"Why don't you get up and do something today?"
"That sounds like a lot of work..."
"Yeah, but it'll be so rewarding!!"
".... Nah. I think I'll just sit here."
"But there's so much you need to do! Just think of school! Go study anatomy until your eyeballs cleave themselves from your sockets! At the very least go throw in some laundry and be lazy while it's running."
".... Ok... Just let me check Facebook real quick first..."
Have you guessed yet? Haha yeah I'm the lazy one in that conversation! Now guess who the other person was... No, not my mom... Not my brother... Yep. Myself.
Motivation
Let's be real, motivation is a struggle for all of us at many points in our lives. In fact, we'll all fight a continual struggle against the natural man inside of all of us for as long as we're here on earth! The Lord has warned us "the natural man is an enemy to God" (Mosiah 3:19). I needn't really even talk about the issue of being unmotivated. It happens to everyone and it happens a lot, multiple times a day even. But I should specify the type of lack of motivation I wish to address.
We can become unmotivated for any number of reasons: if we dislike what we're doing, if it's too monotonous or too difficult; if we are emotionally compromised with depression, loss of a loved one, or even infatuation. All of these situations can result in us can quickly become unmotivated in life.
But what about those times when, for a week or more, you just feel "Bleh." We've all been there. Those times when for days you're just struggling to do even the bare minimum because of a profound lack of desire to do anything at all. I've described this many times as "I just feel bleh." This is the specific brand of un-motivation I wish to focus on.
The Saints of God
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| Ancient Jerusalem |
On the other hand, wickedness is quickly associated with idolatry, and slothfulness. The Lord has often chastened His people for being idle. "Thou shalt not be idle; for he that is idle shall not eat the bread nor wear the garments of the laborer." (D&C 42:42) That's quite strong language. In fact that's the exact same language that the Lord uses in the Ten Commandments! If we gave this scripture its proper place we would list it as commandment number eleven!
Alright, is it just me or does "idle" sound remarkably similar to "idol"? Think of it. When we are idle why are we being that way? I'm not talking about when we're exhausted and taking a needed break. I'm talking about just plain being idle for idleness sake. We are basically saying that doing nothing is more important than doing something. This is the problem with not being motivated. It leaves in this state of "I don't feel like doing something so I'm doing nothing." Well of course! The natural man doesn't feel like doing anything really.
Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves.
This is a beautiful scripture that I have found to be an inspiration to me in my life. Particularly when I'm feeling down on myself.
Let's break it down! First of all when the Lord says "Verily I say" you know things are about to get serious. This is basically a scriptural way of saying "pay close attention to this next bit here."
He then gives us a gentle "suggestion" saying "men should..." You ever had someone do this to you? They just gently say "Hey, you know, you really should..." When most people say that phrase then I take it as a serious bit of advice. When God says it, we'd all better take it as a divine mandate.
"Anxiously." That's the closest thing we get to talking about feelings in this verse. Anxiously can mean with vigor or with speed. But why don't we take this as literally as possible? What would make us anxious about engaging in a good cause? How about the fact that our time here on earth is finite, and the opportunities allotted to us to do good here in mortality are limited, and if we "procrastinate the day of our [good works]" then it will be forever too late to touch the live of someone we could've affected for good, but didn't? Gosh I don't know about you guys but just writing that sentence gave me a little bit of anxiety for the time lost and the opportunities missed to do good.
Engaged. Entire books have been written about being "engaged," and I'm not talking about marriage preparation books. (Although I suppose that could certainly be one application of being "anxiously engaged in a good cause.") Engaged is giving all of your attention to something. Putting your best into it. Not letting distractions pull you away from something which you know to be important. We are not only to do good works, but we are to be engaged in them.
Will. Agency. Choice. Whether you decide to do something or not is not a product of if you want to or not. It's a product of your deciding to do it! Loss of motivation is hard. It's a loss of drive, loss of desire to do something. It's difficult to work through and frustrating to deal with. But don't let Satan deceive you. Just because you have lost the desire to do something does not mean you have lost the power or ability to do it. Do not confuse desire with ability. You may not want to get out of bed, or off the couch, or whatever! But your spirit is stronger than the natural man. That is the power we have. The power to act, and not to be acted upon.
Agents. Another day perhaps I will speak more about agency. But I'll say this: Think of "agent" as a representative. Who do we represent? What then does "agency" mean, more than just the ability to choose?
The Corporeal Side of Motivation
The Spirit is the bearer of true motivation. He is the one that can grant us a change of heart and inspire us to greatness. That being said, there are some more temporal things that we can do to turn around our lack of motivation and invite the Spirit into our lives in a greater measure.
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| Because of it's spectrum, sunlight is the best form of light for us! |
- Health. If you eat junk you'll feel like junk. Snag something healthy to eat! (No, not that half carton of ice cream. I don't care how much "calcium" you're trying to tell yourself it's got.) Seriously though, sometimes a lack of energy and motivation is a lack of some specific vitamin or mineral. Shovel down some salad and some fruit. See if you don't feel better! Oh and water too! No more of that soda stuff. After the sugar high subsides that'll just push your body further away from the motivation you seek.
- Cleanliness. When you're feeling a lack of motivation look around you. Chances are you haven't showered, shaved, dressed nicely, or cleaned your surroundings recently. Take a few minutes and hop in the shower. Get yourself looking good. Don't go back to throwing on a pair of sweats afterwards either. Dress the way you want yourself to feel! Turn on a chapter of the Book of Mormon so you can listen to it while you tidy up, even if it's just for a few minutes.
- Lists. This is an interesting one, but it's a key I've found to getting myself motivated again. Get out a sheet of paper and write down all the things you have to to over the next few days. Then write down all the things you would like to do. In a planner of some sort schedule in all the things you have to do and then fill in the spaces with the things you'd like to do. Keep priorities in mind. This will get your mind cleared and hopefully provide some things for you to look forward in the next few days!- Service. One of the very best ways to improve your personal attitude about life is to help someone else. It may be tiny. Doing a few dishes in your apartment that aren't yours. Writing somebody a note just telling them you're thinking of them and wishing them a great day. Taking the time to talk to somebody that just needs a friend. There are many things we can do and I promise that you'll feel better when you help someone else!
- The Basics. Make sure you're reading your scriptures and saying your prayers. I was having a particularly rough time with motivation in my life and one day I decided that instead of playing music on my phone while I went about my afternoon I was going to turn on the scriptures. Just to listen to them while I was doing some other things. I did this more and more often and finally I wrote this about the effect that had on my life. "It was
amazing to feel the effects of the word of God in my life more often! I was
struggling with motivation quite a bit, but when I started listening to the
scriptures and conference my life was just filled with so much light and joy. I
was able to put behind me those things that were getting me down and move
forward with my life. It was seriously like I had turned a new page in my life.
I was happier, more fun to be around, I did better in my classes, there was no
part of my life that wasn't touched by making that simple change."
Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged
in a good cause, and do many things of their
own free will, and bring to pass much
righteousness; For the power is in them,
wherein they are agents unto themselves.
Conclusion!
Motivation is something we'll struggle with off and on for life. That's just how mortality works. But if we do our best to act as agents of the Being who's name we have taken upon us and we push onward I know that we can overcome anything. After all "If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31)
Keep Pushing On
Andrew