If you’re anything like me, motivation isn’t always such an easy thing to come by. From little tasks like folding my clothes and taking out the trash to big ones like finally finishing one of my screenplays or working out regularly, the drive and motivation to get things done just isn’t always there. I’ll set deadlines and put up post-its as a reminder, but when the deadline rolls around, watching an episode of 90210 sounds a lot more appealing than heading to the gym.
It’s not that the results aren’t rewarding, I mean who doesn’t love losing a few pounds and feeling healthy, or finishing a project that you’re proud of? It’s just hard to remember what that satisfaction of finishing a task feels like when the task itself is for one reason or another so unappealing.
Last night, I was bored at home and I was about to reach for the remote when I saw a journal I keep to write down ideas for screenplays, short stories and projects as well as quotes and poems that inspire me. After flipping through the first ten or so pages, I pulled out my Mac and began typing away. I revisited my screenplay, began a rough draft of a short story and organized all my computer files. On top of all that, I finished the book that had been sitting on my nightstand table for about a month. When I went to bed, I felt great, much better than I would have felt if I had spent two hours watching TV.
There is a quote by Margaret Thatcher that I love, it reads, “Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It’s not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it’s when you had everything to do, and you’ve done it.” The next time you feel completely unmotivated, think about that quote. I mean should it really take a visit from our family to finally get our apartment clean or a coffee date with an ex to get us to the gym?
