Why Motivation Can Hold You Back
Motivation is a tricky thing.
With the right circumstances, motivation can be a powerful tool in accomplishing your goals and deeply contribute to the feeling of you moving forward in life. After all, who doesn't want to move forward? It's pretty much a universally reliable direction to head in right?
However, the reality is that motivation can be just as fickle as the changing of the fall season, and now that we're in the last quarter, time is quickly dwindling as we get closer and closer to the new year. In the beginning of each new year, many people make their resolutions shooting for the stars. "This will be the year." But things don't always go as planned do they? In fact, they probably go awry in some way more often than they work out, at least in our experience lol.
The problem is that it's exceedingly easy to get overly excited and hype yourself up for whatever you got planned. But the higher the rise, the harder the crash is when you fall. You may not always fall, but for every success, you'll remember those failures too.
As the year rolls by, you'll think to yourself where you were in just the year prior. A couple of questions probably come to mind.
Did you do all the things you wanted to do by this point in the year?
If not, are those things still doable?
Did you end up forgetting about it because life just got too busy?
Do you even care anymore?
So motivation is responsible for a lot of good in our lives as we are sure it's been good for you too. But what do you do when you call and motivation refuses to pick up the phone? Do you leave yourself to sit and sulk, waiting for the next time motivation dares to call you back? Maybe you look elsewhere at a different goal to get invested in but never truly accomplish everything you sought to do.
Letting go of specific time windows for our goals, relaxing others, or just right out acknowledging that something just isn't going to feasibly happen has been a major struggle for us, and trying to get everything we want to do done in the time we want it to happen can so frequently slip into potential burnout. The year is coming to a close and with it is a stark reduction in palpable excuses and pushbacks. The end of a year feels so finite, so definitive. You can't get around it really.
Just this past month, we faced many decisions based on our motivation or even lack thereof and you better believe there was a lot of back and forth behind some of these more than others.
Took on a big creative project for a client that includes something we have never done professionally before
Celebrated Diwali, the festival of lights, by continuing our own traditions
Premiered ANOTHER long-form video talking about how much Overwatch 1 meant to us
Got super deep into playing Overwatch 2 competitively
Finally started sharing food-related content on our main YouTube channel!
Decided on a whim to be spontaneous for one night without work, our phones, or anything tying us down and went out (this a big deal btw and seldom happens)
For the first time in several years, went to a friend’s Halloween party who we hadn't seen in just as long
Visited some family, both of the human and dog variety, and got to hold our niece for the first time!
Watched some great shows and movies
Played even more awesome games
Overwatch 2, Super Mario Odyssey, Oxenfree, Potato Thriller, Speed Dating for Ghosts, Sonic Adventure 2, Super Mario 3D World, Bowser's Fury, Be Funny Now, Fall Guys, Smash Ultimate
But in lieu of tearing ourselves down almost as a form of self-inflicted punishment, we've tried to recognize what is realistic and what is just hype and let motivation raise us up and move us forward but not to rely solely on it to get us through the day, week, month, etc.
Between what we want to do for Nush & Doza whether it's content or in the backend of things, or the many many projects we have open from our freelance clients (who all have their own struggles with motivation management and also is exacerbated by the closing of the year), planning has been an insurmountably important practice for both of us.
As with all things, the whole song and dance of letting or not letting motivation take the lead is a work in progress. It's one we hope to continuously get a better handle on over time. Taking a breath once in a while and reassessing the situation is a valuable skill in the mission of preventing burnout. You can't rag on yourself every time something doesn't go quite right either. Give yourself a break once in a while. Besides, you wouldn't want to be so tired you couldn't be fully present to enjoy the fruits of your labor, right?
On that note, thank you for taking the time to 'textually' hang with us. If there is anything you've been motivated for and accomplished or even maybe not accomplished, we'd like to hear about it!
