I think “motivation” is an overused word that shift its definition, they think “Motivation” is a mood that have such great experience that lifting emotion, but in reality Motivation is just “Intention” or a reason what’s and why something is “moving”.
This is great summary and answer by Cris Nikolov from quora about motivation:
“What are the best tricks to keep your self motivated?”
Warning: The Bitter truth that may ruin your fantasy.
It took me 5 years working in the “self-help” industry to realize that motivation is overrated.
It’s pretty simple – if you become dependant on feeling motivated to do a task, you will become lazy and you will always seek that feeling of being motivated to do something.
And that’s a bad habit.
Image credit: Gage Skidmore via flickr CC
Laying in bed and waiting and thinking about how to get motivated won’t get you anywhere.
Here’s a particular quote that I love from Chuck Close
“Inspiration is for amateurs – the rest of us just show up and get to work.”
Focus on building discipline. In life many times you will have to do things that you don’t want to do and do sooner you learn that, the easier you will go through life.
Most of the tips that you read from the older answers will teach your mind only one thing – how to become lazy.
All these tips/rules that you see from successful people – are just their personal preference.
Visualisation – doesn’t work as you think it does. It will make you lazy. During the course of four experiments, Kappes and Oettingen demonstrated that conjuring positive fantasies of success drains the energy out of ambition. When we imagine having reached what we want, our brains fall for the trick. Instead of mustering more energy to get “there,” we inadvertently trigger a relaxation response that mimics how we would feel if we’d actually reached the goal.
Writing your goals down – doesn’t work. It’s good for organising your priorities and that’s all.
Watching motivational videos – will pump you up only temporary, then you will get back to your ordinary state. (I’ve produced more than 30 motivational videos and they’ve accumulated more than 100 000 000 views on YouTube, and I always end up seeing this)
Reading self-help books – will give you unrealistic expectations and try to convince you that there’s something fundamentally wrong with you while lacking any scientific evidence to back up their claims. The industry just wants you to feel desperate so that they can sell you “LIFE-CHANGING” products.
So instead of trying to motivate yourself, just get your ass to work and never become dependant on feeling motivated to do your tasks.
P.S. An year ago, I would’ve shared with you a completely different story. I was very deep into that positive thinking/motivational movement and I believed in it down to my core. I am glad that I was able to see the other side of the coin and step back from the industry for a while and see things objectively.