The Myth of Motivation – 3 of 10

Jumping into the 3rd article on the productivity series, we’re going to talk about the ‘myth of Motivation’. You will learn new things about motivation, it might be shocking for someone, so be ready.

Motivation is needed but is not necessary while the meaning of Motivation won’t be the same for everyone, so here, let’s decode the Myth Of Motivation.

Myth of Motivation

Motivation is nothing but the feeling that wants us to do certain tasks because those tasks will make us happy. So get out of that, Myth that Motivation will help us archive goals, it will but at a certain level. In the long run, only discipline will be with you

For better understanding, let’s say, I want to read a book called “Rich Dad and Poor Dad”.

Now, before I chose the book, I had thought about reading but I didn’t have the motivation, I just had the feeling that I want to read something.

The problem is, the feeling doesn’t make us do anything, they come and go.  

Now, when I was thinking about reading, at the same time, if I had thought about watching YouTube Videos, Netflix, or even po*n then my brain would choose movies or YouTube over reading books.

But why?

Because our brain will choose what makes us happy, and watching YouTube videos, po*n, or even drinking coffee releases dopamine and that’s what our brain wants.

Now, it’s not like, our brain loves to watch po*n or YouTube, it’s just that, we have trained our brain this way.

If you were reading books for years then there is a chance that you will choose books over anything else but if you never loved reading then there is a chance that you might choose movies over books.

This is what we talked about in 2nd article of the productivity series, so make sure you read it to understand more about your brain.

Now, I won’t go deeper into the dopamine talk because that’s what we gonna talk later in this series.

Feelings Will Change

What I’m saying is, our feelings will change according to our mood.

You don’t think about one thing at one time, you have tons of thoughts about various things whether it’s s*x, Instagram, po*n, or anything else. 

So if you always choose your feelings to do everything then you will find it hard to build new habits because you’re relying on your emotion which is not a good thing to do (always).

This means you don’t need the motivation to read books, exercise, or anything else.

What you need is discipline.

To make it simple, 

First You have thought about reading a book, now you’re finding the motivation, and then you will take action.

This is the wrong way to make any decision, instant, cut the motivation part and directly move on to the action which will save a lot of time.

So next time, when you want to add a new habit then don’t search for motivation, just jump into the action.

It might be hard for a few days but if you can survive those days then you will thank yourself for not wasting time on motivation.

Now, of course, when you jump directly into the action, you will skip a few days or even months and this is where the stake comes in.

Put Something At Stake

Let’s say you want to read a book but you’re not able to read every day, so what you can do is, tell your sister or brother or friends, 

“If I don’t read a book every day then my smartphone is yours or take this money and when I skip reading day, this money is yours.”

When you put something at stake, your mind will focus on reading books because we humans love money and we can do whatever it takes to earn and save money.

Put something at stake when you find it hard to build a new habit.

At the same time, make reading fun. To do that, you don’t have to read popular books, read books that you like the most whether it’s business books, self-help, comic books, or anything else. 

If you want to go one step ahead then you can buy an audiobook, watch videos about books, read articles about books, or do something related to books.

This way, you’re adding another task in your life, once that reading takes place in your brain, it won’t be hard to read a book for 15 or 30 minutes.

How to Improve Like a PRO

As James Clear says in his Atomic Habits Book, improving 1% every day doesn’t look that big but when you see the bigger picture then you will see that, if you improve 1% every day then after a year, you will be 35% ahead of everyone else.

So make a small change and don’t focus much on the results, rather work on how you can make the process more fun and engaging.

As someone said “Short Term gain is Long Term Pain”

In the end, motivation will never last forever, just like our feeling, you will have to build discipline and then you will achieve your goals in less time.

Exercise For The Day

Be aware of yourself when you search for motivation, and watch videos about the same on YouTube.

Write down, what kind of thought you had when you said, I don’t want to read a book or I don’t have a mood right now.

Do this for a week and see what kind of changes you see.

Key Takeaways

• Motivation will never last Forever, it will fade away.
• An instant of watching Motivational videos. Start working on your dreams, this will save you a lot of time.
• Make habits that stick

Quote of The Day

“Inspiration does exist, but it must find you working.” – Pablo Picasso

Wrapping Up

Motivation does help but you can’t rely all the time on it, it will fade away and you will leave with regrets. So when you have the feeling that, you don’t want to do this, just ask yourself “Why you don’t want to do this to that”.

Now, if you don’t get a proper answer then you’re just using your feeling to take action which is not a good thing (always).

Cut the Motivation part from life as soon as possible and add habits in your life and be disciplined because it will last for a long time as compared to Motivation.

There you go, this was 3rd article on the Productivity series and I hopping that you will apply something from what you have read today.

Now, I will see in the 4th Article where we will talk about the “Myth Of Multitasking”.

See you there…