Mood-Proof Your Work: Don’t Let Lack of Motivation Keep You From Getting Started

Have you ever said to yourself, “I want to start this project (write this book, launch this business)—I just need some more motivation!” And then didn’t do anything? Find out how to kick off the very thing you’re dreaming of doing, and then let motivation follow you, like the dog it is.

It’s easy to believe that the people who do the things they dream of, the things we would love to do, are simply more motivated than you. You think, If I just had more motivation I would…write the book, apply for the grant, launch my new business, etc, etc.

What if you didn’t need motivation to begin?

We give motivation way, way more credit than it deserves. We think of it as requisite, as fuel, as the way to get off your butt and do stuff.

Motivation may, when it hits on occasion, provide a single spark. But you’ve got to rub the sticks together. And then—it’s on you to keep the fire going.

So what’s one project you have been thinking about, envisioning, imagining? You can literally see yourself doing it, but you feel like it’s over there and you have to wait for the bus to pick you up here and take you to it.

“I really want to ________.”

How to Get Motivated When You’re Not in the Mood

1 | Get annoyed.

Turns out, you don’t have to have a big vision, big commitment, or big capacity to start taking action. You have to be just frustrated enough with how things are right now.

For instance: One day, I find myself at eye level with the TV console and it’s so dusty it looks like it snowed there. Gross. I break out the spray bottle and towels and proceed to move 200 pounds of hand weights out of the way. Easy, two-minute task. But…wow! That looks great. I like that!

Next thing I know, I’m wiping out kitchen cabinets sticky with balsamic vinegar and coffee grinds.

What? Am I now literally going through a box of old wires? Why, yes. Yes I am.

I didn’t wake up motivated to clean. Had no plans to clean. I just looked around and found one small action that made me say, “I’m so sick and tired of this. I will not tolerate this another moment.”

What I wanted, I realized, wasn’t to clean the entire apartment, necessarily. But the positive energy I felt from cleaning one small thing activated the motivation to do more. Of course I wanted to be in a place that felt clean and clear of clutter. I wanted to be proud of my home and comfortable in it.

But it was my mounting intolerance of that single dust pile that made it urgent-not-urgent, like the day you realize you need a haircut and simply cannot wait til next Saturday to get it done.

(Wonder what your passion is? Consider what you hate, instead.)

Here’s the catch: If you numb yourself to the stuff that bothers you or talk yourself into being ok with NOT pursuing what you want, you could end up tolerating conditions you don’t want, and allowing them to continue. Unless you bear the brunt of your own discomfort and frustration, things will remain status quo.

Living in a space (literal or emotional) where you’re not totally OK with it but deciding to tolerate it is not a comfort zone. Because you’re not comfortable. Denying that you’re uncomfortable is not the same as comfort.

So get super aware. What bothers you about NOT doing this thing, pursuing this project, taking your shot? What are you tired of putting off, talking yourself out of?

2 | Raise your standards (instead of setting goals).

Goal setting? Also overrated. We imagine that having a goal will be motivating. But in fact, all it does is set you up for momentary success.

The second you cross a finish line after running 26 miles is no doubt an amazing achievement. Then it’s over. You’re done. Chances are, if this experience changes you, it’s more likely due to the work you did to get there. Anyone can literally show up at a finish line and walk across it. The difference is, you earned it.

I’ll give you another example, one I can actually relate to.

People think the moment their book comes out, their life will change. While I can vouch for the fact that it feels pretty cool to hold a book you wrote in your hands, it didn’t mean I was “all set now” or that my life changed on a dime. It didn’t change in that one moment, but in all the moments, leading up to and after it.

The problem is that goals narrow our focus to one thing, so that every day you don’t achieve it, you have by definition failed to achieve it. And then when you have, you need a new goal. You spend 99% of your time not achieving it, and 1% achieving it.

Being solely goal focused is a linear, and limited, life. Not to mention that if you hate the process of getting there, that’s not much of a life.

Why limit yourself? Because if you’re married to a single outcome, you may also believe your motivation, and progress, will depend on your life following that single imagined path. And it likely won’t happen the way you expect.

I’d rather raise my own standards for living overall than check one thing off a list.

Cleaning my apartment stem to stern was the raising of a standard. I wanted to look around and see order, calm. I wanted to be a person who lets go of old things, who has extra space and plenty of room to grow (which in New York City, in particular, is a true luxury).

3 | Swap mood for momentum.

Motivation isn’t gas in the tank; it’s a metric of progress. It’s less about what starts you, and more about what keeps you going. And nothing motivates like … results.

Momentum is far more effective, and it’s self-generated. It’s what happens when you allow action to ignite more action. This also builds more confidence—which, like motivation, isn’t always something you start with. The more action you take, the more evidence you have of progress, and the more confident you become.

After I cleaned out every cabinet in my kitchen, I took to the closet like a beast. Tore through the hangers and drawers, and tossed bags of stuff, plus 15 pairs of shoes. I got addicted to that feeling, the lightness that followed when you make room.

Where can you give yourself the chance to establish a pattern and witness progress?

James Clear says it best in his uber-bestseller Atomic Habits: “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”

Because this is all for naught if I let junk and dust bunnies pile back up again. But I find the ongoing maintenance, or actions, don’t require much motivation at all because you’re never starting from 0; you’re pedaling a little to keep the wheels turning.

Give me the phone right now and I’ll call all the writers I know. And I will bet you $20 that 90% of them are not writing at this moment and do not feel like it. But they get it done — not just because there’s a deadline (which helps), but also because they make the time to do it, and treat it like a job, even when they’re not getting paid to do it.

In her book The Right to Write, Julia Cameron says, “Being in the mood to write, like being in the mood to make love, is a luxury that isn’t necessary in a long-term relationship.” But when you start, the drive takes over.

So I have done two things that make my work mood-proof:

• I have a ritual. I make my coffee, and sit at my desk with nothing but my notebook and whatever I’m reading. This is a fairly new ritual. I said to myself, if this is important enough to be an actual part of your life, then it has to live somewhere. And so I gave it an address: And it’s at this desk no later than 6:00am.
• I write even if I have no idea what to write about. I trust that when I turn on the taps, the water comes, and I’ve yet to see that not happen.

(Read more about how to write your way to genius.)

The point: The things that are worth doing may not light you up every second with lightning bolts of inspiration. But if you don’t wait for it, and do it anyway, the work itself can have a flywheel effect, where the act of writing as you engage with it begins to generate itself, seemingly with less of your will required — and even more so if you get the hell out of the way.

That is one piece of feedback people share with me all the time when I give them a timed prompt in one of my workshops. They say, “I cannot believe I wrote all that, and I’m surprised at how much detail came out that I hadn’t thought of.” Correct. Once they opened the taps, the water poured out.

(P.S. If you want to learn more about our drop-in writing workshops, check out The Studio! Multiple sessions every week, come when you can, cancel anytime!)