Motivation Doesn't Lead To Action, Action Leads To Motivation

​For many years when I'd go to bed I'd feel motivated to write when I got up in the morning. Then I'd go to sleep, wake up, and suddenly the motivation was gone.

Does sleep steal motivation?

Mel Robbins says, "I think motivation is complete garbage; it's never there when you need it."

Motivation is readily available when you're planning—thinking about doing something, penciling it into your calendar. But when the time comes to actually do it, motivation is often long gone.

I am sure many of us have encountered this in the new year. The changes we were motivated to make December 31 have been changes we haven't felt like making now that it's time to make them. So maybe the problem isn’t a lack of motivation, but a lack of capacity to act when we don’t feel like it.

Robbins says real motivation comes AFTER the doing, not before. It comes AFTER we start doing the thing we want to do but don't feel like doing, and then, in the process of doing, we start feeling like the person we wanted to become as a result of making the change we wanted to make.

Motivation doesn't get us going, getting going creates the motivation that keeps us going.

Thinking about writing in the morning no longer motivates me; being a writer does.

Dreaming, listening to inspiring podcasts, reading all the books, even finding mentors—none of that will be enough to become who you long to be. All of those things can be great resources, but ultimately your greatest resource will be figuring out how to do what you know you need to do when you don't feel like doing it.

For me, figuring that out was understanding that sometimes my feelings are not my friends. When my feelings tell me I am sad, there are many times that it's healthy for me to sit with that sadness and know it is there to help me process a difficult time. But when my feelings tell me I don't feel doing something I know I need to do, when my feelings tell me I don't feel like writing in the morning when I know writing in the morning is who I am, then I need to get better at telling some of my feelings where to go.

Because the ultimate motivation in life comes from being who you longed to be. From becoming who you longed to become. From living out a path you were created to walk.

You’ll never go down that path if you wait to feel like walking it. You’ll only feel like walking it once you start moving

Robbins says waiting on motivation is the kiss of death, so I guess it can be interpreted that NOT waiting is the kiss of life.

So, which kiss—life or death? The choice is ours.