We’ve all heard that you shouldn’t rely on the nebulous idea of “motivation” to get things done or achieve success, but I think that’s a very facile precept that should really be expounded upon.
In general, I think it’s a good idea, but we need to clarify a few points.
Note that I’ll basically use “willpower” and “motivation” interchangeable here, but I’m really referring to the same thing.
I think motivation is like a superpower that you have, but it’s not inexhaustible.
The reason people say that is because some people tend to only get things done when they have large amounts of motivation, and then they have no discipline or structure in place to keep going once it inevitably runs out.
And so yes, I agree with the statement that motivation should not be solely relied upon to get things done.
So how should it be used?
Just like any other resource.
It should cultivated, fostered, and spent or used strategically where its impact will be the greatest.
There are many implications of this paradigm, so I’ll go through them one at a time.
First, willpower must not be wasted.
This could mean a numbers of things; you shouldn’t use it to accomplish pointless things, it shouldn’t be underutilized, and most importantly: I think that you should set up your day-to-day life to minimize its use.
The most obvious way to do this is what all the self-help and productivity “gurus” tout, which is to establish habits and routine. And this is, in fact, great advice.
Not only will these things keep you productive during extended periods where you have no motivation, they will also amplify the impact when you are motivated.
Think of it like a discount. The same task takes much less motivation because it’s already a habit.
And once you’ve finished your habits, you have much more motivation leftover to tackle additional tasks.
Building habits is, by far, the most important thing you can do for productivity and for maximizing the impact of your motivation and willpower. I’ve talked a lot about it in the past, though, so I don’t need to go into much more detail here.
But in addition to habit-building, it’s also important to plug any obvious willpower “leaks”.
So, for example, let’s say you’re trying to eat healthier. You could buy all the same things at the grocery store like junk food, and then leave it lying around your house every day.
The end result would be that throughout the day, you are constantly seeing the junk food and having to use up some willpower to avoid eating it. You won’t have much of it left for other activities, and you may even run out at some point and give in and eat the junkfood.
So what’s the solution? Easy!
Just stop buying it to begin with. Grocery shop right after eating if you have to, and only buy healthy things. You won’t have any unhealthy options left in your house to be tempted by, and the net effect is that you aren’t using up your willpower on something stupid.
This same concept could apply to lots of other areas, too. Besides obvious ones like not having alcohol lying around if you’re trying to quit drinking, you can also do things like blocking distracting websites on your computer, uninstalling unproductive apps on your phone, and removing activities from your life that you greatly dislike.
The net result is that you’ll have much more consistent motivation leftover to use in areas where it makes the most sense.
The next concept is that you should do everything you can to maximize production of willpower.
Entire books have gone into detail both defining what “willpower” is and also how to maximize it. But in general, I think you need to get the basics of a healthy lifestyle right.
Eating right, sleeping well, avoiding excessive stress (even though short-term stress can help you power through things), and keeping yourself happy are all important to maximizing willpower.
If you’re unhealthy, chronically stressed, or depressed, you probably are going to be severely lacking in motivation and willpower.
Next, you need to use your motivation and willpower on important activities that will have the greatest impact.
You could use it all on tedious tasks that probably could be automated or outsourced. Or you could even do nothing with it and just give in to entertainment even though you’re very motivated.
But instead, you should be using it primarily on high-value activities that are likely to improve your long-term earning or productivity potential.
At the start of this year, my motivation was fairly high. I was being productive in basically all areas. I’d finish my normal work for the day, and then I’d proceed to make great progress on my long-term business goals and some personal ones.
And that was basically every day.
But then, starting at the end of Spring, all of that motivation seemed to dry up. I’ve discussed and speculated on the causes of that at length in other posts, but the important thing now is that I got to see first-hand what the difference was for me between being very motivated and having no motivation.
And it was stark.
Basically all of my efforts beyond just the regular day-to-day stuff completely dried up. I never did any of the business initiatives nor the personal ones. And it has been a little depressing.
This goes to show just how important it is. With it, things go so much better.
It showed me that while it is important to have habits in place (which kept me generally on-track), willpower is still incredibly important and can greatly amplify the impact of your efforts.
It’s starting to come back now, I think, and I have big plans for it. I’m really hoping to make the most of it and get all of my other initiatives back on track.
I want to focus hard on my long-term growth initiatives in my business and really focus on acquiring other companies. It will probably require a lot of manual effort but I suspect that it will be worth it in the end.