Motivation is overrated
Before trying to boost your motivation, ask these three questions instead
Last week, over on my Instagram, someone asked, “What is your favorite way to boost motivation?”
This question got me thinking about motivation—because I think it’s fundamentally the wrong question to ask.
A sneaky (and erroneous) assumption underpins a search for “tricks” to boost motivation—the assumption that motivation is something like a radio dial. If only you could find the right way to do it, you can just turn this dial up or down.
In and of itself, this assumption goes, the dial has no real valence, no innate value. Instead, motivation is just some force you can marshal to accomplish whatever’s in front of you.
Of course, motivation’s dial is slippery. Turning it up isn’t easy. It requires the right tricks, methods, and techniques.
It’s no wonder we make this assumption, too. There are a literal gajillion articles out there about increasing your motivation. Like this one, which gives you five “surprising tricks” to boost your motivation. Or this one which lists seven “powerful ways” to do it.
If those twelve haven’t worked, have no fear: twenty “simple ways” to get motivated are here. Or, you could just go all in and learn these twenty-five.
Simple. Powerful. Surprising. And insufficient.
