3 Ways to Get Motivated When You Aren’t Feeling it

It is possible. You can do it. Read on, friend.

“I don’t feel like it.” This is probably something we have all said many times in our lives. Even if you didn’t say it aloud, I bet you have thought it.

There are a few key things to note here:

FEELINGS ARE NOT FACTS, they are FEEDBACK
Emotion is the conscious awareness of an internal state (e-motion = energy in motion)
We have the ability to change our FEELINGS and EMOTIONS – and it can happen quickly.
In most cases the hard part is getting started – not actually doing the thing.

Here’s the deal. I am a to-the-point person. I don’t need lengthy stories and all the back story to get something across. You will not find a lot of fluff here to read. I have many priorities and so do you. We need real, actionable, things that make a difference NOW!

TRY THIS:

Celebrate the Awareness. The fact that you notice you are distracted or not feeling it are great. Once you have it in your awareness, you have the power to make a CONSCIOUS CHOICE on how you will ACT instead of REACTING to the FEELING you are experiencing.
Choose a Different Experience. We so often focus on what we are feeling/experiencing and what could go wrong, that we don’t take the time to CHOOSE TO CREATE what we DO WANT. By default, we end up creating a whole lot of what we don’t want because we let life happen to us instead of consciously choosing our experience. (yes, you have a choice, even when someone else’s choices have unfavorable impact on you)
Take ONE STEP. Act. Move your body, change your thoughts, clean out the clutter. God can’t steer a parked car or a stagnant ship. Movement is key.
Be grateful for progress and choose to believe everything is okay.
Take the next step.
Repeat step 5

“Ok, that’s a great list, but what does it look like in real life?”

Let me give you an example that happened this morning.

I didn’t feel rested when I woke up this morning. I stuck to the plan and got up to get everyone ready and out to school/work. (they mostly get themselves ready, and I am there to love on them, pray with them and share light and goodness – and sometimes rides)
Everyone else was feeling tired too. Good things happening around me, but I wasn’t feeling it. (My son got up early for school to make cinnamon roll pancakes– his new found recipe)
First day of college for my girl and I was dropping her off at the bus. We left late so she could get a pancake. We got there knowing it would be close. (FIRST CREATION MOMENT: I chose to believe we would make it instead of ‘knowing’ we would just miss it)
We were at the stop light as both busses passed us. Her bus stopped for other passengers, we went around and pulled over. She hopped out and got on at the next stop. (CELEBRATE: We made it! God is good!)
I got home and 2 children left on bikes for the Jr High — barely in time.
I cleaned the mess and ate with my elementary kid.
We biked to school – almost late, but BELIEVING we would make it, we got there just before the bell rang.
I had AWARENESS that I wasn’t feeling like doing any of my work today and CHOSE to do something different.

This was my process that shifted everything and left me feeling great:

I took my hammock in a backpack and put it up in the tree after he went to school.
I set a timer for 5 minutes to do whatever I wanted…. clearning messages, replying, etc.
Then a 10minute timer with my meditation – eyes closed. laying in the hammock. breathing. starting to feel a bit better.
Journaling free write of whatever was in my heart and needed to be expressed. This was probably 30minutes. I expressed then was inspired to do some processing on something i’m working on.
Biking home I listened to scriptures in preparation for the primary lesson I teach on sunday.
I fed the dog and took him on a walk.
I wrote my 3 things I needed to do in work time and put time blocks on them. Start going. even if I didn’t feel it.
Turned on my diffuser with Hygge and my study and focus music. (The music is 1hr long and I just put it on repeat as long as I need- my brain knows to focus when I turn it on. I love that my portable diffuser is rechargable and small so it sits nicely on my desk.)
I got clear on my intention of what I wanted to accomplish and prayed for God to guide my actions.
All the things I wanted happened, not in the way i thought they would, but even better.
I was there to greet all the kids as they got home, and my husband. Dinner happened earlier and everyone was quietly in bed by 8:30pm. WOW!
Time expanded for me as my daughter got a ride home, so I didn’t need to pick her up. My dad called and picked up some peaches for me while he was getting his — This was something I wanted to look into and hadn’t done it yet. The kids all pitched in the cleanup and dinner was simple. (**Great idea I had today to simplify even more. I said “go pick 3 things that need to be done and do them.” the house got clean quick and everyone had agency to choose.)

STEP BY STEP — on thing at a time. Take the actions that align with who you choose to be and where you want to go in life. It can shift your feeling and motivation builds as you move forward in faith and trust that ‘this too shall pass’ and you will soon be feeling great again.

“… by small and simple things are great things brought to pass;…”
Alma 37:6

Things rarely go as we planned, but if we choose to be intentional in how we respond and give ourselves some grace and space – they always turn out for our good.

Please remember that you are doing better than you think you are and heaven is on your side. We all have ups and downs, but what we CHOOSE determines how quickly we can get back on top. Adding Jesus in can make it much quicker. Growth and sanctification is a sacred process and journey.

Look for the miracles. God is good.

Livia 🙂

still feeling discouraged? this message may help: https://youtu.be/3n-DOKBffuU

Essential Oils for Motivation & Shift a funk quick: