How To Find Motivation Where There Isn’t Any

June 10th 2019

How I’ve been staying on task and motivated in a period of life where it seems like there is nothing to work for.

If you don’t follow my blog or know anything about my life or current situation, I just moved from New York to North Carolina with my family after living the first 24 years of my life in New York. Moving without a job, friends, or knowledge of anything around me has been a difficult transition and I feel as though one day bleeds into the next, with very little diversity. However, despite the apathy caused by the same day in/day out lifestyle, I have still managed to stay motivated enough to keep up with things that are important to me.

So, maybe you’re currently in your own day in/day out rut and you are finding it difficult to keep motivated to leave bed and start a new day. I’ve been there and I am there, but I have found a few ways to deal with it. I’m not going to lie though, they are pretty common sense concepts, but I figured I would share anyway!

1. Keep your mind off your current situation- I know this goes against a lot of what I preach on here and I normally encourage staying in the present moment however, when your present moment is less than inspiring, it is kind of hard to get motivated to move forward. So when you’re in a rut, don’t focus on the rut, focus on the world outside of your rut. Focus on how great a new job will be once you get out of the rut of constantly job searching, or how great you healthy and fit body will be when you get out of the rut of tedious gym days as you try to get into a good groove. Right now, it may feel like you’re staring at a big wall, but life over that wall can be great, so keep climbing.
2. Just do it- Nike has it right, just do it. Don’t spend too much time thinking of all you need to get done. Simply do. I find that my lack of motivation and my anxiety hit when I think too hard about what I need to get done. However, when I just start doing the things I have to do without letting myself overthink, I get done way quicker and with less stress and anxiety than if I sat and worked myself up over my to-do list.
3. Think of WHY you’re doing what you’re doing- This one sort of piggybacks off of the first one, but think about why you got started in the first place.  Right now, my major goals are as follows; get a job, get in shape, make time for my remote part time job. I am searching for a job because my big end goals are to get good experience and save up enough money to move out on my own. My big end goal for getting in shape is looking and feeling better in my body.
   I love the idea of being strong and fit so it keeps me motivated to get over the hump of soreness and laziness. My big end goal for keeping up with my remote part time job is to keep gaining experience in a job I really enjoy while earning a little bit of extra money on the side. I view experience, financial independence, and the idea of looking and feeling good to be strong enough motivators to keep me going even though life isn’t presenting me with a lot of reasons to keep going right now.
4. Build a good cheering squad- I am incredibly lucky to have my family with me for this move because they play a large part in motivating and so do my friends from NY.  Having even just one person to tell you that things will get easier is a great way to keep motivated even when you’re having trouble believing in yourself. And if you feel you don’t have anyone, perhaps sign up for a class or workshop with people who have similar goals and motivate one another. And if all else fails, I can be anyone’s single person cheering squad if you need someone!
5. Don’t push too hard- Most of all, give yourself a break. Don’t push yourself to be productive and motivated 24/7. It is exhausting and will set you back farther than if you just work on things at your own pace. My first couple of weeks here, I pretty much spend any down time I had either working or job hunting and I began to get more depressed than anything else because I just wasn’t feeling motivated to do anything anymore, even things I genuinely enjoyed, because I felt guilty and thought I should be doing other more important things. Being motivated is great, but scaring yourself into staying motivated all the time is too much.

Overall, motivation will come and go, but just know there are ways to pull yourself back when times feel bleak. I hope this little list helped you see that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.

Jess~