What to do when your motivation runs out

We’ve all been there. We feel unstoppable…until the inevitable happens. The new thing loses its luster, and the reality of the work involved sets in. As someone who has been providing accountability coaching for over a decade, I am often asked how to sustain motivation, and the myth is the underlying assumption that motivation shouldn’t run out. The truth is it always does. 

The question is how you continue working towards what you really want when you don’t feel like it. It’s harder than you thought it was going to be. You don’t get immediate reward for your effort. More decisions are involved than you thought there would be. Your scarce attention is pulled in multiple directions and keeping it focused and concentrated starts taking a heroic effort. 

Here’s the deal: motivation is awesome and sexy. Use it when you’ve got it, but plan ahead for when it wanes. 

Here are my top 3 ways to get ahead of motivation running out: 

1. Build the habit – as much as you can build the habit around the change you are trying to make. Writing a book? Carve out consistent writing time, when you feel like writing a lot, do it, when you don’t feel like, write for at least 15 minutes. Keep your momentum going.
2. Energize – part of what makes motivation so appealing is because you have a lot of energy going towards something that’s important to you. Over time, that energy becomes more dispersed and you need to be intentional about cultivating and directing it. If you feel unmotivated and unable to focus on something that matters a lot to you, check your energy. Focusing on increasing your energy will pay off faster than trying to force yourself to do something you don’t want to do.
3. Accountability – bring others into your goals. The ethos of going it alone, doing it all yourself, being self-made, is so old and broken. Leaning into community is really the way we thrive. Find your people and check in, work side by side, or meet up. Sharing your goals with someone else changes how you show up. Alone we are quick to give up and fast to judge ourselves for it. In community, we are more likely to go the distance with other people keeping us accountable and kinder to ourselves. It’s why accountability coaching exists, not to manufacture motivation, but to make sure you keep going when it runs out.

The question is not when will your motivation run out, it’s how you will deal with it, when it does. Having scaffolding in place to support your important goals is a smart way to ensure they don’t wither on the vine because you had an unrealistic expectation of yourself.