Going Through the Motions

You may find yourself feeling like you’re just going through the motions in life. No striving, no improvement, just doing the minimum to get done. This can feel like you’re wasting time and not reaching your full potential. You may judge yourself with the idea that not going all out somehow sullies the outcome.

But you would be very wrong thinking that.

Sure, you may not be operating at your most creative, or at the optimum output levels, or in a flow moment, or whatever, but guess what…you’re doing something.

Sometimes you just need to do something.
While your contribution may not have been the winner of the day, at least you got out of bed. It’s better to show up and do anything, then to blow off your plan because you didn’t feel at your maximum level.

Not doing can quickly develop into a habit that derails everything you’re trying to accomplish.

By putting effort in, any effort, you make it possible to keep going. You prove to yourself that you can do things and are able to keep doing things like you planned.

Any movement is better than standing still.
Of course working with purpose and effort to do what you want is important, but in the end it is not always going to happen. As much as we would like to always be on, there is no way that anyone is capable of doing so.

You may want to believe that you are the exception to that truth - you aren’t.

Give yourself permission to try, but not always be perfect. Being able to show up and just do what you can will create the biggest difference in your progress.

Regular action is what matters.
Even if that action is just doing the bare minimum. In life you have the option to sit back and wait for all the stars to line up, have your creative mind clutch hold of your desire to make magic and then get around to doing something.

Or, you just show up, do something - anything, then repeat. Day in, day out.

Which process do you think actually works to finish or achieve something? In case you’re not sure, it’s the one that keeps you moving forward. Even if that movement is small.

Whenever you wait around for that perfect moment, or for the desire, or the joy, or the creative juices, or the want, or the dog, or the kids to go to school, or your significant other to care, you just end up sitting in place. Feeling bad about yourself or situation, dreaming about what you want or deserve. Staying stuck in place.

The only way to get unstuck is to move.

Know that doing will lead to what you want.
This is the piece of the puzzle that you need to keep lodged in the forefront of your brain. The smallest progress is still progress. Doing moves you forward.

In the end just getting in a rep, putting a few words on paper, practicing your swing, making a phone call, sending out an email, drawing an image, going outside to walk, saying no to dessert will build up, giving you the experience, stamina, and fortitude to do more and more, better and better.

Greatness does not happen out of the blue, but through repetition.

When you show up you give yourself a chance to maybe find that groove you wanted and make something great happen in what at first seemed to be the smallest effort.