I have two arms, two legs, two eyes, two ears, and a mouth. I should be chomping at the bit to use these and other resources I am fortunate enough to have to learn, create, on my own and with the power of others. Yet, some days I struggle to remember this, I feel flat and unmotivated. I must learn to be excited to use my resources well each day, and push through any resistance that rears its head.
I follow several motivational speakers on YouTube who give helpful advice in understandable language. At the bottom of this post you will find links to some of their videos.
The first piece of advice is from former US Navy Seal Jocko Willink, a person I have mentioned before. He is dedicated and has a catch please “get after it.” He says getting up in the morning is going to suck, it’s not easy to motivate yourself while struggling to wake up. Cultivate the right habits of behaviour by getting up and getting on with your day. If you get up when your alarm first goes off, you’ve had your first success of the day. This leads to a higher chance of achieving more success with the rest of your day. If you hit the snooze button you’ve already wasted time and this can lead to doing the same as the day goes on. Of course this requires going to bed at the right time to get enough sleep for you.
I struggle with mornings but know they are a productive time for me. A work on for me at the moment is moving my schedule back to sleep earlier at night, and wake earlier in the morning. At night there is a temptation for me to be idle. To watch television. Mindlessly trawl YouTube. Watch another game of sport. Even when I am tired and yawning and my physical body is telling me to sleep. My schedule now holds a workout in the morning, before eating breakfast, then moving on with my day. So far I’m enjoying it and feeling productive. It is a slow process moving my bed time back, and the key now is for me to sustain it with dedication. To keep pushing my sleep and wake times back healthily until they are at times which me to be most productive while I am awake.
The second piece of advice is from a YouTuber with the channel “Better Ideas.” He explains a concept from a book called The War of Art which boils down to: We are not always going to have the motivation, even to do the things we want to do. Even when we know we enjoy them and they are life-giving for us there is a psychological force, which the book terms “resistance,” which we have to work against to stop procrastinating and get stuck in. If we wait until “the time is right,” or until we feel the spark of inspiration, we will never finish anything. We might never start anything!
My project at the moment: to get stuck in. Not next week. Not tomorrow. Not later today. Right now. It’s good for my mental health to keep going, to push on and keep recording music, to keep writing, to keep looking after my physical health.
Mel Robbins, an exceptionally accomplished woman who is a relationship and career expert, explains two really important facts in her Ted talk “Stop screwing yourself over.” There are more than two important things in this talk, but these are the two which resonated with me.
Number 1. Whatever it is you want to do in life, “You’re never going to feel like it.” You just. Have. To do it. Go out there and make it happen!
Number 2. A concept she refers to as the “3 second rule.” If we wait three seconds after having an idea, or to decide on a course of action, most of the time we will pull our emergency brake and stop the potential of something awesome before it even starts. This process kicks off at the beginning of the day when we hit the snooze button.
I know these things. I’m sure you know them too. It’s not rocket science. Getting stuff done is achievable. No one is coming with magic beans to do the hard graft for us. We must get stuck in and do it.
The road is long and winding but is there for us to take. Walk it, run it, hop skip and jump it. You decide.
What path are you going to take today? Is there resistance holding you back? At the end of your day ask yourself what was a win I had today? What were two wins? As many as you can think of. When you look back at your day you will have had success. I firmly believe that.
Be good, keep good, and sleep good, dear readers. Peace.
Jocko Willink’s, “Jocko Motivation ‘GOOD'”: https://youtu.be/IdTMDpizis8
Better Ideas “Why you procrastinate so often:” https://youtu.be/8ktvPwE0pdA
Mel Robbins Ted talk “Stop screwing yourself over:” https://youtu.be/Lp7E973zozc
Photo by Suman Halder from Pexels
Hard lines, heavy times, and handblocks 