Can You Run Out of Motivation?
Your possibilities are endless, but it pays to focus
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Do you ever panic that you need to achieve all your dreams right now, or you’ll run out of motivation — or time?
I spend a lot of time reminding myself that going slow and being deliberate is part of the process. I have to remind myself that my ideas are good and worth pursuing, even if I don’t pursue all of them now.
For me, trying to do a little of everything is a recipe for zero things getting finished.
It’s why I try to focus on one thing (or two) at a time, and I make note of the other ideas as they come to me. I’ll get to them later — but I need to focus now so that I can prove to myself that diligence and focus pays off, and that my motivation keeps showing up time and time again.
Maybe I’ll write more books. Maybe I won’t.
But what matters right now, even with all those possibilities out there, is that I focus my energy on being the best author of my current book. Which means I can’t just chuck it in the trash to chase my next shiny book idea.
I have to trust that those other book ideas will still be waiting for me even if I commit to put in more time being the best author of my first one.
How can this relate to your life?
Maybe you’re focused on learning best practices in your job and you’re so worried about optimizing every process at once that you’re losing sight of doing one thing, measuring success, and then moving on once you’ve mastered it.
Maybe you’re learning a new art medium and you’re tempted to quit after you don’t get the hang of it immediately.
What would be possible if you stayed here a little while longer and gave it more of your focus?
I learned a lot from my first book. I learned how to make myself focus when I wasn’t in the mood. I learned how to make little superscript reference numbers and put…
