What To Do When Motivation Fades

Motivation is only fleeting, it can’t be relied upon in the long term

When we first adopt a new habit or start chasing down a new goal, we’re usually highly motivated.

This feels fantastic.

It’s a natural high, and it’s bolstered by seeing some initial results immediately.

But after a while, we start to plateau and motivation fades. We no longer see results at the same pace, and an annoying little voice appears in our minds.

This voice is our Inner Lawyer — the logical part of our mind that attempts to rationalize our emotional desires, and tempt us into disrupting our momentum.

It may sound something like this:

“You deserve a break!”

“Just one cookie won’t hurt…”

“You haven’t had a cheat day in a while…”

The Lawyer rationalizes bad decisions, and it is dangerous.

It’s dangerous because if we listen to it, we will begin to believe that individual decisions are not important.

Decisions are important — we are the amalgamation of the hundreds of thousands of seemingly small decisions we’ve made throughout our lives.

The decision to skip the gym, to watch Netflix instead of writing, to stay up late drinking too much — if we listen to our inner lawyer we will begin to believe that these decisions aren’t harmful.

The voice is wrong.

These decisions are battles.

They are the battles in the War for your Life.

I know that sounds extreme, but it’s true.

Every day, someone wakes up and comes to the sickening realization that they don’t like their life.

Most of the people who experience this aren’t in this situation because of a sudden tragedy; it’s a result of compounding bad decisions.

It happens from losing more battles than they’ve won over time.

Slowly but surely, they have been losing the War through seemingly insignificant little battles that compound in the background of their lives.

And then suddenly it’s no longer easy to turn away from, and the state of the War becomes obvious.

And here’s the thing — there is no ceasefire in the War for Your Life. It is relentless, and you are either winning or you are losing.

You’re either making your life better, or you’re making your life worse.

There is no third option.

When you hear your Lawyer encouraging you to submit to a battle, be honest about what is really happening.

Remind yourself that the progress that you make in your time here on Earth will be determined by how you perform in the hundreds of thousands of small battles that make up the War for your Life.

When motivation fades, don’t delude yourself by saying that these decisions aren’t important.

When motivation fades, ask yourself:

“Am I going to do what will make my life worse, or will I do what will make my life better?”