Man… I don’t.
I had a friend tell me a few days ago that they get up an hour and a half before they’re supposed to work to relax and read or shower or whatever. I can’t even picture that. I get up 30m before work and rush through coffee+oatmeal because if I slow down and think about how I have to work today it’ll make me depressed.
It’s better to catch me unawares so I don’t have time to ruminate before I’m expected to work. Then before I know it I’ll be working and too busy to think about how I’d rather be floating on a cloud while beautiful people feed me grapes off the vine.
Yeah I wake up, shower, eat, dress the kids, bring him to the daycare and start working as soon as I’m back home. My responsibilities keep me on my toes. But it’s not motivation.
I am trying both the ways nowadays. Sometimes I wake up early to avoid the rush and I feel so groggy waking up earlier than usual that I slow-mo the morning routine. Sometimes when I wake up little late, I’m fully wake from the get go that I manage to rush through the routine. In both cases I reach the end around similar times. I am not sure which one I prefer, maybe not sticking to one makes the morning a little less boring.
That’s the neat part.
I don’t
Chemically induced motivation. Just how I
likeneed it
Coffee, morning sunlight, rituals with my dog like treat time. More coffee. Gotta love coffee.
discipline beats motivation. make it just something you do, not something to be considered and decided.
you don’t need a pep talk for every little thing.
Not to fully disagree here, because sometimes we all need to do things we don’t want, but I don’t want to live a life where everyday requires unyielding discipline just to get up.
Maybe you’re talking more about habits, than forcing yourself to live through another awful day.
I agree wholeheartedly. If you know how to build habits, habits can be fun and they can be tied to living a meaningful life! Tiny Habits, the book and framework, changed my life for the better.
What makes you able to do this?
I’m not who you asked, but for me it’s that I have a person and several animals who depend on me. I’d never succeed if I had to do it for myself.
I’ve got young kids. Waking up early is the best time for me to be productive and enjoy solitude.
Deadlines
I don’t experience motivation hardly ever, but I sure have plenty of obligations to keep me moving. It’s a matter of forcing yourself to do the thing until you break apart and die as far as I’ve discerned.
By having long term goals. If you’re working toward something bigger in life each day is just progress on that journey.
If you don’t have any long term goals start thinking about where you want to be in 5 or 10y and make some. Then you can think about how to get there and start making short and medium term goals to help you along the way.
Coffee.
I actually remind myself this is the worst moment of the day. It gets better and better.
I wake up with rather dark, pessimistic thoughts. They tend to fade toward mid-day.
So, again, I say “this is the literal worst moment of the entire day” (Its very rarely not true)
Coffee. I mean, high quality Specialty Coffee. Grind the beans by yourself, feel that aroma, complete the ritual by sipping the black nectar of productivity. It will be the best moment of your entire day.
It doesn’t need to be coffee, or even high quality coffee, but I agree that having a routine you devote a small amount of time to every morning for a reward at the end is a great way to start the day. It combines meditation and achievement, which are both great boosts to your mental health. Like you, I do the coffee thing but I know other people like to start their day with a run or a workout which has additional health benefits and leaves them feeling more upbeat about the day ahead.
Shower helps wake me up. Also gives me an opportunity to sob a little in privacy.
I work 3rd shift, so I’m always motivated to go to bed in the morning.
I worked overnight shifts for 18 years before this job. During that time I only got about 3 to 5 hours of sleep a day. Now the more sleep I get the less I want to move in the morning.
You craft and finish a plan before you walk up the mountain and then stop thinking about the mountain. You don’t look up the mountain, just at your steps and the way right before you. The mountain wants you to worry, but if you worry, you loose. So don’t look up the mountain and just walk, step by step.
Know that worrying about things like this is like trying to solve an algebra equasion by chewing bubble gum.
Wake up 15 minutes before I have to leave.
