All too often we think ourselves or others lack motivation. Saying words like: “I just lack motivation.” or “They are just lazy, they don’t want to do anything hard.” When in reality, we are often lacking clarity.
Let’s explore this comment from the book Switch: “What often seems like a people problem, is often a situation problem.” We will first explore this as if we are looking at someone else. “They are just lazy, they don’t want to do anything hard”. When this thought comes to mind, I want you to find somewhere in that person’s life where they seem to have motivation. Once you identify an area that a person is motivated, take time to dive into why they are motivated. You now know the person can be motivated in certain situations, so it’s no longer a people problem but rather a situation problem. What you need to do now is to create a similar situation to help find the motivation for the task you are trying to get them to accomplish.
Now let’s look inside yourself. “I just lack motivation”. Look at situations in your life where you don’t lack motivation, now dive into the why. Don’t stop with your first answer, continue asking yourself “why”. Repeat this until you get to the core. When done right, you will feel it emotionally. You now know that you can be motivated in certain situations, so it’s no longer a people problem but rather a situation problem.
If you drill down deep enough, you most likely will find you don’t lack motivation, you lack clarity. Clarity gives a plan. It gives you the next step. The key to achieving goals is learning what to say “no” to. Clarity adds focus, giving you the freedom to say “no” to things that aren’t in the plan (aka distractions). The lack of motivation often comes from overthinking or overwhelming situations. Action dispels both of those and clarity gives action. Success supersedes motivation. Action will create success. Thus clarity will create motivation.
To hear more on this, check out the latest episode of our podcast here.