The Ups and Downs of Motivation: When to Fight It and When to Embrace It
You’ve probably already noticed that you lose productivity at certain times of the day, week, month — year.
It’s natural.
When you start a new project, you’re in the “infatuation” stage. You’re thinking about all the tremendous possibilities ahead of you.
But then, reality sets in. You start thinking about all the tremendous steps in front of you — and you crash.
Sometimes you never recover from that crash.
Other times, you pick yourself up and you forge onward. But from then on, sometimes your motivation will rise, and sometimes it will fall.
What’s important about these tides is not only that it’s a natural process, but that it’s a process that can’t be defeated. You actually need to occasionally pull back on your productivity to build the energy to push again.
So, how do you know when you need a boost — and how do you know when you need to rest?
If you’ve been working hard already, it’s time to relax. You’re burning yourself out. Take a look at your timeline and reframe. Maybe you’ve been too ambitious.
No one can just go, go, go forever.
On the other hand, if you’ve already been resting, relaxing, and just can’t find the motivation to continue — that’s when you’ve got to push ahead.
As you start to embrace the ebbs and flows of your productivity journey, you’ll find that it becomes far easier to manage. You’ll recognize when you need a break vs. when you need a kick in the pants — and you’ll stop blaming yourself for the times when you just need to sit back and watch the tides.
And rather than crashing, you’ll be able to think realistically about the journey ahead.
As you do this, you’ll find that you don’t push yourself as hard, and you don’t crash as hard either. The natural ebbs and flows of productivity will still exist, but they will be much more even and much more controlled.
