Motivation will always be a hot topic within the landscape of career building, productivity, and simply getting the most out of your day. It’s that one factor that comes into play in almost everything you do, and nearly always determines whether you end up doing it or not. However, one major sin that we see most people do is rely too heavily on these sudden bursts of motivation to finish their responsibilities.
Sure, they come in handy when you have to turn in a paper by dead midnight, and you’ve only got 50% over with because of a busy schedule. Even so, these situations hardly ever happen on a regular basis, which means those jolts of motivation you get when a deadline starts rearing its ugly head are your fight or flight senses kicking into overdrive.
And if that hasn’t convinced you yet of the inherent negative impacts it brings, here are some things you need to ponder on:
#1 It’s Hard To Recreate
Firstly, you have to understand that these sudden bursts don’t happen on command. And no matter how hard you try, no one can call upon the motivation Gods and strike them with furious amounts of determination at any given moment. An individual’s motivation levels go through a cycle, and it’s only natural that you will face times when it wanes and when it peaks.
Entirely Situational. You’ve probably observed that these jolts happen when you’re stuck in dire situations, and that’s because sudden bursts of motivation are entirely situational. You have zero control over when they happen, and you won’t always be faced with a super-challenging that requires you to drain all of your thinking prowess. Understand that you have zero control over them.
Useless Against The Unexpected. Let’s face it, no matter how organized a person can be; no one can ever account for the things they don’t know about. And when the unexpected shows itself out of nowhere, your sudden bursts of motivation won’t be able to do a thing. What’s worse, if everything starts to pile up and you’ve already expended one jolt after the other, you’ll be forced to raise a white flag and throw in the towel.
#2 Disrupts Your Work-life Balance
The modern world can get hectic, and everyone will eventually go through the struggle of juggling their work-life, playtime and scheduled rest. As a result, people go to great lengths to achieve balance in their life either through microproducitivty, weekly planning, and holding off on short-term pleasures. However, overreliance on sudden bursts of motivation doesn’t bode well with balance. In fact, it works very much against it.
Since they can happen at any moment, it can impede your rest, disrupt a good movie, and even give you trouble with meeting quotas. And no matter how much you put up a facade to be doing well, the chaos will sooner or later drive you insane!
#3 Bad For Your Well-Being
Lastly, these bursts of motivation don’t offer anything useful to you and can be very detrimental to your health and well-being in the long term. Instead of helping you ease into a more productive life, it sends you down a spiral of madness and disarray.
- Increased Risk of Failure: We need to accept that doing things last minute won’t ever result in an excellent output. It bottles us down to mediocrity and at the increased probability of flunking. Constant failure is never good for you; it drains you of any fulfillment and could lead you down more severe problems.
- Builds Bad Habits: Relying on sudden bursts of motivation to get things done builds bad habits. Instead of encouraging you to be more productive, it bolts you down to being lazier with your responsibilities. ;
What Should You Do Instead?
So, in place of sudden bursts of motivation, you should instead establish a productive flow that jives with your everyday life. And rather than placing your life in the hand under circumstantial motivation, practice these methods:
- Embrace A Regular Schedule: From carpet-cleaning companies to silicon valley tech giants, everyone uses a schedule, and you should too. Abiding by a regular schedule ensures that you get everything you need to do finished by the end of the day, without sacrificing precious rest time. It establishes an exact time for work and doesn’t depend on external motivation to do any work.
- Use Tools To Your Advantage: To keep you accountable and make things more manageable, use different tools to your advantage. Install a team-management software, check through your to-do list app, and use a time tracker app to keep you productive. The options are endless, and you’re free to experiment with what works best for you.
Key Takeaway
Humans aren’t robots, but we aren’t wizards as well, so do yourself a favor and stop relying on sudden bursts of motivation. You’ll find that starting on good habits will help you in the long-term and are much more sustainable. So, grab a pen and paper and get to planning!
