fbpx

Your “Motivation Problem” Isn’t A Motivation Problem

Regardless of how active or fit you currently are, we’ve all had moments (New Year’s, perhaps?) where we’ve thought “This is it. I’m sick of _____. I’m finally making changes in my life because _____.” We do really well do this first day or for the first couple of days, then we fall back into our old habits. One missed workout here, one bad snack there, then it spirals out of control, and we’re right back where we started. We feel like failures, and it takes a lot to want to try again.

We think it’s a motivation problem. We think we need to buy new running shoes, workout equipment or a gym membership, or set big goals and make big plans. All those things are great, but they only have short-term impact. Since fitness is not something you do for a set time, rather, is a lifestyle; that alone is not enough. Again, we think it’s a motivation problem. But you have the motivation. In actuality, it’s a follow through problem.

It’s similar to your productivity at work. You have loads of good intentions and plans, but something distracts you from your goals. Since you want to accomplish something, you don’t have a motivation problem; you have a follow through problem. Motivation is mental, follow through is physical. Motivation is about the concept, follow through is about the action.

If you have ambition, but you just can’t seem to materialize that ambition into action, the problem lies within your inability to follow through. So how do you fix this? While fixing a motivation problem is about your mind and the way you think, fixing a follow through problem is about ignoring your mind. You have to ignore all the negative thoughts, excuses, and second guessing and simply do what you had set out to do.

Make a very specific decision about what you want to accomplish and do not give yourself time to argue with yourself. Instead of psyching ourselves out, we start to achieve the little things we want to, gaining confidence and making progress towards achieving the bigger things. At first it can be difficult, and will require discipline, but after a short period of time, you will have replaced your bad habits and your new, good habits will be second nature, and then your follow through problem will be a thing of the past.

To read more advice and tips on workplace productivity, be sure to follow us on LinkedIn and check out our Facebook page!