I was productive in the middle of the month, reading lots of books, writing consistently, and getting my work in on time. But, then something happened. I didn’t know what kind of invisible demon ghost had violated me in my sleep, but everything just felt a bit harder to do when I woke up the next day.
I was tired and unmotivated.
I can’t even remember why I was productive in the first place. To make matters worse, it started to seep into the other areas of my life, I had the desire to write, but I was too lazy to do it.
So, I skipped writing that day. One day turned into two days; two days turned into three days. I started to watch tv and spent time just sleeping. I didn’t really feel like doing anything. I didn’t know what to do with myself.
I started to wonder myself, how did I get here?
Why am I not being as productive as I would like to be?
I do not know what happened to me, and how do I get out of this feeling?
I then watched YouTube hoping to find something that would strike a chord with me, and I will get inspired. I, then, come across a video that talks about a mental rut.
Read also: The Afternoon Slump: Causes and How to Get Through It
Mental Rut
The mental rut is a state of mind where you feel stuck, purposeless, and unable to motivate yourself. And doing anything that day can be difficult. Days like these will come unexpectedly, seemingly out of nowhere, and can last for days or even weeks.
From the video, I learnt that I need to do something anyway. I need to do something that will spark some sort of action, something to get the momentum going, something to get the ball rolling. I need to take action when I don’t have the motivation to do anything.
Sometimes, we think that to take action on anything, we need to be motivated to do that, and motivation comes when we are inspired by something. I browsed YouTube to find some inspiration, for instance, and the video shared about something that struck a chord with me, and I was inspired to take action.
Thing I learn
However, from the video, I learnt that the inspiration I have got, served as the adequate motivation to take action on my goals, but the ‘do something’ principle dictates that inspiration motivation action is not a linear sequence. It’s an endless loop, and we can start wherever we want to start.
He said that It’s for more efficient to start with action and let that action become the inspiration and the motivation necessary to take further action.
Action —> Motivation —> More motivation
It reminded me about a book I have read, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F by Mark Manson. In his book, he said, “Actions lead to motivation, not the other way around.”
Here’s how most of us approach motivation: Motivation —> Action —> More motivation
Here’s how motivation really works: Action —> Motivation —> More motivation
Regardless of what we want to get motivated about, the answer always begins with action. Action is the impetus for motivation. Action is the precursor to motivation. The action comes first; motivation comes after.
And I am here now, trying to take action to get my motivation back.
