By Micah Queisha De Guzman
Admit it or not, we had this thought of waiting for the perfect timing before we start doing our thing. We want to feel and hype the energy of motivation to get our things done. But here is the thing, my friend, we never really rely on motivation. You must never rely on motivation because you will only be motivated to do the easy things.
You have these incredible ideas. You want to start your own business. You want to get that promotion. You want to get that straight uno or line-of-nine grades. You want to lose some weight. You want to stick with a productive daily routine. All of those thoughts are clouded in your mind as you are thinking that you are feeling unmotivated. Well, my friend, let me tell you something.
Our minds are wired and humans are not designed to do things that are uncomfortable, scary, or difficult. Our brains are made to protect us to keep us alive. This eventually sets up the problem that you are not going to feel moving and proves that motivation is useless.
We all have a habit of hesitating. You may have an incredible idea. You may have a remarkable question while you are sitting in a meeting or listening to your professor. Instead of just saying it, you stop and you hesitate.
What none of us realize is when we hesitate—that micro-moment—it sends a stress signal to our brain. It wakes us all of a sudden and goes like, “Oh! Wait a minute, why am I hesitating?” So, your brain goes to work to protect you.
Our brains have a million different ways to protect us and one of them is called the Spotlight Effect. It is a known phenomenon where our brain magnifies risk to pull us away from something that it perceives to be a problem. And so, we can truly trace every single problem in our life to silence our decisions.
Jeff Haden, the author of The Motivation Myth: How High Achievers Really Set Themselves Up to Win, compares motivation to a sugar rush that never lasts. Instead, there is only one recipe for gaining motivation, and that is simply making progress. Motivation does not lead to action. but action leads to success. This will later lead to motivation, which prompts action, generates more success and more motivation. As such, this creates a positive dopamine-driven feedback loop. It is the tiny doses of success that give us the motivation that we need to continue.
Motivation is not based on wishing and hoping that we are going to get the activation energy to do the thing. We are often told that getting the motivation to do something requires us to set some kind of goal. When we have an end goal, we will have something to concentrate on—a motivating force to get us started. However, this theory is misguided for there is nothing wrong with having a goal. Having a goal is not enough since success depends on our process. When we focus on process, we build the foundations for our success. Therefore, we generate the momentum and the positive feedback loop that maintains the sustainable fire of motivation.
As Jeff Haden says, "If you dedicate yourself to working your process, you will make progress and then success is inevitable."
May you always keep in mind to do all the things you want to do with your life, with your work, and with your dreams. You also need to do things that are difficult, uncertain, and scary. You need to learn to control your habit of hesitating. You do not need the motivation to do something. You should focus on the process, then motivation will naturally follow. It will open up many doors for all of the different things without relying on motivation.
Time is ticking and it will never stop. It never waits for you to be ready. It is up to you to decide what is worth living for, so stand up and start your journey.
Micah Queisha De Guzman is an extrovert, outgoing, and expressive woman. She is well driven to continuously learn and explore how to look at life in a sensible optimistic way. She aims to encourage her generation to look at life in a positive yet realistic manner. To find the courage within themselves to keep them moving forward.
YSPACE is a platform open for young writers to contribute their worth-sharing thoughts and stories to the world. It is a space for young people and by the young people which aims to promote a strong sense of empowerment and inspiration to young Filipinos.
