I knew there was something going on but I was too busy to take a closer look in last few days.
6:30 this morning the smell got so strong that I started sniffing and figured it should be from the stove. Sure enough the overflowed water from a cooking pot was sitting under the elements, smelling like a ripen cheese or Miso. I took the elements and covers off, scrubbed everywhere I could. Within less than 30 minutes, the smell was gone and the stove top became nice and clean. And I still had a full day ahead of me.
We all jump up and deal immediately with something urgent but tend to leave something non-urgent until we are really pushed. When you spill a glass of milk, you instantly go get something and wipe it off. On the other hand, although you know you boiled over something on the stove, you don’t bother waiting for the elements cooled off, taking them off and clean everything each time.
If it is not an important matter, sure, leave it as is. But the problem is we often leave something important yet not urgent until it becomes really rotten and stinky. We need to pay for the neglected matter sooner or later. A good example is the health issue.
Most of us think our health is important. We know we should eat well, sleep well and exercise regularly. In reality, despite the knowledge, we tend to stay in the unhealthy lifestyle until we encounter the health problems. When we are pushed, finally we move (or still don’t move…). Generally speaking, the longer you continue the poor habits, the longer you should expect to improve the situation. Needless to say your increasing age adds more challenge to it.
But why? Why can’t we do what we should do?
There will be a lot of explanations, but the bottom line is the lack of motivation. You are not motivated to do so.
Okay, then why no motivation? To put it simply, you don’t want to do it, that’s why.
We do what we want to do no matter what. The true reason of your failure, regardless the good idea and good intention behind, is often that you are not really wanting to do so. Your reluctance suppresses your motivation, as the result you fail to achieve your goal. The failure of course discourages you and the negative spiral goes on.
Get it?
You do what you want to do. You can’t do something because you don’t really want to do.
Knowing something good doesn’t necessarily make you want to do it from the bottom of your heart.
Once you understand this mechanism, you start seeing where to work on first to make you more motivated. It’s somewhere deep inside you. You have to be honest to you as the step one.
If you habitually start a new thing and discontinue it, there is some hesitation within you. You believe you want what you are looking at, but something is holding you off. There is something you don’t really want in the path toward the goal. And that ‘something’ is a part of you which you haven’t been aware of.
When you deeply dig in it, you will find the key to increase your motivation.
In other words, if you are aware of your true want, you will be automatically motivated.