I actually remind myself this is the worst moment of the day. It gets better and better.
I wake up with rather dark, pessimistic thoughts. They tend to fade toward mid-day.
So, again, I say “this is the literal worst moment of the entire day” (Its very rarely not true)
Panic, mostly.
I wake up each day with an awful headache. I think there’s mold but I can’t prove it.
So what motivates me is: “today I can get a little closer to moving out of this shithole”
It’s not so much the motivation, but the just doing it. Shia has a great video on the subject:
Coffee, morning sunlight, rituals with my dog like treat time. More coffee. Gotta love coffee.
Coffee. I mean, high quality Specialty Coffee. Grind the beans by yourself, feel that aroma, complete the ritual by sipping the black nectar of productivity. It will be the best moment of your entire day.
It doesn’t need to be coffee, or even high quality coffee, but I agree that having a routine you devote a small amount of time to every morning for a reward at the end is a great way to start the day. It combines meditation and achievement, which are both great boosts to your mental health. Like you, I do the coffee thing but I know other people like to start their day with a run or a workout which has additional health benefits and leaves them feeling more upbeat about the day ahead.
Man… I don’t.
I had a friend tell me a few days ago that they get up an hour and a half before they’re supposed to work to relax and read or shower or whatever. I can’t even picture that. I get up 30m before work and rush through coffee+oatmeal because if I slow down and think about how I have to work today it’ll make me depressed.
It’s better to catch me unawares so I don’t have time to ruminate before I’m expected to work. Then before I know it I’ll be working and too busy to think about how I’d rather be floating on a cloud while beautiful people feed me grapes off the vine.
Yeah I wake up, shower, eat, dress the kids, bring him to the daycare and start working as soon as I’m back home. My responsibilities keep me on my toes. But it’s not motivation.
I am trying both the ways nowadays. Sometimes I wake up early to avoid the rush and I feel so groggy waking up earlier than usual that I slow-mo the morning routine. Sometimes when I wake up little late, I’m fully wake from the get go that I manage to rush through the routine. In both cases I reach the end around similar times. I am not sure which one I prefer, maybe not sticking to one makes the morning a little less boring.
By having long term goals. If you’re working toward something bigger in life each day is just progress on that journey.
If you don’t have any long term goals start thinking about where you want to be in 5 or 10y and make some. Then you can think about how to get there and start making short and medium term goals to help you along the way.
discipline beats motivation. make it just something you do, not something to be considered and decided.
you don’t need a pep talk for every little thing.
Not to fully disagree here, because sometimes we all need to do things we don’t want, but I don’t want to live a life where everyday requires unyielding discipline just to get up.
Maybe you’re talking more about habits, than forcing yourself to live through another awful day.
I agree wholeheartedly. If you know how to build habits, habits can be fun and they can be tied to living a meaningful life! Tiny Habits, the book and framework, changed my life for the better.
I’m not who you asked, but for me it’s that I have a person and several animals who depend on me. I’d never succeed if I had to do it for myself.
I’m one of those weirdos who is a morning person. I wake up at 5:30am daily ready to GO. But I tap out at 3pm and go into goblin mode for the rest of the day. I guess my logic is that I want to get everything done for the day so I can just relax and enjoy my evening.
Goblin mode?
Late response, but Goblin Mode is wrapping yourself in a blanket and being entirely useless. Munching on snacks, gaming, watching shows, etc. Basically just winding down for the day.
Shower helps wake me up. Also gives me an opportunity to sob a little in privacy.
I’ve got young kids. Waking up early is the best time for me to be productive and enjoy solitude.
Morning motivation routine? Oh, it’s a finely tuned process. First, I snort a casual 50mg of Adderall to wake up the brain cells. Then, I chug a can of monster, but not before I stir in a dash of crushed Euro Speed—gotta keep the heart rate interesting. Next, I sprinkle a 200mg crack rock into my morning coffee, because why not? And just before stepping out, I inject a solid 100mg of meth straight into the arm for that extra ‘let’s conquer the world’ vibe. All of this in under four minutes, and honestly, it’s not that bad. Life is beautiful… unless you eat 369 pills of Benadryl, then things get a bit weird.
I don’t close my curtains when I sleep, because that way, I can actually see the sunshine (or clouds) when I wake up. Bright stuff tends to make me attentive.
