This blog will be a little bit different in the sense that there’s nothing I can say that isn’t incredibly written in the blog link below.
This week’s topic is about the age old trope of “I don’t feel like doing this…” or , “I’m not motivated…” Many creatives get caught in a cycle of being inspired and creative for a short period, only for the inspiration to fizzle out when they realize what they’re creating takes more work than they realized. Suddenly their fun project becomes like doing chores or doing homework and they start searching for any excuse they can daily to get out of doing it.
This applies to creation, working out, cooking, pretty much any healthy thing that is good for you but takes effort to do.
Motivation is Not Discipline
Check out the incredible blog “Screw Motivation, what you need is Discipline” written by Zbyhnev here: https://www.wisdomination.com/screw-motivation-what-you-need-is-discipline/
One of my favorite lines from the blog that has always stuck with me is, “Successful completion of tasks brings about the inner states that chronic procrastinators think they need to initiate tasks in the first place. Put in simpler form, you don’t wait until you’re in Olympic form to start training. You train to get into Olympic form.”
The cliché’ is that, “If you do what you love, you never work a day in your life.” Adults will know that that simply isn’t true, work is work no matter how passionate you are about it or not – it’s just work you’d rather be doing than [insert any job here].
As such, burnout still exists, tedious and boring work still exists, production, even when fatigued, still exists – the notion that a creative will always be in that fun and super inspired state each and every time they produce is a fairy tale fantasy no different than believing they’ll go to la la land.
It’s very rare that a project that is worthwhile was spent with its creatives having fun and being inspired 24/7 – sometimes work, even work you’re passionate about, it just work. Citing motivation as a deterrent for production is no excuse.
Conclusion
Come back to this blog whenever you feel the common itch of, “I’m not motivated to do this.” Always remember why you set out to be a creator in the first place and, when in doubt, utilize Pareto’s Principle and Parkinson’s Law to help you with your productivity!
