I've meantioned it before in immediately problems part 2, but lately I've been having some issues with restless motivation. In this blog post we will explore ideas and strategies that I have been developing for dealing with that problem.
Before we get into it, it's important that you know what I mean when I say "restless motivation".
Restless motivation is a feeling of intense will to do something, but with no... uhmph... behind it. As an example: I have a YouTube series that I'm working on (top secret) and lately it's been gaining traction very quickly despite me not posting for 2 months. I didn't want to stop posting, but there was a whole thing with college that kept me from it, and now I've lost my groove.
Right now and for the past few days I have REALLY wanted to work on the next video in the series. I know it would be fun to make, I know it would do decently well, I know what it is supposed to be, and yet, I have not touched the project at all.
What's important to remember when considering restless motivation within that example, is that I REALLY (and I mean REALLY) want to work on that series. I find it difficult to stop myself, but I find it impossible to start. This is the core of it. You want to do something. Anything. But your body is stopping your mind. Just writing about it makes me feel... strange. I feel sluggish and jittery. I feel impulsive. Tomorrow I'll do the work. Tomorrow...
Restless motivation is cruel and unusual punishment of the mind. The will to do and the inability to bring yourself to do.
First I just want to say I have no idea how common this is, but this is the first extended period of time I've felt this way, so maybe you don't relate to what I'm saying or you have experience getting over it yourself. Great. Keep reading?
I've come up with three main strategies for overcoming this restlessness.
Number 1: just do it. (FAILED?) Just do the thing your motivation is telling you to do. It's crazy, I know, but hear me out here. Maybe you feel restless because you haven't done the thing?
Number 2: Y a r d w o r k. (FAILED) Why would that help? I have no idea, but I think I need to waste every ounce of energy my body has in store. Plus my yard needs work anyways. For you this could be something like cleaning the house, practicing an instrument, driving someplace nice, things like that.
Number 3: extreme excertion. I also think that running an insane distance (like 8 miles with no training) could help. Or hard core workouts or dancing, biking, lifting. These things would drain me physically. It feels in my head like it would purify me of the gunk that restless motivation leaves on my soul (not to be woowoo). Maybe these things could do the same for you?
Like I was getting at with the second and third ideas, it feels to me like I need to drain something out of me. Maybe you feel the same, maybe you don't. Physical motion and productivity intuitively feel like the only solution, and intuitive prospects are the only prospects when it comes to things like this. I believe that to cure resltess motivation, you must become restless yourself. Become the hand that motivation is begging for and act.
Here are the results from the different techniques. As of writing this (23-oct, 27-oct) I have only tried strategies number 1 and 2. I will finish this section once I have tried all of them.
Number 1: just do it results: POOR. This is getting bad. I just finished working on the video I've been talking about and it has not helped. I feel exactly the same as before. Uh oh. (27-oct)
Number 2: yardwork results: POOR. I just got back from doing yardwork and yesterday I drove somewhere. Long story short, this did nothing for me. Scrap number 2 and move on. It was still fun to do these things, but they didn't help me. (23-oct)
Update after thinking for a few days: I may have misjudged the cause of my restless motivation. I believe it could have something to do with my larger goals, but that is a story for another post.
Update: I think I got to the bottom of my emotions. I'm pretty sure the thing that was giving me the motivation was not, in fact, my YouTube channel. I think that it is something much bigger that I am working on. Something that is almost impossible to complete. The good thing about this though is that I'm pretty sure I won't be able to get burn out since I genuinely can't quench myself. Hopefully, idk.