You’re Not Unmotivated. You’re Over-stimulated

I want to clear something up. You are not lazy. You are not unproductive. You are not unmotivated. You are very likely overstimulated. That is a different ball game all together.

We get a lot of praise for filling all waking hours with activities, accomplishments, and stuff (for lack of a better word). The badge of honor is how much we do. Have you ever thought about if you are happy doing all of that, though?

Enter: the endless musical of Slack pings, email notifications, phone calls, scrolling, responding, and the to-do list which never seems to get shorter. Then we wonder why we are in analysis paralysis and our brain and motivation feels MIA.

As a coach, I hear something along these lines weekly.  

“I can’t focus. I don’t know why I can’t get it together”.
“I would do that, but I am just so lazy”.
“It feels so overwhelming to add yet another thing to my list, even if it is something I really want to do.”

There is a truth I wish more people knew. It’s not a motivation issue. It’s a capacity issue. We go into fight, flight, or freeze when your brain feels like it is on fire.

You can’t expect clarity when your mind is running on fumes. Maybe you have 76 open tabs on your computer and in your brain. Your nervous system is like “um hello?” and never gets the chance to re-set. Even the smallest task can feel like a herculean effort if you are never getting a moment to breathe from one thing to the next.  

WHAT HELPS? Yes. I am here to help. Not just commiserate.

We simplify.
We come back to center.
We stop trying to do it all and we start doing what matters.

Need some guidance on where to start?

Reduce decision fatigue: Cut the noise. Streamline routines. Automate what you can. Take stock and note of where your time is going and if that is the best use of your time. Stop trying to plan for it all. While you are at it, download THE MAGIC NUMBER template. It is free, and it helps give you more information and data to use.

Prioritize tiny wins: A five-minute task completed is better than a fifty-minute plan untouched. Take a moment to think to yourself if the effort you did do pushed you closer to completion or kept you standing still. Say something is going to take you one hour and you complete ten minutes of that task. Are you CLOSER to finishing? Yes.

Schedule recovery: schedule both rest and intentional, meaningful recovery. Take a minute to see what that looks like for you. Meditation breaks? Time with spirituality? A nap? Time in nature? A stretch? Calling a loved one? Reading those suspense novels that you can’t get enough of? Guilty as charged on the suspense reads. Recovery does not have to be sleeping. It can be a lot of things. Aim to see what types of activities GIVE you space. If they are giving you space, it counts.

Clarity doesn’t come from overthinking. It comes from slowing down long enough to hear yourself again. You don’t need more discipline. You need some time to evaluate what is important, more spaciousness, and prioritization. Focus can become your friend again, I promise!

This isn’t about doing less because you’re not capable. It’s about doing less so that you can feel capable again.