Motivation tips for changing seasons
If you’ve been feeling the effects of the long, cold, dark winter months of late and are just about ready for the rain and clouds to lift, you could be in need of a serious motivation boost to help you get back into work. Same!
While I love the winter hibernation months and have truly embraced my reduced social schedule, I’ve felt the niggling of a new season of ideas beginning to sprout inside of me (no I’m not pregnant).
I’ve been impatiently waiting for the season to change. In my backyard I’ve noticed the plants, herbs and vegetables that I planted in Autumn are all lying dormant. At the beginning of the winter I wanted to keep up my weekend gardening routine and continue planting. But I soon noticed that everything was in lockdown mode and there would be no satisfaction in expecting to see growth in the coming months and so it was better to pause and instead focus my efforts on sweeping up the buckets of falling leaves each day.
While dormancy is a natural survival mechanism for many organisms, allowing them to withstand harsh conditions, extended periods of dormancy can disrupt ecosystems and impact biodiversity. —Swedish Plantguys that I found on Youtube
Eventually the restfulness of winter will be replaced by a restlessness as the change of seasons draws closer and reminds us that we will soon be summoned to continue on our cycle of life.
The ruminating winter thoughts and ideas will become like seeds that need to planted in time for the Spring. Now that they have been conceived, they’ll require outside influence, the sun, water, pollination and other species to feed and to nurture them as they build up the strength to send their roots deep down into the ground, while simultaneously begin making their way towards the surface where they will sprout into plants, flowers and mushrooms and play their part in the wider ecosystem.
To me, nature is our daily mirror, a reminder that we too are living beings that are alive, existing within the broader ecosystem that is governed by cycles, most of which are beyond our control— the moon, the tides, the seasons.
While we can’t control them, we can learn to live in relation to the world around us. Rebelling against the screens, devices, automations and distractions that distract and divert our attention from the living world around us. Their intention is to hypnotise us into existing in a monoculture of sameness, endless consumption and a shallow 2D existence that is never more than a couple of metres from our faces to constrict our vision.
But when we are connected to the natural cycles of life and aware of the daily reminders in all living things around us, and that life is a series of cycles, we can surrender to the flow of life. We hibernate through the winter, preserving our energy so that when Spring calls us to defrost and wake up, we can get to work planting our ideas so that they can grow into our new creative endeavours.
So if you are preparing to come out of hibernation or you’ve been on Euro Summer and are looking for some motivation to get you back into the swing of things here’s a few tips of how I’ve been doing it of late —
Motivation tips for changing seasons
Why are you doing this & what’s on the other side of the hard action?
You gotta have a reason to get out of bed everyday right? In the same way, we need to find something that serves as a strong enough pull for us to leave the couch or sun lounge to sit back down at our desks, phones, studios or wherever we associate with work. Unfortunately, the world of distractions we exist in are designed to keep us distracted. So if we really want to reignite our motivation, we have to find a reason that gives purpose to the action. Something that we can look forward to on the other side of the ‘hard thing’.
For example it might be that you really want to be hired for a speaking opportunity so in order to be considered for that, you must showcase your work.
Sometimes the thought of diving straight back into work post a holiday or a slow winter is too overwhelming. But by starting with something small and achievable, perhaps something that you really enjoy, even if it’s not work related, can be a good way to activate your motivation mussels. By setting a small goal and making a promise to yourself that you’re going to follow through with it, you’ll gain the evidence that you can do hard things that you intend to do. This evidence builds confidence and confidence inspires motivation, motivation keeps you going until eventually you arrive at your destination.
For me this has been going to weekly tennis classes. By showing up for my hobby on a regular basis, I’ve begun to notice the improvement in my game and the results are evidence that consistency pays off. I can then apply this proof to my work day and know that small committed actions will accumulate over time and result in success.
Fill up your cup — reading, writing, consuming
In my experience, inspiration and creativity can’t be flicked on like a switch. It’s not something I can sit down and force myself to do but instead comes in inspired ways. Over time the ideas mature and eventually they are ready to get out of my head and into the world.
But before they are freed, they sometimes require nurturing in the form of new information. Often when I have zero motivation to write, create or work no matter how hard I force it, I begin to learn, consume and allow myself to be entertained.
This winter I watched the entire Star Wars catalog in chronological order (close to 200 hours). It was cold, rainy, my partner was away and I was sad so I felt zero guilt lying on the couch for hours on end consuming the stories. What I didn’t expect was how much the films and series would impact my own creativity. I fell in love with the writing style, I loved decoding the meaning, the humour, costumes, the fact that so many amazing actors keep popping into the storylines and the diversity of the characters and universes. Having never watched Star Wars in my life, I can now say I’m a convert from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In all seriousness though, the lightheartedness of consuming content that I enjoyed and that hooked me, inspired me to write with more humour and of course reference Yoda— see my last Substack. Point of this story is that sometimes our motivation can come from being inspired by someone else’s work, conversations, songs, books, films, galleries, road trips. If you’re not sure where to start, don’t—instead go and get inspired and feed your ideas more creative juices.
Make a plan
One of the biggest dampeners of motivation is not having a clear plan. It’s like setting out on a road trip with no idea where you’re going and how you’re going to get there. The idea for a road trip will spark the initial inspiration and excitement, but if you don’t take the idea any further by formulating a plan and nutting out the details, then it’s likely you’ll never take the trip and it will remain an idea that you’ll do ‘one day’.
Plans take time and effort and require you to set aside time to figure out the details and get clear on exactly what you want to achieve, using more of the analytical side of your brain. But trust me when I say that this is an essential ingredient for motivation. Without it you could find yourself focusing on the fluffy details or creative aspects without doing the hard work that is actually going to get you where you want to go.
Part of that planning process should include when you are you going to work on your ideas. Crafting the plan is one thing but making time to action the plan is another. If you don’t make the time to do the work then it’s likely you’ll never realise your dream.
Once you’ve crafted your plan, carve out time in your week to work on it. As per our earlier points, make a promise to yourself that you’re going to achieve small things and stick to it. The little wins over time will accumulate and build confidence in yourself so that you’ll be more motivated to keep taking action.
Break it down to make it manageable
If you’ve been laying low, catapulting yourself back into work probably isn’t going to end well. Maybe it will for the short term but such a significant shift will likely end in burn out. Instead, give yourself a nice run up, take some time to consider what you’d like to achieve for the remainder of the year, dream big and then break it down.
It sounds simple and it is, but too often it’s overlooked.
Aim of the game is to keep your to-do list manageable so that you are motivated to work on it. For example, this is how I broke down writing this blog…
I started with asking myself what I needed to hear & let that swirl around in my mind while I exercised, walked, meditated, and shopped
I started a notes section in my phone and would jot down tips as I thought of them and noticed myself actioning them
I started a draft on Substack with the title
Outlined the subheadings and made notes for the intro
Made notes under each subheading to get the initial ideas out
Started writing a little each day (and didn’t expect to finish it in the first attempt)
Don’t forget —start small, where you are today with what you have! Make small commitments to yourself and your wildest dreams, then get up everyday and work on them, no matter how small the step is. Eventually you’ll find yourself awake in the dream.
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