An internal job.

One of the most common complaints I hear from my life coaching clients is: I just can’t find my motivation.

Many of my clients say, “I want to work out, I want to have a clean house, I want to complete the certification that will advance my career, I want to train to run a race, I want to make time to do things that are just for me, but I can’t get motivated.”

The thing is, motivation isn’t something that we find.

Motivation is a feeling we create with the way we are thinking.

One of my clients told me that she wanted to find motivation to work on a business idea that she had.

Her problem, she said, is that she just doesn’t know how it would all play out. She knows what she wants the business to be about, but she doesn’t know the end result, so she just can’t get started.

My client thinks that not having motivation is keeping her stuck. But really, it is her thought that she doesn’t know how it would end up that is keeping her from taking action.

When she thinks about the whole, big picture of where her business could possibly go, she feels overwhelmed.

And when she feels overwhelmed, she does not do things that will build her business–she spends time scrolling social media comparing herself to more established business women, she overthinks the small, simple steps she could be doing, and she watches Netflix.

By thinking that she doesn’t know how it will all end up she essentially closes herself off to business building ideas. She’s so focused on finding the evidence of what she doesn’t know that she misses finding the evidence of what she does know.

And she does know what actions she can take today without knowing how the whole thing plays out.

We made a list.

Maybe that’s happened to you before.

Maybe you wanted to start something new but thinking about the whole, big picture left you feeling overwhelmed so you never took action.

I remember feeling that way when I thought about training for and running my first marathon. I had no idea (or so I thought) how I would run 26.2. miles. But I didn’t need to run 26.2 miles on day one. I just needed to run one mile. When I opened myself up for evidence of what I did know about training for & running a marathon, I joined a training group, I found a meal plan, and I connected with other marathon runners. I have since run countless marathons.

And the same was true for me when I started a local meal prep company in 2017–Prepped Girl. I felt stuck at the starting line because I did not know how I was going to service 100+ customers. But I didn’t have 100+ customers on day one. I had five. I could service five people, and figure the rest out as I grew. I ran that business for almost five years.

Where do you feel stuck in your life because you think you lack motivation? Where are you not taking action because the whole big picture–the down-the-road outcome– seems so out of reach?

• Maybe you want to lose weight.
• Maybe you want to clean/organize your whole house.
• Maybe you want to complete a certification program or earn a degree.
• Maybe you want to build a new house.
• Maybe you want to switch careers.
• Maybe you want to get caught up on the laundry.
• Maybe you want to start meal prepping.
• Maybe you want to do a million other things I haven’t listed.

Turn your focus from what you don’t know to do toward what you do know–what is one small step that you know you can take TODAY? And once you’ve taken that step, what is the NEXT step you know to take? And if you keep doing that, you’ll find yourself looking at a completed whole big picture.

If you are feeling stuck and lacking motivation and you would like some help creating it, click THIS LINK to request a FREE private session. We’ll chat about your situation and discover exactly what’s holding you back.