I write a lot about productivity. But productivity only matters if
you have a reason to be productive. If you don’t have the motivation,
then waking up early, setting up to-do lists and changing habits seems
silly. When you feel apathetic, you might have a lot of extra time, and
still end up procrastinating.
Recently, a reader asked me what to do about this problem. He wasn’t
depressed, he was just bored. There was no motivation to do anything
more than the bare minimum.
Apathy is a common problem. I’ve had certainly had motivational dry
spells. While I don’t think there is an instant cure to this problem,
I’ve noticed that apathy is usually caused by one of two problems:
- You don’t have any goals.
- You’re working on the wrong goals
Setting Goals to Combat Apathy
Apathy sets in when you forget what you want. Finding motivation
needs to start by focusing on your desires. Not the goals other people
have pushed on you. Not the goals you think are reasonable or practical.
Not the goals you feel you should have. But the goals that fill you
with enthusiasm.
If I find myself starting to slip into apathy, I try to reconnect
with what I want. I get out a piece of paper and write out all the
things I’d like to do, be or accomplish. These can be little goals or
huge, unrealistic dreams that might never be finished. The point of this
exercise isn’t to be reasonable. It’s to focus you back on the things
that drive you.
If you write down ideas on a piece of paper, but you don’t feel
inspired, you’re doing it wrong. Sometimes it takes a few minutes of
writing out mild interests before you break into your true desires.
When you’re finished the brainstorm, you might not have a lot of
usable ideas. Many of your dreams might seem completely out of reach or
highly improbable. That’s okay. But at least you have a starting point.
You now have a roadmap of the things that fill you with motivation.
Usually, at this point, it’s a good idea to pick one or two of the
idea you’ve written down and set a goal around it. The next step is to
write it down, make a plan and set a deadline. Those last steps are
helpful, but they aren’t as important as having a goal that motivates
you. The motivation and working on a goal are far more valuable than
actually reaching it.
When You’ve Picked the Wrong Goals
A more common reason to feel apathetic is that you’re focusing on the
wrong goal. You’ve committed yourself to a goal that doesn’t motivate
you anymore. Sometimes this happens because you’ve changed since you
made the initial commitment. You were once inspired by the idea, but now
you aren’t. Other times you were never inspired by the goal, but felt
like you needed to pursue it in any case.
I was in this exact situation when, fifteen months into a big
project, I hit a wall. The project had initially inspired me and I was
extremely motivated. But, over time, I gradually lost interest in seeing
it completed. I finally hit my breaking point when, in the middle of
working, I stopped and never started again.
Economists call this a “sunk cost”. You’ve invested so much of your
time and energy into a goal, you feel you need to finish in order to
break even. You’re scared that if you quit now, all that energy and
time will have been wasted. So you keep driving away at a goal that has
lost meaning to you.
This line of reasoning is wrong on two counts. It’s wrong because,
even if you don’t finish, your time and energy wasn’t wasted. It’s also
wrong because, even if that time was wasted, it’s gone now, and
shouldn’t be factored into the current decision.
The Purpose of a Goal is Motivation
The time spent working on a goal isn’t wasted, even if you never
reach the goal. This is because the whole point of setting a goal is to
connect you with what you desire. Actually finishing the marathon,
earning a million dollars or starting your own business are less
important.
I have goals that aren’t finished today. I might achieve them in the
future. I might not. That doesn’t matter. What really matters is that
my goals fill me with enthusiasm right now. Even if I never reach the
end, thinking about my goals makes me enthusiastic about life. That’s
the point.
So, if you give up on a goal midway, that isn’t a failure. The goal
still served it’s purpose. It made you enthusiastic at one time. When it
can’t do that anymore, you’re probably better off finding a better
goal.
Should You Persist Through Lost Motivation?
Even on inspiring goals, it is still easy to lose motivation from
time to time. Temporary failures, a harsh critic or a new project idea
can disrupt your motivation. Sometimes it can be hard to decide whether
your apathy is just a brief flicker or a sign you need to quit.
My rule of thumb, which works in most cases, is that if trying to
motivate yourself results in feeling less motivated, you’ve probably
picked the wrong goal. When you try to get enthusiastic but feel even
more apathetic, the goal is broken. But if thinking about your goal
still makes you excited, you probably just need more patience.
Fighting apathy isn’t easy. There are so many reasons to feel lost
and so few reasons to get excited. But if you focus on the few reasons
that do get you excited, you might find that there are more than enough
to be happy.
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