As a counselor, I frequently have clients who want me to help them “find” motivation. There is a sense that motivation is some defining characteristic of a person that can be conjured up when needed. I am sure more than one person has been taken aback by my response that there is nothing I can do to teach, instill, or encourage motivation.
I go on to explain that in my view, motivation is an intentional process: you force yourself to do something over and over, you experience progress or success or pleasure or reward, and you do more of it. Motivation is an action. It is getting started and continuing to do something.
In the recently released Top Gun: Maverick movie, lead character and pilot instructor Maverick is confronted with an uncertain young pilot Rooster who struggles with performing at the level required for their mission. Rooster gets frozen with his thoughts of failing in his cockpit to the point he does not take action. Maverick’s advice? “Don’t think; just do.”
A lot of times I believe our thinking far exceeds the effort to act. Overthinking leads to under-acting. In other words, we think our way out of action. We are unmotivated. At the very minimum, our level of thinking and acting need to be balanced if not skewed toward acting as Maverick suggests.
To some degree, I believe that motivation comes naturally when we really want to do something, we find meaning in what we are doing, or there is some reward or pleasure to be had out of doing it. More and more I have come to the conclusion that even within these realms there is a certain amount of forced behavior that accompanies these factors.
Nike’s Just Do It. slogan was coined in 1988 and remains the defining characterization of the brand. Why has it survived so long, become synonymous with Nike and sports, and been ingrained in our collective psyche to the point that saying either the brand or the phrase invokes mental images of athletes committing their all? Because it rings true. To excel at or even do well at something, the absolute bottom line is you have to take action.
What I like about this idea of just doing something is that doing something is entirely possible for all of us. It takes shear force sometimes to take a first step or continue doing something, but it is absolutely within our control to take action. And doing something gives us results so that we can decide to keep doing what is working, stop doing what isn’t, or alter what we are doing to see if something else will work better.
My guess is I have thought about writing this article at least three times a day for the past few weeks. Quite honestly, it has been in my head a lot longer than that. Today, I opened Word and forced myself to write the first sentence. I found the thoughts and ideas fleshed out on the page and I kept writing. I finished it because I started it. That is what I believe motivation is all about.
Now, what sentence will I start with tomorrow?