What To Do When You Feel Unmotivated

Do you sometimes feel a complete lack of motivation to take action in your life?

If you’re reading this, I’m going to guess that the answer is yes.

In fact, if you’re coming across this, maybe you don’t feel motivated even to read this article.

I’m extrapolating from my own experience.

Feeling unmotivated I searched for insight. I found an article that listed 12 things to do when you feel unmotivated.

By the title alone I should have known to stay away.

Dude: You want to give me 12 things to do? Do you not get that I don’t have motivation right now?

I clicked anyway. I didn’t get through the article. It was pretentious and completely disconnected from the reality of my situation. One of the 12 steps was to visualize my dreams.

If I had dreams, I wouldn’t feel unmotivated.

Plus it was too long. I didn’t have motivation to continue reading.

So if you’re here because you’re feeling unmotivated, two things I want you to know:

I get it.
I’ll keep this short.

What to do when you feel unmotivated.

Here’s on simple thing to do:

Embrace it.

Yep. That’s it.

Simple. Not easy.

At least it isn’t for me. But then again, I was weaned on a diet of criticism and judgment, so my habit is to self-blame and self-judge in the name of a loving kick in the ass.

Which doesn’t work, but it’s now a habit.

So this is a small but huge shift:

What if it’s ok?

The judgment comes from a belief that feeling unmotivated is a problem.

What if it’s not a problem?

Maybe what you need right now is not to read more blog posts about how to get motivated.

Maybe what you need is to be as you are.

Maybe what you need is to feel unmotivated. And for that to be ok.

You can’t achieve for every waking moment of every day. That’s a recipe for burnout.

If you feel unmotivated maybe it’s because you’ve been working too hard without a break.

Maybe you’re doing work that isn’t aligned.

Maybe you’re surrounded by the wrong people — people who drain your energy instead of fueling it.

But you need to do something, right?

I get it. It’s not easy to just sit back and surrender. I practice daily, and it’s still hard.

If you absolutely need to “do” something about this, you might notice what you were doing when you felt your drive evaporate.

Not to blame or judge, but just to take notice of it.

See if you notice any patterns.

Maybe it’s always after a particular meet up with certain people. Or after doing a certain type of task.

This can be useful information.

That said, you don’t need to do anything.

What if it’s normal?

More than anything else, what if you considered that your feeling unmotivated is just an invitation to rest in being?

What if it’s not wrong? What if it’s perfectly normal?

Maybe there’s wisdom here. In fact, I’d bet that there’s wisdom here.

You can’t hear the wisdom if you’re busy judging yourself or if you’re researching how to get your drive back when you’re feeling unmotivated. Or if you’re researching how to overcome a lack of motivation.

Again, no need to search for the wisdom.

You are allowed to simply be without trying to find some bigger meaning or lesson in everything.

There’s nothing wrong with you. It’s ok to feel what you feel. And to not feel what you don’t feel.

You’re allowed to rest. You’re allowed to read a book or a trashy magazine. Youre allowed to watch old episodes of The Newsroom or Law & Order or Grey’s Anatomy for the 20th time. You’re allowed to lay on the floor and do nothing but stare at the ceiling.

Maybe you’ll feel different tomorrow. And maybe you won’t.

But here’s what I know: judging yourself certainly won’t make you feel better. Placing blame or making it wrong won’t help either. They’ll just tighten the resistance and the lack of motivation.

So let it go. And if you can’t let it go, let it be.

Put your feet up. Sit in silence. Feel unmotivated.

It’s just a cloud. It will pass in time. They all do.