We spend too much time waiting for motivation to hit us before we decide to purse a specific interest of ours or finish a task we need to get done. Whether the task is too mundane and boring to start or too challenging that we’re afraid of failing, we’re left in a constant state of procrastination.
The truth is we need to act before we get inspired. It’s in the action of pursing and learning something new that inspires us and then motivates us to continue. Action leads to inspiration, inspiration leads to motivation and motivation then leads to action and the cycle continues.
So the question then is how do we act before we get inspired? The answer is to think small.
Ask yourself this question: “What’s the smallest and easiest action I can do right now to start this task?”
If it’s going to the gym, the task can be tying your shoes. If it’s an art project, the task can be gathering your supplies and placing them on the desk. When we divide our big tasks into small more manageable tasks, we have much less friction to act and once we start taking our action, the momentum carries us forward to doing more and more of the task. We become inspired, which leads us to be more motivated, which leads to more action and soon we’re well on our way to completing the task without even realizing it.
Once you start tying your shoes, you’re naturally going to leave the house and head to the gym. Once you’ve gathered your materials on your desk for your art, you’ll start to scribble one line, then two and next thing you know, you’ve spent two hours working on something you couldn’t even start before.
We’re essentially tricking our brains into starting these challenging tasks by making the task seem easy and manageable. Once we’ve started, we slowly start to see inspiration and motivation kick in, giving us that momentum to continue and eventually finish the task.
So, the next time you want to start a new personal project or learn a new skill, start with the smallest possible action and let your momentum do the rest of the work.
- Sal