Motivation and action

Have you ever caught yourself thinking about a task you need to complete and wishing you could just get yourself motivated to do it? That happens especially with tasks that don’t have a specific deadline, and even more so if the task isn’t one that feels like it comes naturally.

Business development tasks are one example of “must have motivation” activities. The tasks take significant effort: writing an article, having lunch with a contact to accomplish some specific goal, and similar tasks take time, energy, and thought. If you don’t particularly enjoy the effort, it’s easy to delay it until you feel motivated. So you wait, but what happens if the motivation never comes?

I saw a great quote a few days ago that may bring this struggle into new focus:

Action is the mother of motivation.

This applies to business development in two ways: 

  1. If you aren’t feeling motivated, take some action. It’s often challenging to start something new, but once you’re in process, it may be easier to continue. If you want to write an article, for example, try outlining it first—both as a way to organize your thoughts and as a way to get started with something easier than actually writing. Once the outline is done, you may feel more willing to start writing, and you’ll certainly find it easier to do because you already know where you’re headed with your text.
  2. As you see positive results, you are likely to find yourself more motivated to continue. If you have lunch with a contact and it leads to something good (an introduction to someone you’ve been wanting to meet or a referral, for instance), you’re more likely to set up lunch with another contact. This is where momentum comes into play, too: consistent action tends to beget more action.

So, the bottom line: if you’re feeling unmotivated, do something. Take even a small step. You’ll likely find that your action will increase your motivation, which will lead to more action.

0 replies

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply