The Following comes from John Maxwell’s book The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth and while the rpimary example is health related, this example is applicable for any and all pursuits….
We hear it almost everyday: sigh, sigh,sigh.
I just can’t get myself motivated to….(lose weight, test my blood sugar, etc.) and we hear an equal number of sighs from diabetes educators who can’t get theri patients motivated to do the right things for their diabetes and health.
We have news for you. Motivation is not going to strike you like lightning. And motivation is not something that someone else–nurse, doctor, family member–can bestow or force on you. The whole idea of motivation is a trap. Forget motivation. Just do it.
Exercise, lose weight, test your blood sugar, or whatever. Do it without motivation and then guess what. After you start doing the thing, thats when the motivation comes and makes it easy for you to keep doing it.
Motivation is like love and happiness. Its a by-product. When you are actively engaged in doing something, it sneaks up and zaps you when you least expect it.
As Harvard psychologist Jerome Bruner says, “You’re more likely to act yourslef into feeling than feel yourself into action.” So act! Whatever it is you know you should do, do it.
