Getting Out of a Rut

This is a different kind of post.

It’s very easy to watch a motivational video and get fired up and feel like you can conquer the world. The truth is, though I may appear motivated all the time, I get into so many ruts. I get those days where I’m just not feeling it. I’m not in the mood to socialize, work or even read anything.

You see the truth about motivation and positivity is that it’s all energies. We know from the law of conservation of energy that energy cannot be destroyed nor created, our energies are simply transferred. I get weeks of enthusiasm and drive to do so many things and during these weeks I communicate. I talk about my enthusiasm and attempt to motivate everyone else around me. The people I talk to either get motivated or otherwise respond with a cynical attitude. What happened was that my high-energy was transferred to them and hence their low-energy was transferred to me.

During the week of feeling unmotivated, I avoid watching people’s lives through social media and wasting my time. Psychologically, when you’re feeling down, that’s when you’re susceptible to self-doubt and you start to compare your life to other people’s lives. That’s when you need to stop wasting time because you’ll end up feeling more drained than you were to begin with.

Productivity is the key to happiness and motivation. Therefore, on days like these, I set really small goals instead of resigning myself to failure. I set the goal to study one page, read one page of any book, watch a really short motivational video or even to just do 5 crunches despite the fact that I really don’t feel like it at the moment. I promise you I’ll always end up thanking myself later. It’s these small achievements that put me back on track every time. Surprisingly, even more, motivated than I was.

When you feel this low, execute something really small. Don’t stop right there because you’ll only regret it later. Fuel your own energy because everyone else is busy fueling theirs. Don’t give in to your low moods or start to believe anything you tell yourself during that time. Understand your mind and control your mood shifts, control your energy levels don’t let it control you. Discipline is key.