This Surprisingly Simple Concept To Staying Motivated
Why’s is exercising so hard for most people?If you’re not already in shape, it hurts—so there’s that.But more specifically, it takes a long time to see results.And most people don’t have a pressing, life or death reason to start right now.
This means it’s important but not urgent.
Like many other things like this, it’s easier to start tomorrow.But you’re smarter than that.You know all this.You’re ready. You have no excuse. Start small.
Its not about feeling the fleeting impulse of motivation
Its about recognizing how your own brain works and doing what it takes despite your own unique patterns.
2 Minute Action:
Can you do 10 crunches right now?What about a sales call?I bet you can do something to start right now and I bet it takes less than 2 minutes.
When Is A Good Stopping Point?
I hear this all the time."This is a good place to stop. I'll just pick up here tomorrow or next week."Though this sounds like a good idea, economically, it's really ineffective.The hardest part for most people is generally not continuing to move forward once you've started--it's starting in the first place.
Uber drivers are a great example:
Most Uber drivers have a number of dollars in mind they'd like to make for the day.Once they hit their number and then they stop working.Some days it takes forever and other days they get there in a few hours.Instead of saying "I've made enough to stop," a more effective strategy would be to say: "I'm doing really well today, so I should keep going so I can make up for all the light days I'll have in the future."Instead, Uber drivers are cutting out at the most profitable times and grinding through the most difficult hours even though they could make life a lot easier by capitalizing on those good days.Think how much better life would be if you just stayed in the car on a good day and then just stopped early to go to the beach on a bad day where you only made $50.
So there are two good lessons to take from this:
- You can't control the days that are good or bad, but you CAN choose to capitalize on the good days so you can protect yourself from the bad ones.
- The hard part isn't finding a good place to start or stop, it's just starting--so once you've started, don't stop yourself short.
2 Minute Action:
What's something that's going really well in your life, right now?What might leaning into that look like?What would happen if you doubled down on that?I bet you it only takes 2 minutes to make a phone call, send an email, or show up with your full self.
Why Are You Reading This?
I ask a lot of questions, tell a few stories, and give examples of tactics that have worked for me in the past.The point isn’t to tell you what to do.The point is to ask you questions that you can ask yourself in the future. You read this and get a small reminder of how to think instead of what to think.
2 Minute Action:
Here are some simple questions you can ask yourself in the future:What would Elon Musk do if faced with this problem?How would Bill Gates approach this?What’s something positive your Mom would say about you?