the point: this is not a trick to get you started. The point is that those fifteen minutes are more than you would do if you instead just sat around fretting about not having motivation, and so doing them you are already on the winning side: doing more than you were about to, getting better at getting it done.
And if you really end up sitting that fifteen minutes doing nothing—then either you really needed the rest, or the tiniest little thing was not tiny enough, or you were mistaken about your motive and incentive. That’s ok too. Simply retry. Today, or tomorrow.
Screw motivation. Just do it, if you want to, and don’t, if you don’t.
(Disclaimer: actually not having the energy for anything ever and/or the inability to recognize at least 1-3 real needs/desires/motives can be symptoms of burn-out and/or clinical depression. I do not mean to belittle these conditions or to discourage people potentially suffering from them from seeking medical advice.)
(Disclaimer 2: despite being posted right after several people used the “not feeling motivated” phrase on an IRC channel, this post is not aimed at them. I have planned it for a couple of weeks now—and have a todo list trace to prove that. The latest examples simply served to remind me of a pet peeve.)
