The Battle To Act

We heard it every day: sigh, sigh, sigh.

I just can't get myself motivated to... [lose weight, exercise, test blood sugar, etc].
And we get an equal number of sighs from diabetes educators who can't get their patients motivated to do the right things for their diabetes and health.

We have news for you. Motivation is not going to strike you like lightning. And motivation is not something that someone else - nurse, doctor, family member or friends - can bestow or force on you. The whole idea of motivation is a trap. Forget motivation and then guess what. After you start doing the thing, that's when the motivation comes and makes it easy for you to keep on doing it.

Motivation is like love and happiness. It's a by-product. When you're actively engaged in doing something, it sneaks up and zaps you when you least expect it.

As Harvard psychologist Jerome Bruner says, "You're more likely to act yourself into feeling than feel yourself into action." So act! Whatever it is you know you should do, do it.

*Adapted from Failing Forward by John C. Maxwell.