As I sit here today, there are so many things that I want to do. No, let me be completely honest with you – there are so many things I want to want to do. I don’t actually want to do them, but I really wish I wanted to do them. I really want to want to like fish. Fish seems to be this magical food that will cure the ills of humanity; at least that is what I read. However, I grew up in Ohio, smack dab in the middle of Mid-West. As an aside, I have never understood why Ohio is in the mid-west, but one thing is for sure we didn’t have a lot of fresh seafood, and I never ate growing up.
Another thing I want to want to do is exercise. I played sports in high school, like most people. But has been decades since I was active. I know it is something that would really make a difference in my life, but I still don’t want to. I keep waiting for the motivation fairy to show up and hit me with the motivation fairy dust. But here I sit still waiting. But what if I have it backwards?
What if action precedes motivation? What if what we need most in life is not the motivation to act but the momentum from action? Act first and allow momentum to be our motivation. Norman Vincent Peale said, “action is the great restorer and builder of confidence, inaction is not only the result, but the cause of fear.” Inaction is the great demotivator, just get moving. The difference between wanting to want to and actually wanting to may be as easy as just getting started.
However, that is not as easy as it might sound. Mark Manson, in his blog post “Do Something” put it this way:
If someone wants to fix their relationship with their mother, the emotions of the situation (hurt, resentment, avoidance) completely go against the necessary action to fix it (confrontation, honesty, communication). If someone wants to lose weight but experiences massive amounts of shame about their body, then the act of going to the gym is apt to inspire in them the exact emotions that kept them at home on the couch in the first place. Past traumas, negative expectations, and feelings of guilt, shame, and fear often motivate us away from the actions necessary to overcome those very traumas, negative expectations, and negative emotions.
He goes on to explain his “Do Something” principle for overcoming the inertia of getting started, and it is merely this…do something. Do something, even a very small tiny baby step and allow that moment to help propel you forward. It appears the motivation fairy dust does exist, but it shows up not when we sit and wait for it, but when we just take that first step.
Well, its time to get started. Do something.
If you would like to read more of Mark’s post, here is a link. https://markmanson.net/do-something