Having no motivation is frustrating.
And especially if you want to get going but can’t get motivated to take action.
So what do you do if you want to get motivated – but can’t?
In this article, you will learn about the 15 reasons that cause a lack of motivation. That way, you can tackle the specific issue.
Here they are:
- Not knowing what you want
- Lacking clarity
- Unrealistic expectations
- You care about opinions
- ‘No motivation’ is part of your identity
- Setting the bar too low
- Setting the bar too high
- Feeling overwhelmed
- Motivation is your primary fuel source
- You wait for the perfect moment
- You experience fear and self-doubt
- Lacking commitment
- Fixed mindset
- Procrastination
- Mental health issues
So let’s dive in!
Reason 1: Not knowing what you want
Do you have a vision or goals for where you want to go? If not, that may be why you have no motivation.
Having something to work towards is exciting.
It focuses your energy on something fulfilling and meaningful. And that will motivate you.
So how can you figure out what you want – even if you have no idea at all?
The solution is simple: you need to try stuff.
Are you struggling to do that? Start with something easy, like watching YouTube videos about topics that interest you.
You can even do that from the comfort of your bed.
Just make sure to watch and explore different topics. Start with what interests you. But also, give things a try that you wouldn’t normally do.
Then, increasingly start doing stuff that requires more effort.
Here are some ideas, sorted by the effort (low to high):
- Watch something new that sounds interesting to you. You can check out some free documentaries on YouTube.
- Start reading blogs about a variety of different topics.
- Create a bucket list with things you would like to do in your lifetime – both small and large.
- Read a couple of different non-fiction books.
- Learn some new skills through courses on Udemy.
- Join a networking event in your area (on a specific topic).
- Sign up for open days for new jobs to explore options.
- Try out a new sport. For example, I would’ve never started bouldering, but I got into it because of some friends.
Of course, this is only a fraction of things that you could try. But the main idea is to become curious about the world and all of the possibilities in it.
Reason 2: Lacking clarity
Do you lack motivation even when you know what you desire?
Perhaps you lack clarity.
Do you know what you want? Or are your desires influenced by the outside world, like wanting a big house, expensive cars, or to travel around the world.
Nothing wrong with any of that.
But do your ambitions and desires ignite an inner fire?
If not, you might want to reconsider your goals.
Gaining clarity is not something you only do once. Instead, self-awarness is something you should practice habitually.
So ask yourself right now:
- What do you want exactly?
- Why do you desire that?
- And do the answers ignite your inner fire?
If you need some ideas to get better answers until you feel inspired, here’s what you can do:
- Set aside time to regain clarity. Wonder about various questions, like the life goals you would like to achieve.
- Additionally, you can find your purpose in life.
- Set (tiny) specific goals that motivate you into action.
- Ask yourself why you desire the things you do – and follow up the answers by asking why 5 times.
- Explore new things, like mentioned in the previous reason. New experiences can lead to potential breakthroughs.
- Go for a long walk by yourself. And wonder about the things you want and why.
- Journal about it. Writing stimulates creativity, which may be a helpful method for you.
Getting clarity is a process that takes time and never really ends. Life is too dynamic. And your interests change over time.
In other words, it will never be perfect.
Reason 3: Unrealistic expectations
Do you set goals but feel overwhelmed and frustrated when you go after them?
Then you may suffer from unrealistic expectations.
It’s a common occurrence. We set ambitious goals. But when we don’t see results fast enough, we tend to give up.
Unrealistic expectations lead to a lack of motivation.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with setting big and hairy goals. And I’m encouraging you to do so.
But you also need more realistic goals that support your audacious ones. These are the kind of goals that motivate you into action.
Besides setting better goals, here’s how you can manage your expectations:
- Journal about your goals and the progress you make.
- Write down your expectations to navigate them more effectively.
- Look for evidence to confirm that many others did achieve what you aspire to do.
- Stay flexible in times of adversity and setbacks. See these as learning opportunities and challenges.
- Reflect on your goals – and do so often. Because you may lose motivation when you feel disconnected from your goals.
- Focus on progress and growth. The journey is more vital than the result. Besides, the results will come faster when you focus on the process.
Set challenging goals but don’t let your expectations ruin your progression. Often check in with yourself and learn as you go.
Reason 4: You care about opinions
Do you live the way your heart desires? Or do you live your life the way you believe you should?
For most people, it’s the former.
Think about teenagers who decide on what to study next. How often do they choose the thing they believe they have to do?
Perhaps it’s because of parental pressure.
Or the pressure of society.
Or simply the primal urge to impress others, often through maximizing wealth and status – as quickly as possible.
Here’s a good quote about it:
Too many people spend money they haven’t earned to buy things they don’t want to impress people they don’t like.
– Will Rogers
When you let external factors influence your actions, you’re sacrificing happiness.
Instead, start within.
Do you enjoy what you do most of the time?
If not, you must rethink your path in life. Seriously consider your options. After all, success and happiness start inside yourself.
And external without internal success is meaningless.
Put happiness first.
Here’s how:
- Ask yourself questions – and question the answers.
- What do you want to be doing?
- How can you embrace your fullest potential?
- What would you do if you could do anything?
- What would you regret not doing in your life?
- Create a bucket list of all things you would like to do.
- Identify what holds you back and then find ways around it.
- Set goals and then break them up into tiny parts. All change starts by taking small steps consistently.
- Practice courage by following your heart every day. In other words, take action on your goals.
And if you don’t know what you want? Then become curious and try some new things, like discussed in the first reason.
Reason 5: ‘No motivation’ is part of your identity
In this article about self-discipline, we discussed the importance of your identity in motivation.
In short, who you believe you are, determines your actions. For example, do you believe that you’re lazy and unmotivated? Then you will think, act, and feel that way.
And it becomes a self-fulling prophecy.
So if you want to change your actions, you must change how you view yourself. In other words: decide who you want to be.
Here are some steps to change your identity:
- Figure out who you want to become. Think about what or who inspires you, for example.
- Figure out how that person behaves. For example, copy the actions of someone you admire. Or imagine how someone with the traits you desire thinks and acts.
- Set big and small goals in this area. Focus on the change you seek.
- Start taking tiny steps. Small achievements provide confidence and evidence that reinforces your new identity.
- Make the challenge harder as time progresses. Increase task complexity as your comfort zone expands.
- But reduce the challenge if it’s too complicated. Do not let your ego get in the way. Instead, adjust the task and make it easier to develop your skills and confidence.
Take these steps, and you will think, feel, and behave like the person you’re trying to become. Learn this skill, and you will destroy your lack of motivation forever.
Reason 6: Setting the bar too low
Tasks that are too easy will turn into boredom, whether in your work, hobbies, sports, or anything else.
And when you get bored, you will lose motivation.
Mihaly explains this concept in his book Flow. He states that you achieve peak performance (and happiness) when doing challenging things.
Preferably, you should aim to set the bar a little higher than you think you can achieve. It’s okay if this scares you a little bit.
Setting the bar high is best for one simple reason:
Even if you don’t achieve your goals, a high bar stretches your capabilities. And that will allow you to accomplish more than setting the bar too low.
But why do you set the bar too low?
- Do you fear failure?
- Experience self-doubt?
- Unsure how to achieve it?
- Or how to get started?
Well, fortunately, there are some simple ways to overcome most of these issues:
- Think about what excites you the most. What do you already like to do and learn about? Start there.
- Set one big goal in that area for yourself. That could be a side hustle, sports, personal development, or professional development goal.
- Break that goal up into smaller goals. Set yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily ones.
- Take action on your goals every day. Easily achieve them? Make them harder. And vice versa. Review your other goals, like the weekly ones, in the same way.
In conclusion, it’s good to set challenging goals that require you to stretch outside your comfort zone. It challenges you, combats boredom, and makes time go faster.
But be careful not to make them too challenging.
Reason 7: Setting the bar too high
In the same book, Flow, Mihaly also explains how too challenging tasks lead to a loss of motivation.
The ideal situation is when a goal is challenging but achievable. And achievable means that you believe in your ability to accomplish it.
Here’s why:
If you do not believe that you can achieve it, you won’t even bother trying. And therefore, have no motivation.
Here’s a simple approach you can use to set challenging yet achievable goals:
- Start by discovering what you feel passionate about.
- Set one big goal in that area that scares you a bit.
- Then, break up your goal into smaller parts.
- Finally, set realistic goals – both daily and weekly ones.
- Take action on these goals and achieve them.
This method helps you set BIG goals that inspire you – while your daily focus lies on the achievable ones.
Reason 8: Feeling overwhelmed
Feeling overwhelmed often leads to a lack of motivation. And there are two main reasons for this:
- Too challenging tasks.
- Too many tasks.
Experiencing both of them for too long leads to stress, anxiety, and overwhelm. And if that continues, it can even lead to burnout.
If it’s work-related, it’s crucial to let your boss know. They must know how you feel. And they should help you to find a strategy to reduce stress.
Because if not, you risk burning yourself out.
Even if you have a boss that won’t listen to you, you should tell them. Then you at least have the peace of mind knowing that you did all you could.
But what if you experience no motivation at home?
Then the first step is self-awareness. Why do you feel burned out?
- Do you try to do too many things?
- Seek to please too many people?
- Bring work stress back home?
Whatever the reason is, the remedy is almost always to reduce the cause, even if it’s only temporary. And start spending more of your time doing things that make you feel good.
Including self-care:
- Read a book.
- Take a bath.
- Get out in nature.
- Get yourself a massage.
- Clean up your diet and eat nutritious foods.
- Or even take a holiday and go somewhere.
When you feel overwhelmed, the best thing to do is cut back and take it easy. Spend time on yourself first.
Once you start feeling better, slowly get back to the activities you were doing before. And keep monitoring how you feel.
Reason 9: Motivation as your primary fuel source
Motivation is great. It can kick-start your adventure in learning new skills, gaining knowledge, and attaining experiences.
When motivation is at its peak levels, you feel excited. For me, this always happens after I set goals.
I feel excited to work towards them.
And I use that spur of motivation to get started.
But at some point, that initial rush wears off. Challenges arise. And staying on track becomes more difficult.
When that happens, you can’t rely on motivation anymore.
Instead, you need habits.
Habits are most challenging to build at the start. But once you develop a new habit, it becomes easier to be consistent.
So what’s a good strategy here?
- Set big goals that inspire you deeply.
- Set short-term goals that focus on the process, not the outcome. For example, set a goal to make 10 phone calls instead of making 2 sales today.
- Use willpower strategically by taking action when you experience most of it. For most people, that’s the morning.
- Commit by making sure that you do what you tell yourself you’re going to do every day. Try not to miss a single day.
- Treat yourself when you take action.
The key is that you take action – and do so often.
Once you form a habit, the behavior becomes almost automatic, even when you have no motivation.
Reason 10: You wait for the perfect moment
Do you feel like you need more experience before you can get started? Or that this isn’t the right moment to seize the opportunity in front of you?
Here’s why that’s a mistake:
- First, the opportunity is never right.
- You will always find something that misses.
- You’re not growing as fast as you would otherwise.
- You will wish that you had started sooner.
- Waiting reduces self-confidence.
The perfect moment does not exist.
New experiences and opportunities are scary. And they will always be overshadowed by fear, self-doubt, and anxiety.
You don’t need things to be perfect.
You need the courage to act despite imperfection.
It’s good to be fearful, experience discomfort, and have a little self-doubt. If you can embrace change, you will be unstoppable.
We will uncover how you can do that in the next reason.
Reason 11: You experience fear and self-doubt
Good.
Experiencing fear and self-doubt is good. Why? Because these are the signals of personal growth.
The problem?
Collectively, we have a fucked up relationship with failure. While we put success on a pedestal, we shame those who try and fail.
Forgetting that trial and error is how you learn.
In other words: failures are the stepping stones toward success. And you will never get rid of fear if you keep growing.
Instead, you need to develop the courage to face and overcome your fears.
Achieving success requires you to take action. So, even when you know that you might fail, you’ve got to give it a shot.
Here are some tips on how to do that:
- Acknowledge and accept fear.
- Set big and small goals.
- Take (tiny) steps – every day.
- See failures as stepping stones for growth.
- Praise yourself for taking action – not the outcome.
As long as you grow, fear and self-doubt are not going away. But that’s something you should embrace – not avoid. Learn how to deal with self-doubt instead.
Reason 12: Lacking commitment
There are several reasons why you may lack a commitment to your goals:
- You only focus on outcome goals.
- You only set big goals.
- Your goals aren’t really yours.
- Unrealistic expectations.
- Lacking clarity.
- Feeling overwhelmed.
- Fear and self-doubt.
You may notice that we have already covered each of these items throughout this article. And each of them can cause you to experience a lack of motivation and commitment.
The key is self-awareness.
You will have to figure out which of these points most affects you. And then, you need to resolve those issues.
Here’s an exemplary process for that:
Create a couple of hours to spend alone and think. Then, get a pen and a journal to write down your thoughts. And answer the following questions:
- What would you like to achieve in your life?
- What is holding you back from achieving it?
- If you had to do it anyway, how would you start?
This simple process helps you understand why you have no motivation. And it also gets you back in touch with your true desires.
Take your time with these questions.
Say a couple of hours.
Doing so forces you to think beyond generic answers. You need to go deep with yourself to get to your core truths.
You will know when you’re there.
Reason 13: Fixed mindset
Do you feel like you lack the skills, talents, or knowledge to do something?
And does that hold you back from trying?
In the book Mindset, Carol Dweck talks about the differences between a growth and a fixed mindset. In short:
- Someone with a growth mindset believes they can grow in any area they put effort into.
- Someone with a fixed mindset believes that intelligence is fixed. In other words, you can’t become good at something you suck at.
The fixed mindset is a self-fulfiling prophecy. If you don’t believe you can make it happen, you won’t bother trying.
And that’s a problem.
Instead, you must stop focusing on outcomes. Stop focusing on what you think you will be good at.
Instead, do things for the joy of it.
When you find joy in the process, you will feel good. And it helps you stay consistent too, which is how to get good at something in the first place.
In simpler terms?
Enjoying the process = success.
Here are some tips for doing that:
- Become a child and start doing things for the fun of it.
- Don’t be so overly concerned about your skill level.
- Focus on making tiny improvements along the way.
- Use positive motivational affirmation to prime your mind.
- But mostly, choose things you enjoy doing.
- Did I already mention having fun?
Look, my writing sucks too. But I enjoy it. And that’s why I do it.
Did I improve?
I certainly did. Though I still believe that my writing is nowhere near the level I desire.
I could have done different things with my time and maximized my dollars. But that wouldn’t have nearly made me as happy or grow as much as I did. Both of which are essential to long-term success.
And at the end of the day, isn’t that what matters more?
Reason 14: Procrastination
When you start losing motivation, you procrastinate. And procrastination leads to inaction and a further loss of motivation.
They collaborate well and have a cascading effect on your life, leading to no motivation to do anything.
It’s a negative cycle that you must break.
While procrastination can come from a loss of motivation, other causes can trigger it. And we’ve already discussed most of them throughout this article:
- Goals are set too far out in the future.
- Unspecific goals.
- Indecisiveness.
- Overwhelm.
- Anxiety.
- Perfectionism.
- Various fears, like the fear of failure.
Once again, self-awareness is essential. You need to understand which underlying reasons cause your lack of motivation.
Solving these specific issues is critical.
In addition, you want to work on reversing the procrastination cycle. And here are some helpful ways to do that:
- Get organized. Clear your room, desk, house, workplace, and any other messy place.
- Set priorities. What is most important to you now? This step is crucial if you feel overwhelmed.
- Set tiny goals. Small goals drive action. And achieving a couple of little goals is the best way to reverse the cycle of procrastination.
- Focus on actions, not results. Focusing too much on specific outcomes causes people to procrastinate. So try to set goals around efforts, like “walking 40 miles this week” rather than “losing 1 pound this week”.
- Reward yourself. Create personalized and small rewards for yourself. Then, take action and reward yourself every time you do.
It may take some time to reverse procrastination. But make sure to keep focusing on small goals that you can achieve.
And then stick to that and achieve them.
Doing so gets you back on track.
Reason 15: Mental health issues
A lack of motivation can result from mental health issues like anxiety and depression.
Then I recommend seeking professional help.
There’s nothing wrong with asking professionals for guidance. In fact, asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness.
And if that’s what it takes to get your life back on track, why wouldn’t you give it a shot?
In addition, you can try some self-guided help. And here are the steps that you could try:
- Take time out of your day to sit down.
- Take out a journal or notepad and a pen.
- Go over each of the reasons from this article and write down whether they apply to you.
- Start with the reasoning that applies to you. And create a plan based on the solutions that we covered.
- Then, start taking tiny actions.
Though these steps may help, if you experience severe anxiety or depression, you will benefit most from professional help. And if you don’t want to do that for some reason, I recommend this in-depth article on depression.
Closing thoughts
Various reasons may contribute to your lack of motivation. Unfortunately, multiple reasons often stack up and lead to a complete loss of interest in anything.
What to do about it?
We discussed how self-awareness is an essential skill to regain momentum. You need to know which issues affect you the most to address them.
Armed with the 15 most common reasons for a loss of motivation, you should be able to make some minor changes.
That brings me to the final point in this article: you can almost always regain momentum by setting tiny goals and taking small steps to achieve them.
Think about the easiest goal you can set for yourself, like making your bed. Do it. Celebrate it. And then set a new goal for yourself.
It sounds silly.
But do that consistently, and you will become a completely different person within no time.
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