When lacking motivation…
Nothing seems to get done. As a creative, motivation seems to be the key ingredient needed to well, create. Without the muse, we are listless, sitting with empty page, canvas, or whatever medium we operate in. As inspiration strikes, the creative expects a jolt of energy to carry us forward, to propel us forward.
How seldom does it ever happen that way.
Inspiration aside, if I am honest with myself, finding the motivation to write or create (as I like to draw, too) is a rare celestial event. When it does happen to come, as life is apt to do, other responsibilities stand in the way. Barricades stack up. Motivation doesn’t stand a chance. Often, because of this, the writing goes undone. The page remains blank, the pixels flashing on the screen awaiting the next letter to be typed, eventually turning off as the computer goes to sleep.
Unfortunately, like work, creative endeavors require something a bit different from motivation. Creation requires discipline.
Seldom do I ever feel motivated to go to work. One can call the knowing need to collect a paycheck motivation. I don’t. Regardless as to the amount my paycheck brings in, I seldom, if ever, fell motivated to go to work — even as I enjoy what I do for an actual living (in lieu of earning my living via writing).
Discipline is the key. But it is weird how it works.
Strangely, it seems the carrot of having a paycheck dangled in front of me is sufficient to inspire discipline in me each day. As the alarm on my wristwatch goes off each day, I unwillingly will drag myself out of bed and start my routine. Yeah, yeah, work gives me money, which in turn I use to secure food. And what can be more motivating than hunger? But even so, I will continue to argue that this is not motivation. Not in the same way one looks at it regarding those things we do on the side for self improvement.
Exercise. There’s a better example. Several times each week (anywhere from 1 to 3 times depending on my schedule), I run for 5+ miles. Quite frankly, I mostly hate it, but I understand the benefits of exercise for my overall health. So regardless of how I feel, if it is a day to run, I run. Injury is the only factor I allow to stop myself.
Writing should be in this category. Writing is thought; it is entertainment. Outside of my family, it is the one thing bringing me the most meaning. I am a storyteller and a thinker. A philosopher and poet. I don’t mean these things in any way other than what they are. A statement of what is. And a large part (if not entirely) of what that means is in the act of doing. I write stories; I write on thought and on life — meaning philosophy, and I write poems. Again, though, it is in the action which makes these things what they are, not in the simple claims alone.
It is strange in life how the pursuits bringing us the most meaning often are those which encounter the most resistance. Life throws more obstacles in the way of the meaningful things we wish to pursue over junk pleasures.
Junk pleasures are simply those pleasures that don’t provide any real meaning or benefit. They take a tremendous effort to eliminate and take almost no effort to fall back into. Think of a drug addict or an alcoholic. These are the things I speak of where discipline becomes the way forward.
Writing is something I always want to do, but I never want to do it. Writing is taxing and difficult. It’s a mental effort, piecing ideas and words together with the attempt at exploring an idea. Anxious rumination is a good synonymous action.
Who wants to anxiously ruminate on a topic?
Creatives want to create. There’s a drive within them, within us, to take the talents bequeathed to us and explore. While certainly fun in their own ways, the actions of creation seldom qualify as fun, unlike playing a video game, for instance. Discipline, discipline, discipline. It is why I write about it now. Lack of it has kept my creative pursuits limited to the few ever time my motivation matched up along with my inspiration.
Of the hardest lessons in my life, discipline has topped the list. On occasion, I can maintain it, spending effort each day to bring forth some creative work. Where I fall is in where my discipline fails. The moment I stop, the moment I allow something else to take priority, to get in the way, then I falter almost instantly.
It is where the lesson of “don’t talk about it, do it” comes in.
I will end this on one of the favorite things I heard about discipline and working on a creative pursuit. It has been repeated many times by Chris Williamson of the Modern Wisdom podcast, though I forget who the originator of it is (if I figure it out, I’ll try to remember to come in and edit in the correct attribution):
Preparing to do the thing isn’t doing the thing.
Scheduling time to do the thing isn’t doing the thing.
Making a to-do list for the thing isn’t doing the thing.
Telling people you’re going to do the thing isn’t doing the thing.
Messaging friends who may or may not be doing the thing isn’t doing the thing.
Writing a banger tweet about how you’re going to do the thing isn’t doing the thing.
Hating on yourself for not doing the thing isn’t doing the thing. Hating on other people who have done the thing isn’t doing the thing. Hating on the obstacles in the way of doing the thing isn’t doing the thing.
Fantasizing about all of the adoration you’ll receive once you do the thing isn’t doing the thing.
Reading about how to do the thing isn’t doing the thing. Reading about how other people did the thing isn’t doing the thing. Reading this essay isn’t doing the thing.
The only thing that is doing the thing is doing the thing.
Copyright © 2024 by Jeremy C Kester – all rights reserved
Do not copy or reproduce without written permission – photographs and images included unless noted otherwise.
If you enjoy the content from me and this site, please consider purchasing one of my books, or if you prefer another way to help support my work, consider donating by clicking: PayPal.Me/jeremykwrites
Jeremy C Kester 
Leave a comment