What’s the motivation around your goals? Are you working to write the ‘Great American novel’ because you have a story to tell, or for fame and fortune? Perhaps instead your goals are fitness-oriented like Rocky prepping for a fight. Of course, Rocky’s real motivations were to make a name for himself, a life for his family, or to avenge a friend.
Maybe you are seeking some generic and unquantified version of ‘success’, expecting like many do that you’ll have made it with a new promotion or the next raise.
Now, how do you go about reaching your goals? Many artists wait for their ‘muse’ – “I can’t (write/paint/sing/etc.) until the spirit of art moves me! I must wait for it to fill me with certainty and direction; then my masterpiece will spring forth on its own.” The number of people that don’t work out when they were otherwise planning to is astronomical, often because they “just don’t feel up to it.”
Many of those same people never complete their artistic work and never reach their fitness goals. Why? Because the muse is fickle. It comes and goes. Sometimes you are filled with energy and inspiration, sometimes you find energy focused on some other distraction, and sometimes you look inside for it and find nothing. You can’t wait around for some theoretical source of creativity, nor can you rely on “feeling motivated” on a day-to-day basis to reach your goals.
So what is the answer? Planning and determination. I once heard Jim Butcher (a successful enough author that he filled up the same ballroom as William Shatner all by himself) say “Sometimes I’d just rather play video games.” He went on to talk about doing your job anyway. If you want to be an author, you have to write, and there’s no way around that.
Jim Wendler says that in the gym there will be good days and bad days, but your job is to be there putting in the time. Dr. Michael Zourdos likes to coach his athletes with a simple key phrase – “DO YOUR JOB!” On one level it means “don’t overthink, get out there and do what you do every day.” I like to take this as ‘make it happen’, and I think that is the answer.
See, it’s all about action. Inspiration is about waiting for something to push you; action is about you going after it. Brandon Sanderson talks in a recorded lecture about how he doesn’t wait for inspiration; he actively works in his mind to seek out not just ideas but all the interplays he can use in his novels, and he goes after whatever is “the most awesome”. I truly believe that Garth Brooks was the phenom that he was because he actively went after every note. Very few artists do this, but if you listen closely you can hear it. Other singers could be reclining in a chair, but Garth is out on the edge of his seat and probably up and moving around.
In Crossfit a common saying is “get after it”. Again, this is all about action, with a hefty dose of determination. Look at the WOD (Workout Of the Day), make a quick plan based on your fitness level and abilities, then buckle down and jump in with the firm knowledge (aka determination) that nothing is going to stop you from completing that workout.
So identify your goals – get fit, get a new job, write a novel – identify what needs to happen in order to reach those goals, then execute. Don’t just get a membership to a gym or a new piece of workout equipment (though that is a start). Go to the gym and lift weights. Start walking or jogging at home, and do something each day. Don’t just put your resume out on job sites and claim you are looking when you are just waiting for someone to contact you. Search out the jobs you want and contact those companies, look for networking opportunities; push your way in.
And don’t just sit in front of your computer waiting for your muse to hand you a story. Kick the muse out, put your head into it, and think. Listen to what the pros have done, apply it, and you won’t need a muse to reach your goals. You’ll make them happen.