When I lose motivation as an entrepreneur, this is what I do.

Good morning! I’m going to let you in on a little secret: I don’t wake up everyday feeling motivated. You’d think that entrepreneurs are these weird hardwired robots that wake up every day on the right side of the bed, feeling super motivated. But that’s just not me. I could watch all the motivational YouTube videos in the world, but there are days where it is a struggle to get up in the morning and I don’t feel like tackling my list of to-dos. And yes, when I feel like that, it’s an opportunity to listen to my body, get back into bed, rest and recover and do nothing. But there are some days when I truly have to get things done because there are things that are required of me and people who rely on me. So on those days, how do I find my motivation?

Before we get into the five things that I do to find my motivation when I have none, I did want to get into the root causes because this took me way too long to learn, and I’m hoping I can help you with this. 

So the root causes for me when it comes to lack of motivation are really four key things. Number one is Protection. This sounds very weird, but oftentimes I’ll find myself getting really unmotivated when I’m working towards something big and something I maybe haven’t done before because there’s that little inner critic inside of me, little inner voice, that’s going, no, this is outside of your comfort zone. Don’t do it. You’re going to get hurt or you’re going to get embarrassed. And so in those moments, we really have to tap into what is the highest version of myself? Who is the most successful version of myself and how would they act today? And that will allow you to operate from that frequency instead of operating from a place of being scared and feeling like you need to play small to protect yourself. So that’s number one.

Number two is Overwhelm. So we pile up our to-do lists with so many things that it can feel crippling. What I find when I’m super overwhelmed is I really have to go back to my three A’s. I’ve mentioned these before, but what can I axe, which means get rid of off of my list of things I have to do that day. What can I automate? And what can I ask for help with? Just implementing those allows you to lighten the load for yourself and not feel like you have to take on everything because you don’t. You don’t need to be a hero.

And then the next thing is a Lack of Clarity or Direction. So because of the way that people talk about entrepreneurship, it’s like you should be working all the time and busy all the time. But unfortunately, when you operate like that, you sometimes lose track of why you’re even working and what you’re even working towards. So taking a second to step back, pause, audit what you’re doing and go, is this really necessary? And are all of these things something that I have to do right now? 90% of the time they aren’t. So take them off your list.

Then the last thing is Exhaustion. I mentioned this earlier, but if you’re just tired, that’s all right. And a day of rest is just as productive as going forward and doing all the work you need to do. I often will laugh at myself because sometimes I’ll just be exhausted. My body’s tired. My brain is tired and I need a day of rest. And oftentimes it’s a two-hour nap and I’m like, ready to go again. So, and I miss work and I want to get right back into it. So even if you just take a minute for yourself or a whole day, you’ll come back so much stronger.

Now let’s get into the five things that I do to get my motivation back when I need it. So what do I do when I feel a lack of motivation? I do the bare minimum. That’s the honest truth. So I don’t try and push through it. I don’t, I’m not trying to be a hero. I just do the bare minimum. And I talked about this in this video about being proactively lazy and really having habits that you can stick to on a daily basis that you don’t have to think about. Because a big part of feeling that level of just not wanting to do anything at all is because you don’t have things to fall back on and rely on to get yourself going.

So for me, there’s three things that I do every single day that are weirdly my habitual things that if I do them, I know that I’m setting myself up for at least a little bit of success that day. So movement, I move my body whether it’s for five minutes or 10 minutes. Doesn’t matter. I make sure that I meditate every single morning and it’s something that I actually feel a massive difference when I don’t do it. So I’m very committed to the practice because it makes me feel good for the rest of the day. And then my matcha. You know I love a good matcha. I don’t drink coffee. So matcha, movement, meditation. Those are my go-tos. And I’ve talked about this in the video that I just mentioned, Atomic Habits, and part of why this book is so genius is because it really does allow you to kind of go on autopilot with the things that you know make you feel good, and doing them repeatedly on a daily basis without having to think about it.

So picking just very simple things that you know make you feel happy, make you feel at peace, make you feel joyful, and that’s all you need to do. So if for myself, if all I do in one day is move, drink a matcha and meditate, that’s good enough for me because I know as a person I’ll feel good and when I feel good, I can do good work.

The next thing I do is if this, then that, which sounds kind of funny, but it basically is tricking myself into creating forward momentum. So if I really don’t feel like doing something like moving my body because I don’t feel like doing it every single day, I’ll go, okay. If I move my body for the next 15 minutes and get active, then I can watch the Real Housewives. So no shame in that. I love the Real Housewives and it’s my total guilty pleasure. And it allows me to sort of just vege and not have to think. So if I do the thing I have to do, then I can do the thing I want to do. So setting yourself up to have little rewards that make you happy, that’s a good little trick to move yourself forward.

The third thing I do is set a timer and this is because I very much so can fall into the trap of analysis paralysis. Tell me if you can relate to this in the comments. But you spend so much time thinking about doing a thing and building it up in your head and making it this huge mountain you have to climb, and then you never actually do the thing. So for me, what I found so helpful is to set myself a 5-, 10-, 30-minute timer, where I cut out every little bit of distraction and noise and I just get that thing done.

So today I have to write an email. I know I have to get this email done. It is a must-do. It is part of doing the bare minimum for me today, but it needs to be done. So what am I going to do? I’m going to set a timer for 30 minutes and that’s going to be the sole focus. And most likely I’ll get it done because it’s not this big, huge project that I have to work on for days and days and days. And if it is a big, huge project, just break it down into little 30-minute chunks. Because at least that creates a momentum. And oftentimes when I do that, I’ll go over the 30 minutes because I’ve at least started on it. And it makes it less daunting for me to do the rest of the work that’s required. So super important to do that and kind of goes hand in hand with the next thing that I do. So let’s dive into that.

Tune out. So I come down to my favorite place, which is the beach, and this is vital for me to get perspective and to get out of that mindset of work, work, work, work, work because when I’m in that it’s exhausting and it just leads to a further lack of motivation. So stepping out, getting rid of my phone, social media, Slack, emails, all the things that distract me and pull at my attention. So I can just be on my own and really come to realize that I’m not saving lives here. So nothing is really that serious. And it’s okay for me to take the space and I’m okay to take a little breather. And then the next thing which kind of goes hand in hand is I tune in.

So the fifth thing is I tune into what’s really blocking me from moving forward and what is really making me feel that lack of motivation or like I’m not good enough or working hard enough or all of those things, which I think everyone can relate to. And like I said at the beginning, a lot of the times it comes from this little inner voice that’s saying, you’re not ready to do this. Don’t go out of your comfort zone. What do you think you’re doing, and who do you think you are? And you have to remember that if you continue to act as the version of your past self, you’re never going to be able to achieve or become the identity of your future self. And so really put yourself in the mindset of what is the most successful, highest version of who I am.

How would that person act today? What are some baby steps I can take to become that version before I’m ready. That identity shift is so huge in doing the things that you really want to do. I am so passionate about this topic and you can’t tell something that I struggled with for a long time.

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