When The Motivation Is Low

Have you ever experienced this kind of scenario before:

Almost out of the sudden you've felt so pumped up when you've started a new idea, and then out of the sudden, you've felt like giving up and you've tossed away everything you've worked hard for because you've lost your motivation?

Or perhaps you were so energetic for a couple of months because you were so inspired by someone that every phrase that comes out of your mouth is so romantic, and then out of the sudden, it seems that all of your energies have hit rock bottom because you were being neglected by that same person?

Or something like this, you were so passionate to learn how to play the violin that you even bought one, but suddenly the drive to acquire the skills were slowly fading that being an excellent violinist was now just an imagination? 

Then, what should you do when the time comes when the motivation to continue and the drive to complete the good work you've started have become so low?

What should you do when the passion that you've once had has been slowly fading away?

"Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going." ~Jim Ryun

 On an article titled: "Five Things You Need to Know About Effective Habit Change", Ian Newby-Clark, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada who studies habit change describes the practical ways to have an effective habit change.

1. Work on One Habit at a Time.
      If you work on changing more than one habit at a time you run a serious risk of overwhelming yourself and changing no habits at all.

One example is a person who wants to add more exercise hours daily, in spite of the fact that everyday he is already on a 12-hour work shift because of the work load! Contrary to his good motive (to be fit), this is not healthy at all because you are sacrificing your sleep hours.

2. Create a Plan and Write it Down.
     It’s in our nature to want to do better. We almost always want to do better. But wanting isn’t enough. You must make a plan. Write it down. Be as specific as possible.

It is not just enough to say to oneself, "I'm going to do better next time!" I think everyone wants that too, don't you think? What's critical here are the next steps one should make in order to be better.

If he wants to exercise regularly, and yet he wants to accomplish more at work, what are the steps he should make? Minimizing "Facebook" and idle times at work would mean he gets to finish his tasks quickly, and would mean he gets to go home early. How about his schedule? Will he go to the gym at a regular Monday-Wednesday-Friday? He needs to write these down.

3. Refine Your Plan.
     Now you need to refine your plan. In particular, you need to be realistic. Put your plan in a drawer for a day or so and come back to it with fresh eyes. Look at each sentence and ask yourself, “Really? I can do that?” Find someone who will give you an honest opinion. To avoid disappointment and discouragement, cast a critical eye on your plan and make sure that it is truly realistic.

Sometimes, when one plans, he plans for the "best-case scenario". I think one must review his plans and adapt them to the "real-case scenario".

If having a regular exercise on a weekend (rest day) is on his  plans, will he really accomplish it even if his friends would ask him  to go watch a movie together?

4. Make Mini-Plans. 
     You’ve worked on your plan and it is much improved. You’ve taken out all of the bits about you leaping tall buildings in a single bound and cooking a three course meal at the same time. But having a good plan isn’t enough. You have to make mini-plans (research psychologists call them ‘implementation intentions’).

Mini-plans are very helpful. For example, if one's regular exercise is on an M-W-F, he might have these in your mini-plans: "When the alarm clock goes off at 3:00 PM, I will shower immediately, get dressed quickly, have my meal, and must be at the gym before 4:30 PM. Then, have my workout for 1 and a half hours, shower quickly, and be at work before 8:00 PM." (That is, if the working schedule is on a graveyard one: starts at 8:00 PM and onwards...)

5. Repeat! Repeat! Repeat!
     Habits are behaviors that we do over and over again. They become almost automatic. How much thought did you put into your last habitual behavior? Not much, right? It kind of happened just by itself. Now that you have your refined plan and you have your mini-plans, it is time to make your new habit almost automatic. And the only way to do it is by repeating and repeating. And repeating. That’s because psychologists have shown that repeating a behavior over and over again means that it happens automatically or almost automatically. So, the great thing about repeating the behavior is that, eventually, you won’t really have to make yourself repeat it. The new behavior will just kind of happen on its own.

There you go! Repeat what you have just started.

However, if #5 is still hard for you, I think there is somehow a problem with the way you are thinking right now. How come?

Let me explain it through this illustration:

• Do you THINK a regular exercise CAN really help you attain that "dream body", or you would just do it because you were being forced (peer pressure) by your workmates?
• Do you THINK accomplishing more at work CAN really make you an effective employee, or you were just completing your tasks for the sake of a "Completed Task" status to the point that the quality of your work were already compromised?

 I think I have heard this from John C. Maxwell:

When you change your THINKING, you change your BELIEFS...
When you change your BELIEFS, you change your EXPECTATIONS...
When you change your EXPECTATIONS, you change your ATTITUDE...
When you change your ATTITUDE, you change your ACTIONS...
When you change your ACTIONS, you change your HABITS...
When you change your HABITS, you change your CHARACTER...

 In order to have a GREAT HABIT, you must begin first from a GREAT way of THINKING!

Actually, the Bible has something to say about how one should think:

"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." ~Romans 12:2

And there is this GOOD NEWS here - a GREAT way of THINKING will eventually develop into a GREAT CHARACTER!

Ask God to lead you before making your decisions today! Start with those tiny little decisions you make everyday.

As the author of "The Sherlock Holmes" Novel says:

"It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important." ~Arthur Conan Doyle

Start today, my friend! And make it a habit...

Article Source: http://zenhabits.net/five-things-you-need-to-know-about-effective-habit-change/ 

© 2011 Erickson Ibana