Sometimes the motivation is at it’s highest levels when you’re working away with and a compilation video playing your favorite hype music in the background and lowest when the alarm clock shakes you out of that sweet dream where you’re eating donuts and cannoli. In the winter, the ebbs and flow can be even more dramatic. The sunshine on your lunchtime walk makes you feel human again. Then, the extra layers always seem to be in the wrong place when the were right beside the shoes the night before. There’s the dark, and the keys, and the ear phones that were left on the counter.
Things add up and they take a toll on the desire to go to a gym; to pray that people respect a safe distance or wear a mask and wipe down the machines. Everything is working against us, but a lot of us still have goals or dreams that need tending to. So, what are we going to do?
Well, we can quit and some mornings we should. We should crawl right back into bed because it’s the best use of our time. However, most of the time, we need to figure out what will get us to put our feet on the floor and shuffle towards our goals.
When I started training (if that’s the word you want to use), I read so much about motivation and discipline because I thought if I learned as much as I could about the concept, I could master it. If this pandemic has taught me anything it’s taught me that there is no mastering motivation. Sometimes you’re ready to run through a brick wall and sometimes you just want to sit in your chair and pet your puppy. I’ve had to go back to the drawing board and dig into the archives because I have goals. One of my favorite articles was written by James Clear “How to Stop Procrastinating by Using the ‘2-Minute Rule‘,” which he added to his book, Atomic Habits, and I highly recommend it. Take a minute and go read it. I’ll still be here.
To apply it to our purpose, ask your self what you can do in the next two minutes that you can complete and will get you moving towards your goal. If your goal is to go to the gym and you’re next to the bed yawning and wiping your eyes, what’s next? Shoes? Clothes? Coffee?Then do that. And do it again the next day. It’s the collection of small, simple steps that accrue and develop into a journey where you find you’re reaching your goals.