E50: Transforming Lack of Motivation: A Fresh Outlook

How about a fresh perspective on motivation? Prepare for a mental revolution as we challenge standard views, understanding motivation as an action rather than a state of being. Through my personal journey of managing schoolwork, pleasure reading, and launching four new online projects all within a week, I open up about how motivation, as an action, played a pivotal role. 

Delve into a narrative filled with unexpected life challenges, the struggle of maintaining passive income, and the juggle of multiple projects. Hear how my "why" has continued to propel me forward and how it might inspire you as well. We'll question if it's possible to transform "lack of motivation" into an actionable proposition. So, buckle up and join me on this insightful exploration of an unconventional approach to motivation.

Welcome to The Positive Voice, a feel-good podcast designed to inspire and uplift through heartfelt conversations and the power of positivity! Hosted by transformational life coach and hope dealer, Kimberly Houston, where we delve into personal growth, wellness, and the beauty of overcoming life's challenges.

Join our creative and supportive community as we laugh, learn, and grow together on this life-changing journey. Subscribe to The Positive Voice and let's spread the joy, one conversation at a time!

Connect with us online: Positive Voice Podcast
Follow the Podcast: Positive Voice Insta

Thanks for tuning in to The Positive Voice! If you're looking for a community of like-minded entrepreneurs join us in THE SHIFT

Want to connect and become a Coaching Client? WORK WITH ME

Dont forget to SHARE & SUBSCRIBE~

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:39

Hey friends, let's have a conversation about motivation. It's going to get interesting today and I hope you have an open mind about what I have to tell you. Hey friends, this episode is intended to be a quickie, so let's see if we can keep it that way. So here's a thought. This is something that came across this weekend as studying for final exams and I'm also reading two books for pleasure simultaneously while also writing several papers for school and I made a Facebook post over the weekend where I was just kind of updating people on my life and talking about things that are happening, how I've, you know, purchased four new URLs since January 1st it's now January 7th, it's on the last seven days I've essentially launched, you know, four new online real estate properties, and some of the stuff was already built. Some of the stuff wasn't, but I've been a little more focused and a little more determined lately to get things done, and so it's always interesting to me when people are like you're really motivational, you know, like you're, you're doing all these things, like it's so incredible, and I often just kind of sit and think about that and I'm like, yes, I've, I'm seeing the fruits of my labor, like I've done a lot of work. None of this happened overnight. None of it came just, you know, flying by the seat of my pants, and it made me really think about motivation. And so this is the new thought I want to offer what if motivation is something you do, not something you have? So people think that I have a lot of motivation. Well, when I'm talking to clients, if my clients are depressed or have been clinically diagnosed as anxious, or maybe they're autistic or there's something mentally happening that is not going to allow them to have the same level of motivation as me, I think that kind of limits the things that we can do. So what if? What if it's a thought? What if motivation is something you do, not, something you have? If I don't have motivation, what if my why outweighs my? Why not?

Speaker 1: 3:31

So for three months, for an unexpected three months, we were very, very fortunate and very, very blessed to be able to stay afloat while I was not working full time in my business. Yes, there was passive income coming in. There were some residual things coming in from like work for the summer. You know that that type of stuff was being paid on like a 60 to 90 day payout. So there were, you know residuals from, like my book sales and stuff like that. So there were things, there were processes in place that allowed me to still bring in some income while my daughter was in the hospital and then, once we came home, I still wasn't really able to get back to work and so, once again, we were just really, really blessed, really fortunate, to be able to make it.

Speaker 1: 4:24

I know that that is not the norm, I'm very, very aware. So now that things are different, I don't want to say we're back to normal, but we're kind of back to normal, right, like my son left and is performing in Pittsburgh. Cherry is probably 98 percent I won't say 100, but like 98 percent better, and we're almost there. Like we have one more doctor's appointment and, I think, one more physical therapy appointment before they're like all right, you're good. And so now I find myself in a position where I need to be back working actively in my business.

Speaker 1: 5:07

And so, as I am working actively in my business, I don't necessarily want to like, like I don't wake up in the morning and go, no, it's a beautiful day, the sun is shining, the tank is clean, like no, I wake up and I'm like okay, some things I need to get done today. There's, you know, papers that I still need to write for school. I have final exams coming up. I need to make sure that I email this population of people. I need to make sure I've checked in on my coaching clients. I need to make sure that I'm giving you know, enough love and support to my Facebook groups. I have like six of them right now. I need to make sure that I am working on my affirmation decks. I need to make sure that I'm working on the children's book that came to me while we were in the hospital for Cherry. I need to make sure that I am taking care of myself, that I feed us, that I'm drinking my water, right Like.

Speaker 1: 6:10

All these thoughts bombard me first thing in the morning, and then I tell them all to stop and I tell them all to wait, and then I categorize what is the most important thing for me to do, and in that moment, the most important thing for me to do is breathe, and that's where my motivation starts. It starts by me breathing, and it starts by me breathing deeply and breathing slowly and giving my mind the opportunity to rest before we take off. And so I, even though I work in my home, right Like, my studio is downstairs and my office is a couple of feet from the bed, and so I have had to get to the point of being like, okay, pretend like it's not Like first thing in the morning. Don't just like jump up and start doing stuff. Like, really allow your body time to wake up, don't wake up with an alarm clock. Whatever time I get up, that's what time my body said we needed to get up. Some days that's four am, some days that's 10 am, some days that's one pm, it doesn't matter. That's when my body wanted to get up, and so that's how we kind of roll. It's not that I'm not a morning person. They said I'm not an alarm clock person, and so I don't set one, because it puts me in a bad mood when I do so. I intentionally make all of our appointments in the afternoon. I know that I'll be up by at least one pm, so all of our doctor's appointments are after two pm, right Like you do the practical things in your life that make sense.

Speaker 1: 7:31

It's not me being motivated, that's me being strategic, and so I'm like I wonder if other people think about their life in the manner of motivation is just what we do Like. I strategically plan out my day. I know how to use artificial lighting, so if I need to take photos in the evening, I can. I've learned that I should write papers earlier Instead of waiting till late at night. I used to think that being a night owl was great and I realized my papers went faster and they were better if I wrote them in the morning. So if I ever wake up at four, am you best believe I'm writing a paper because they're so good? Or blog posts?

Speaker 1: 8:11

And so I set up my life in a way that the things that I need to get done, the things that I need to do, the things that are the most important, right, those are the things that I attack. And then if other stuff doesn't get done, I'm not down on myself about it. It just means that today wasn't the day the universe wanted me to do it, and so I move on. I understand there are deadlines when I'm my boss, so I strategically work my life with ease. I don't stress myself out about, oh, this has to be done by this and this and this and this. I don't do that right. Like I'm manifesting a life of ease, I'm manifesting a life that is fulfilled. I'm manifesting a life where I'm not working 24 seven. So if I'm manifesting a life full of ease, where I don't have to work 24 seven, I'm definitely not about to stress myself out about it. So what is your motivational process? What is your strategic Clean? What are you doing? What tools can you add to your life? It can make your life easier.

Speaker 1: 9:22

One of my biggest issues was I got really, really behind in school while Cherry was in the hospital. It was just entirely too difficult to keep up with the course load while also taking care of my child, and so my professors have been incredible and they were just like just turn it in before finals. And I was like, okay, but that meant I started class six weeks into the quarter. We have to do a minimum of three papers a week, so that meant I was already in the red 18 papers, y'all. I study psychology. I study positive psychology and existentialism, writing 18 papers about humans and why humans do the things they do. That's no easy feat. Nope, it's not. Imagine your philosophy class from college and your psychology class from college plus creative writing, and that's what I do every week.

Speaker 1: 10:25

And so for the last four weeks I've been trying to catch up because the end of the semester is this week and so one of my classmates was like hey, why don't you try? She was like what's your biggest issue? And I was like I'm great writing. You know, one of my papers is not bothering me. Boom, I can wake up and write it. Another paper is more apply things, and so I just talk about what I do in coaching. That's easy for me too. But these real deep philosophical papers, man, they are really hard. And I was like I don't, I don't know. And she was like I'm gonna send you my outline. She was like you're gonna answer three questions, her paragraph, you're gonna answer nine questions total and it's gonna write all of your papers.

Speaker 1: 11:08

Y'all mind blown when I say I have been able to knock out these papers following these three questions over and over again. If I have to have three concepts, I ask three questions per concept. As long as I stick to simply answering the question, my paper is essentially write themselves. My whole life changed, like my whole life changed, and at this point I'm almost caught up, right. And I was like wow, just putting in a new process, being open to a new thought, being open to the universe, showing me you don't have to struggle.

Speaker 1: 11:45

You keep asking me for a life of ease, but you keep doing things the way you've always been doing them, expecting a different result. Yep, I felt that one too. You can't keep doing the stuff you've been doing and think that things are going to change. So If you want to incorporate having more motivation in your life, think about your why. Why are you doing this? Like, what is the end goal, what is your end result? And then turn everything into a little mini project, and then each mini project you can break it down into whatever the strategic plan is to execute it. That's all it is, and I know that sounds easier said than done and it sounds a little oversimplified, but isn't it? If we really just think about our lives, isn't it as simple as doing something different? Isn't it as simple as telling the universe I'm hoping to seeing things differently. I'm open to unexpected gifts from the universe. I'm open to you showing me a new way to do this and to do it with ease. Ask the universe for what you want and once you start doing that, you will realize that you get more work done, that you get more sleep at night, that you have more time to yourself, because you've manifested a life of ease, because you were open to trying to do things differently.

Speaker 1: 13:13

So hopefully this was still under 15 minutes as a cute little quickie podcast. I hope this helped so that you don't feel like some people are more motivated than others. I think some people just have better plans than other people. So, as opposed to being overwhelmed or really really consumed by the thoughts in your head, you can just go okay, wait what's the most important thing for me to get done today and then continue to come back to that thing until you get it done.

Speaker 1: 13:41

If, even if in its simplest form, I need to make the bed, if you just need to make the bed, you just continue to come back to it. Even if you make the bed and you pull the sheets off, okay, cool, but I still gotta make the bed. Or now I gotta vacuum the floor okay, but I gotta make sure the bed is made oh, but now I've cleaned my entire room up and I've done all these other things, but my bed is still not made. I have to make the bed. Like that's the number one priority today. I have to make the bed, figure out what your thing is Cause, at the end of the day, as long as that bed got made, everything else was a bonus, and that's how I started this process. That just that's what worked for me and it continues to work.

Speaker 1: 14:21

So pick your thing One, two, max, three things. They're super, super important that must be done within the day. And then set up a plan to get that done and go execute it. Everything else after that it can wait. Might not even be that important, honestly, it'll be okay. You can wussah. Your motivation is not waning, it's all good. Just imagine a new thought. That motivation is something you do, not something you have.

Speaker 1: 14:50

Thank you so much for hanging out with me on today's episode of the Visionary Catalyst with your host, coach Chef Kim. I am so appreciative of you guys listening. I want to let you know there's a new website. Visionarycatalystconsultingcom is up and running. On that site you will be able to connect with me if you would like to join my monthly coaching group. We do all things mindset as well as building passive and active income streams for women in business, and so that group is only $97 a month If you would like to join us there. In addition, you can see blog posts on how to change your mindset, how to have a new thought, choose a new thought, things of the sort. You can definitely connect with me on Instagram at thevisionarycatalystcom I'm sorry, notcom, just the Visionary Catalyst or you can connect with me at I am Kimberly I-Nees on Instagram. In addition, you can also now connect with me on Facebook at facebookcom. Backslash coachchefkim. Until next time, stay sweet loves.