Motivation: 5 Quick & Dirty Tips to Automate the Return of the Spark

How Distractions Kill Motivation

You cannot be motivated and distracted at the same time. You need focus to stay motivated. And if you stay focused, motivation tends to stick around.

Distractions kill focus. There’s no other way to put it. But stifling all distractions will kill all outlets of fun and excitement. Focus is not exactly an expression of joy, we know that, it is a necessity of productivity and the birthplace of accomplishment.

So how do you stay focused while feeding the distractions just enough to create balance in the process?

Take this blog post for instance. I’ve been struggling with it for hours. I’ve been writing discombobulated passages for hours, only to delete them in frustration.

The thoughts of being somewhere else in the world right now infuse with my itch to travel again and render me completely unproductive. I might as well feed the fantasy, I suppose. I start looking at travel sites. Timely, I hear plane sounds right as I do, it’s a sign I am doing the right thing! The guilt of doing it melts away already.

I don’t know about you but I’ve been dreaming of going to Scotland for a while. Note to self: Tell hubby to find a hotel in Edinburgh and book them right away. You live once. You live now. You need a break. I have no Scottish blood in my Persian heritage whatsoever, and no particular association with the country at all! I also worry that the heavy Scottish accent will trump me and that the wind will be unforgiving, but I still want to go. And not just for the castles. I feel Mother Nature has had a special hand in creating Scotland, the land, the climate and the seas surrounding it, and I yearn to see it.

Two more hours drift away in daydreaming land before I come back to earth to resume the writing of the day. To think that motivation could have saved me at least 3 hours this morning!

How to Automatically Spark Motivation

Motivation wanes. Motivation diminishes. Motivation fizzles out even in the best of us. The largest dose of motivation that fills up your belly like a ball of energy withers away to nothing on a grey cloudy afternoon that same day.

Why? Where does it go? Why is it fleeting when you need it the most? Some days, it can seem permanent and real, as if attached to your physical body. Others, it is so foreign and distant, you feel you’ve never known the feeling in your life.

The ebbs and flows of motivation are enough to drive you crazy! Somedays, it stays with you. Other days, it takes a herculean effort to lift yourself off the ground and look underneath to see just what on earth is the matter today when everything is going right with life. Why can you not get motivated to do the work?

I wrote The 8 Pillars of Motivation when I was on a high from resigning from my corporate job, starting my new business, and having just spoken at Blogworld in New York. Even so, I was clear on not making the assumption that a book on motivation will permanently solve anyone’s bouts with motivation, including my own.

It’s been one year since I wrote this book, and I’ve struggled with motivation as much as you, I assure you my dear and here’s what I’ve learned:

Motivation never leaves home for good. In other words, it returns to you. You must believe this. Sometimes, jump starting your motivation works right away. Other times, it tends to take longer.

First, never ever lose faith in the return of the spark. It won’t disappoint.

Second, I want to tell you exactly what to do when you are in that unmotivated, uninspired state? You need to automate the process of creating the spark again. Your mind is at war and it will take a monumental effort to change it so leave it be!

So start with the body. I want to give you my 5 quick and dirty tips to get your motivation spark back; my only request is this: try them before you dismiss them. Here you go:

1. MOVE yourself: Movement breathes a desire for living back into your body immediately. Movement breathes in the initial stages of motivation. Move up and down the stairs. Move outside on the side walk. Move around in your house. By moving, I don’t mean just walk. I mean move your arms up and down. Move your neck. Move your shoulders and definitely move the legs. Move your fingers and toes. Move your mouth and nose. Move everything. Jolt yourself back into the present moment by movement.

2. STRETCH your body: Stretching is the most underutilized road map to longevity. If you do yoga, then do yoga. Otherwise, stretch your body, your arms, your shoulders, your back, your neck and your wrists. Stretch up and down and sideways and stretch often. Stretch with a prop or without. Stretching infuses love and understanding back into your muscles and reminds them to keep you company. It drizzles motivation all over your body.

3. DRINK a glass of green juice: Yes, I know my obsession with the green drink but it works miracles into your system. It is beyond giving you nutrients and energy and life. It gives you an excitement for life and that can turn into motivation. Let green juicing be your little odd secret to motivation. It is one of mine!

4. BREATHE deep fast breaths:
This is not the regular breathing that you do. This is a special type of breathing and I devote an entire video to demonstrating it for you here on my 10 Minute Invigorator program. It is a fast inhalation and exhalation with sound that invigorates you instantly and gives you a jolt of energy but beyond that, it brings you alive, it motivates you to take action by sending all that oxygen to your brain and your heart.

5. SEEK OUT your best support system: Quick: Who is your greatest supporter? Who is it that truly gets you and your goals and dreams in life? It could be a Twitter buddy or your neighbor or your childhood friend. It can be anyone and that’s the person you go to right away during these bouts. Seek their support shamelessly because they will want to help you. Give them an opportunity to feel useful. Talk to them. Show your vulnerability and let them remind you of things you already know.

If you can automated these tips into your life and your routine, you will find that motivation is not as elusive and that you can schedule that spark to come back on your terms! If not, be sure to tell me about it, and I’ll find a way to get your spark back, baby!