When you lack motivation, it makes your dreams feel like they are impossible to achieve. Everything good starts with a vision or a dream, but no dream becomes a reality without putting in the work. To put in the massive amount of work to succeed, you must be motivated.
Anyone can struggle with a lack of motivation. At the same time, anyone can bounce back from having a lack of motivation. It can be fixed if you're willing to make some small changes and get started.
"Sometimes later becomes never. Do it now."
The Problem With a Lack of Motivation
Some significant problems come from a lack of motivation. Often, people think of motivation as listening to some cheesy audios that tell you that you can do anything you put your mind to. Motivation is more significant than this, though. Its the entire driving force that inspires you to take any action.
When you lose that spark, you lose that drive to move forward, and it introduces new problems to your life over time. One lazy day where you're not motivated is nothing. Make it for two days, and it starts to become a more significant issue.
1. Begins a Downward Spiral
When you are not motivated, you tend to do nothing but sleep and watch TV. At first, this is not an issue, but few people feel good about themselves doing nothing. Then you start to feel bad, both mentally and physically, due to your lack of action.
Once you begin to spiral downward, it invites more problems. Your self-confidence begins to drop, and the lower that gets, the less you want to take any action. It all gets worse until you decide to start moving forward again.
2. Time Gets Wasted
Time is the most valuable resource you have. You can lose all your money and earn it back. But you can't earn a second of your time again once you spend the time it's gone forever.
If you are spending weeks of your life with no motivation and your not making progressing, your throwing away time that could have been spent making moves towards what you want most.
3. You Don't Achieve Your Goals
When there is no motivation, there is no success. The worst part of this all is that you don't get to feel accomplished. Everything you wanted is just going to pass right by you.
6 Reasons for a Lack of Motivation
No Definite Purpose
You will always lack motivation if you don't know where you're going in life. Think about the person who starts college, knowing they want to be a doctor compared to the person who is an undecided major.
People who get what they want in life are particular from the beginning about what they want and what they are willing to do to get it. When you are definite about what you want, you can create specific plans to follow.
How to Fix This
Start by choosing what you want. Most people know deep down inside the lifestyle and things they want to accomplish. It's scary to say it because it can feel like your dream is so big and you're so far from being there. You need to have the courage to put your entire dream on paper.
Overwhelmed By The Work
When you set out to achieve a massive dream, it can be overwhelming because there are many steps that need to be taken. All you can see is how much needs to be done and how inadequate you currently are. When this happens, it can feel like its more comfortable to do nothing.
How to Fix This
Break your steps down into smaller and smaller steps until things no longer feel overwhelming if you need to raise $100,000 to start by trying to raise 10 dollars. You have to go through $10 before you can get to $100,00. When you cross the smaller milestone, you can now say you have momentum.
No Self-Confidence
No matter how smart you are or how many excellent opportunities you have, you can never take advantage unless you believe in yourself. Without the confidence, the repeating message in your head is that you're not worthy of success. As long as you understand this, you will find ways to prove it to be true.
How to Fix This
There is no easy way to build confidence. It just takes the right action consistently. You have to prove to yourself that you can be the person you want to be. Show up for the things you're supposed to and be true to your word.
Lack of Energy
If you are not sleeping, working out, and eating right, it will take a toll on your energy levels. As your energy levels get lower, you're going to be less motivated to do anything. You need to treat your energy like a precious jewel.
How to Fix This
If you want to have more energy, you need to sleep more, eating higher quality foods, and move more throughout the day. Make sure you get up and walk as much as possible. Take naps throughout the day if you get the chance. Eating more veggies and less sugar and fried food will go a long way.
Fearful of Failure
When you're scared to fail, it will paralyze you. You become so occupied with what could happen. If you fail, people will talk wrong about you, and maybe your family will disown you. All of these hypotheticals come to mind that doesn't matter. The more fearful you are of these outcomes, the less you do.
How to Fix This
Move towards whatever it is that is scaring you. If you are scared of what people will say, tell them the worst-case scenario you are afraid of has happened and see what they say. Chances are nothing in your life will change. People are too wrapped up int heir own life to care about your problems.
Poorly Set Goals
When you have poorly set goals, it means that they are either too easy or too hard. When goals are too hard, they don't motivate you because you don't think you can be successful, but when they are also comfortable, you know you don't have to grow to win.
How to Fix This
One of the best things you can do is set goals at different ranges. You want easy goals, medium goals, and hard ones. The original goals give you motivation, the medium goals are the best set, and the hard ones provide you with something to stretch for.
6 More Reasons for a Lack of Motivation
You Don't Track Any Progress
You need to see that you are getting closer to your goals. This is a big reason why it's excellent to set quantifiable goals. If you say you want to lose 20 pounds, it's easy to know where you are and track how far you have to go. A little progress can provide a lot of motivation.
How to Fix This
Choose your three most important metrics and track and record them daily. If website traffic is essential to you, for example, you should look at it every day.
Too Impatient
You have to be able to delay gratification to be successful. If you expect everything to drop in your lap, you will be disappointed. Some too many people want microwave success when everyone knows nothing tastes as good from the microwave.
How to Fix This
Decide that you will not quit before a certain amount of time passes. My recommendation is that you give it ten years. If you're not willing to give something ten years of your life, it's probably not worth your time.
Wrong Team Around You
If winners surround you, you will want to be the winner as well. The problem is that most people who are lacking motivation spend all of their time hanging with people with no purpose or plan for their life. It should not be surprised when those attitudes rub off on others.
How to Fix This
You have to be careful who you hang around and who you choose to listen to. Not everyone is rooting for you. Misery loves company, so you need to get as far away as possible from people holding you back.
You Think Motivation is Cheesy
There are a lot of people who think motivation is just weak-minded. They are above watching a motivational video on YouTube because they don't think it will help.
Reading a self-help book makes no sense to them, but there is much more to this story. Motivation is like showering, and you need to do it daily no matter how clean you get.
How to Fix This
Find external things that motivate you that you can rely on. Maybe it's watching a clip from a movie, or it's a particular song. It does not matter, but use that thing to get you into the mood to dominate. The more of this stuff you can find that puts you in a positive state, the better.
You're Not Constantly Learning
You have to be willing to learn as your life depends on it. The more you learn, the more you realize that you don't know. When you can admit that you don't know, it motivates you to go find out.
One of the scariest things is seeing people not doing much with their lives who still think they know it all. They have an opinion on everything and believe that everyone should want to listen.
How to Fix This:
You can fix this lack of motivation cause quickly. Start reading books and learning on YouTube. Be curious, and it will create more curiosity.
It's Extrinsic and Not Intrinsic
Watching Youtube videos and letting your parents get you pumped up is good, but it's not lasting. The worst thing you can do in the long run depends on motivation that is not from within.
The purest form of motivation comes deep from within. It's a drive that can't be contained by anyone or anything. It's a motivation that is all about your desire and not about what you want someone to see in you or how you want that person to think.
How to Fix This
Stick with one thing and develop a love for mastery. It would help if you wanted to be the absolute best at what you do and not impress anyone. Your drive should come from within autonomy and mastery.
Track Your Habits to Help With Your Lack of Motivation
The best way to get your motivation back is to start tracking your habits with a Habit Tracker on your phone. Start by trying to build small habits that will help you out.
For example, you don't need to workout everyday, start by doing one push up and walking to the need of the street and back.
The key to success here is making sure that you do a manageable amount. If you do too much, you risk being overwhelmed and quitting.
Tracking your habits is so important to get started because it can hold you accountable, but it will also show progress. Anytime you can see that you're making progress, motivation will not be too far behind.