Someone I recently coached had a question that most underperformers, and frankly everyone, struggle with from time to time. "What do you do to become motivated to take daring actions in your life when you don't feel like it?"

It's a very interesting question, because it assumes the person "should" be doing something. Maybe he shouldn’t be doing anything. Relying on will power alone to do something we don't feel like doing will create resistance and make it difficult to access unique thoughts about what to do in the first place. It will be dreadful, and who wants to live life that way?!

Without us knowing it, we think we don't have motivation because we don't feel like doing something. If we don't think of what to do to feel motivated, then we feel unmotivated because we can't think of what to do. It's an interesting brain twist to be in. So, you have to unravel it at its source.

When you notice that you can't motivate yourself to do something because you don't feel like it. Try the following steps:

1. Ask yourself why don’t you want to do it. If you like the answer, then don’t do it. Just check back in with yourself later. If it was life threatening, you would have done it already, so you have time.

The only caveat is that you have to love your answer. Be honest with yourself.

2. If you don’t like your answer, ask yourself, “what result do you want to create in your life that doing something will give you?” Write it down.

3. Then ask yourself, “if I want to create this result, what would I do if I wanted to do something right now?” Write it down.

If you do this, you will have already done more than you have, by only noticing that you didn’t want to do anything and did nothing. Now you are clear about what you would do, whereas before, you didn't allow yourself to know. You may have even forgotten that there is a desire for something and what it is.

4. Then put the thing on your calendar, and when the time comes, just do it.

5. And, lastly, remember to show yourself grace. There is nothing wrong with you. Everyone has to contend with the primitive brain, which only wants to avoid pain, minimize effort and seek pleasure.

Not wanting to do something is a very important part of being a human. It’s how we conserve energy. It's been a part of us since we were cavemen. The brain forces us, unconsciously, to conserve energy so that we can fight the saber-toothed tiger for food. It is a safety mechanism required for us to evolve.

It’s completely normal to not feel like doing what you want to do!

These steps should help you overcome the primitive brain. It has to be told what to do.

Left up to it’s own devices it will choose to conserve energy.

You are not lazy; you are not the problem.

BTW:

If you want to learn how to develop the meta-skill of managing your primitive brain, then schedule your mini-session with me. It's free!

You will know exactly what is holding you back, why it's not a problem, and what you can do to start showing up in your life like you want, even when you don't feel like it.

Once you've scheduled your 15-20 min call by clicking above:

1. You will receive an email asking 4 questions.

2. On the call, I will ask more questions about your answers if I need to.

3. I will coach on the topic.

4. If I notice that there may be an opportunity to address this topic deeper, and I think I may be a good fit to help you, I will let you know.

5. I will explain what that would look like going forward, so you know what is available to you.

6. Then you will leave the call with your problem solved, an understanding of some areas that could use a deeper dive if I notice one and if I can help, and you will have action steps that you can begin to implement immediately.

All in one 20 minute call! And, also, it will be fun! Do it now!

At Estrella, our mission is to minimize or eliminate wasteful performance improvement interventions, improve retention, and improve the employee's experience of their own lives by empowering the employee with the meta-skill to self-manage. We help underperformers become high-performers.

Our vision is to level the playing field for those who have not had the advantages of personalized self-development support in their lives, or any type of support in their lives. PERIOD.