Motivation is Garbage. Action is Motivation.

Updated January 6, 2024 by Renata Fulawka

"You, as much as..."

You, as much as I, happen to live in this reality where we need to do things as part of our life and mostly because most of us do not have little Elfs to do it for us and don’t have a magic wand. I don’t know about you and how easy or difficult it is for you to motivate yourself, stay focus and keep on moving, I know I had my share of surprises along the way.

As I geared up for the brand new year, I owed it to myself to sit back, review things and look at the challenges I have faced through which I was divinely guided, to say the least. Yes, last year was charged with lots of old, lots of new and lots of ‘ are you serious’ or even ‘WTF!’ As we already know, all work is inside work and no one can do it for me or for you. So the ‘curious Betty’ that I am, I set out to look for something that would help me to make sense of this undefined reality fog that I was facing.

Working in the holistic and energetic space I see things and look for things on the brighter side and I believe that there is a reason why we experience things that we experience. This also means that I look at things outside the box and outside the normal view of things. Why you may ask…. ‘because if it was that obvious everyone would be doing it.;)’

Surfing YouTube for information is my favourite activity. I absolutely love it and you’ll be surprised how much one can learn and how fast the time can go by. I get swallowed up in the vortex of endless information. There is so much great knowledge that it is a sheer pleasure to learn and get curious. Try it, you may like it too.

In one of my search modes I came across a video that talked about motivation and it took me by surprise.

You may recall a YouTube video by Mel Robbins, author of 5 Second Rule, where she strongly expressed her view on motivation. Namely that ‘motivation is garbage’.

Initially, when I watched the video I agreed with most of her views with the exception of motivation. I felt her view and opinion on motivation being garbage was slightly strong and possibly over the top.

Then I thought about it, because internally I knew I rejected her view rather strongly. Knowing better, I asked myself why I had such a strong reaction. To my surprise I noticed that my reaction to her video was not because of what she said or how, but rather that she was absolutely right! All of a sudden I realized that I’ve been totally unconscious about my view and belief system regarding motivation. Simply, I never paid attention to it.

Fortunately, I’ve made rather good decisions in my life, for the most part, and have done what I wanted to do, however I never really looked closely at what made me do it, when or how. Least of all, the meaning and purpose motivation had in my life.

As such, it is only natural that some things happened by chance, bit of luck and gut feeling rather than a planned conscious approach to taking action.

The other part of it came from having amazing people in my life who happened to be smart, driven, talented, accomplished and most of all kind and supportive who also had dreams of their own that they took ACTION on.

So simply by association some of their greatness robbed off on me, ignited my own greatness and the concept of motivation never even entered my mind. I either did things or deliberately took time off from being an active participant in life, whatever that may be. And those were my conscious choices.

Even when life threw a few curve balls and gave me a massive wake up call, the notion of motivation was never part of my thought process. A shocking realization, and I hope I’m not the only person on this planet that has learned that.

In my contemplation on the topic of motivation I noticed that unconsciously I followed only 3 steps. To me the ONLY option, my thought process, and therefore my motivation has been and is to:

1. Evaluate & Learn - Pause and take a look at what’s happening.
2. Plan for big picture – Focus on what I want vs how shitty things are at the moment.
3. Action in the now – This too shall pass and will bring me closer to where I desire to be.

These simple points, while challenging in execution, presented a new set of challenges and personal realizations. It is by far not easy as you go through it, however it is THE best thing one can give to self. By taking the time to look at my decisions, actions, shadow side of my persona I learned about the good, the bad and the ugly that are all part of me. This is where the personal development, healing and growth takes place.

Because, at the end, no matter how big or small, the actions were, I have set the wheel in motion and have created movement. It is the movement that creates my motivation in creating something new, in following my dreams and in creating my INNER drive to achieve things I want.

Now I know that my motivation comes from my strength of being reflective, having a positive outlook, being resilient and looking at the big picture vs focusing on the momentary challenges that have derailed or side tracked me right now. And since everything passes, this too shall pass and the new shall arrive. Focus on getting ready for the NEW that you want and practice letting go of the OLD that no longer serves you. Learn, take courses, read books, attend workshops, start a business, get a new job, quit a job, end a relationship or start a new one…. DO SOMETHING!

So sunshine, I too believe that motivation alone is garbage and it is taking action that creates the motivation. Joy, inner happiness and satisfaction are the direct derivatives of taking action and making things happen, which creates effective motivation.

Yes- Motivation is garbage and Action is motivation. Try it and you may be pleasantly surprised. 

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-R

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