Motivation, You Oxymoron

Motivation: So rude it is. Well i am not an oxymoron.

Me: Whenever I look to you for a boost, it works for a bit, but then it just fades away, leaving me feeling even worse. In the end, it does the exact opposite of what I wanted.

“You are overrated; Environment often matters more.”

Motivation: That is not technically correct. Motivation and Environment can not be compared.

Motivation is an internal drive that pushes someone to act and Environment is an external factor that influences the ease or difficulty of taking action.

😀😀

Me: Why are you smiling?

Motivation: I pity you.

Me: Why don’t you tell me what is wrong.

Motivation: It is you who overrates me. It is you who is overly dependent on me. It is you who is not able to sustain the energy I provide.

Me: Aah! Blame game started.

Motivation: No no no, I wonder what would happen tomorrow if you become overly dependent on the environment/discipline. At that time the environment/discipline will be overrated, right?

The problem lies in your approach. The problem lies in your knowledge. Without knowing the root cause, you are searching for a solution, but in reality, you are just switching your problem.

Me: No, This my personal experience too. I feel motivated one day and unmotivated next day. Motivation seems as short-term driver.

Motivation: Do you know the root cause ?

Me: amm, No.

Motivation: Then how can you say i am overrated ? It is possible that the problem may lie somewhere else.

“Have you ever seen a obese person blaming food or says food is overrated, no, because we are educated enough to know that problem is in eating habits, and obesity is just an after effect.”

In your case what you see is just after effect of motivation but you are not aware of root cause of this after effect and due the lack of knowledge you are just blaming motivation.

Let’s try to understand the actual problem via an analogy using Pendulum

Now, take the bob to a height and then leave it.

What are you observing?

Me: Bob is swinging.

Motivation: Why are you making it to swing. It should not swing.

Me: “What are you saying! Gravity causes the bob to move downwards hence swings”

Motivation: 😀

Me: Now what’s so funny here. It’s a Common Science.

Motivation: Like your thought and emotions, Bob is also not stable and is swinging.😀

Okay, tell me why do you need me ?

Me: To get upthrust or positive energy.

Motivation: In pendulum case also, your motive is to get potential energy, right?

Then shift or lift the bob in a way that it gains potential energy and, after release, it must not swing.

Me: Not Possible!

Motivation: Okay let’s use your “Common Science” then and make it possible.

Hold the bob, and do not shift horizontally but lift vertically.

Now tell me, is it having the same potential energy?

Me: Yes, because in both cases the bob is at the same height.

Motivation: Now release it.

Me: Yeah, it is not swinging now.

Motivation: What have you learned from this?

Me:

We can control the transformation of energy. We made the bob not swing, even though it had the same potential energy.

Motivation: Great! We stopped the swing while keeping the same energy. This shows that positioning the bob correctly harnesses energy.

Similarly, how you position your mind affects whether you experience stability or unnecessary swings in your thoughts and emotions.

Me:

🙋🏻 hey wait, wait , We are not a bob or a pendulum. How can we adopt the same mechanism in real life?

Motivation: Be patient. I am coming there too.

Intrinsic or extrinsic, in whatever way you get motivation, you get an upthrust or energy. The mistake you always make is that you shift your mental state ahead of time.

💥 Point to emphasize here “Shifting Mental State Ahead of Time”.

Let’s understand this with an example. You get an assignment and do some research, finding that this assignment can take you to the next level in your career. You get positive energy and a much-needed spark.

You are very excited and start making efforts to convert this opportunity.

With this excitement, you also start to feel or imagine the success that should come after the task is completed. There will be many stories and plans in your mind that go beyond your current situation. This can be understood as daydreaming.

Technically we call this a premature change in mental state. Your present state is today but your mind is living in the future. Imagination is leaving reality.

Now Let’s see the after effects of this mental state shifting :-

As time passes, you may start feeling low or sometimes demotivated. Sometimes you abandon the assignment because of this demotivation.

Why?

Because you start losing the energy you had at the start of the work and are returning to the original mental state.

Your thoughts, which were initially aligned with your goals, start to move in the opposite direction, just as a pendulum swings away from its peak. These thoughts then transform into emotions, and you struggle to keep yourself centered. As the pendulum swings further, those emotions turn into negative thoughts.

Once you reach the peak of negative thoughts, you start motivating and rebuilding yourself, and then you start losing negative energy as well. Your negative thoughts start moving towards the original mental state and are converted into positive emotions. Again, you pass your original state and start moving towards the positive energy side.

It seems as if your emotions/thoughts are swinging like the bob of a pendulum.

I believe you agree on this point.

The problem arises due to shifting your mental state ahead of time. Shifting your mental state or imagining the future is similar to shifting the bob horizontally to the right-hand side.

Mental Shift Like Bob

Even you start enjoying success. After some time, when we lose the motivational energy, these dreams break. And then we call it the discouraged state.

See below image

More Time Taken in Imagination

Shattered Dreams: Actual cause of pain.

✍️ Important Note, In the case of the pendulum, we did not put any effort into stopping the bob’s swing. We simply did not change the horizontal position of the bob.

💥 similarly, the less your mental state deviates from the current state/reality, the less you will feel demotivated.

Less Time Taken in Imagination

Better to learn self-control to control after effect of motivations.

Me: What about discipline or habits then?

Motivation: Discipline and habits form a framework that guides actions and channels energy, ensuring effective task completion.

To get the maximum benefits from motivation, create discipline/habits and do not spend much time on imagination or overthinking.

Follow the below chart to understand how Motivation and Discipline impact productivity

Productivity Chart