Motivation – When You’d Rather Shampoo The Cat

Now I’m going to be completely honest with you. There will come a time when you’re sitting there at your desk looking at the proposal that’s got to be finished by 3.00 p.m. tomorrow afternoon. And you’ve got as far as typing the heading.

Deep breath “yes, let’s go and make a cup of tea, sharpen those pencils that urgently need attention and oooh the cat is looking decidedly shabby and dirty these days, where’s the shampoo?” you mutter to yourself authoritatively.

The technical term for this is called ‘avoidance behaviour’. Some of us ‘avoid’ by getting the sudden urge to tidy up, phone all their best friends and tell them the same joke (that was my dad’s favourite), or do some ‘research’ on the internet. Meanwhile your proposal languishes in the in-tray.

So, here’s the deal. If you are into avoidance, why not avoid on purpose? You see, it’s all to do with your brain waves. Yep, brainwaves. Sometimes, your brain won’t engage. Like the stubborn donkey – no matter how hard you push, shove, threaten and plead. It’s no go.

Even if last week you were unstoppable!

Your brain might actually be a bit tired. So drop down a gear for a day or so. Like a muscle that’s been over worked. So just spend the day doing what I term as ‘naff’ pastimes. E.g. the shredding, eating, telling jokes and yes, shampoo the cat (well, perhaps the carpet might appreciate a clean more than your cat…). These are easy level 1 first gear stuff. Because you know, quite often when you do ‘naff’ things like this you get that boomerang on the side of the head that you’ve been waiting for, when you’re brain has had time to shuffle around some ideas, recharge, reflect and evaluate then it will start to fire off some creative thoughts and solutions quite spontaneously.

Sometimes its fear of failure that just grips like a vice. Ask any successful entrepreneur what drives, them and half of them will say it’s fear of failure. When you work for yourself, more sits on your shoulders and there’s nowhere to hide. Unlike when you worked for a bigger corporation and were part of a team. As a one man band, your peers are often your competitors, more experienced (you think) or perhaps you don’t know them well enough to ask for feedback or support. So it’s essential to get a buddy or a champion who’s not going to laugh or make you feel bad when you’re having a bad day.

Make a start. Set the timer and see how much you can crash through in, say, 2 hours. Beat the clock and line up a reward for when you’re done. So, don’t feel bad, take action instead. Don’t go to confession, or make an excuse – do something. Let me ask you, is there something else that’s been hanging around for a few days/weeks. Write a list of these things and take some action, one at a time. Better than having a vague feeling of intertia hanging over you. And if you really can’t do it, flip a coin! Heads says YES get on with it, tails means you get to wash the cat.

So, here you have it – one answer to the motivation question. Doing things consciously is the key. Consciously sharpen those pencils. Treat your brain with respect and give it a rest sometimes. And when you’ve done that, you will be ready to take action. But, whatever you do, make sure you’re doing something. It doesn’t matter even if that something is done in high, medium or low gear, it all helps, even shampooing the cat!

Until next time

Warmest regards

Wendy