First of all, let me just start out with one of my favourite quotes of all time:

Your power to accomplish anything is just as strong, if not stronger, than your capability or tendency to avoid things.

All you need is the right strategy, which I’m about to give you now. 

Embarrasingly enough, it took me years to learn these two steps, because I was never given the advice I’m about to give you, but don’t worry, I’ll teach you this in 1 minute. Ready? Let’s go.

 1: It’s a mindset 

Yeah, duh, right? Like you didn’t already know that. I know, I know, but hang on for a minute here dear friend.

I’m sure you’ve already seen dozens of self improvement videos and high achieving people say the golden words: “you just have to do it anyway”, and while that is very true, this is not the place to start.

First of all you have to keep in mind that motivation is not everything. It lights the spark, but you have to keep the fire burning. The question is therefore not how to stay motivated, it’s how to train yourself to work without it.

Losing motivation while doing a task or trying to complete a goal is often accompanied by the feeling that you’re not getting any results.

And we see it all the time: business owners quit because they don’t see any money or feedback, people quit working out because they’re not seeing a sixpack after the first month of going to the gym. And these people all have one thing in common, when it comes to their mindset and goals: shortsightedness.

One of my favorite quotes is: “the day you plant the seed, is not the day you eat the fruit” by Fabienne Fredrickson. If you want to improve any aspect of your life, you must understand that good things take time, and if it was easy, everyone would do it.

So from now on, tell yourself this: Whatever good you do for yourself today will inevitably have a good outcome, just not today, tomorrow, or maybe even in a few months. Maybe it’s years ahead. I know it sounds very unpromising to work for something so far in the future, that may or may not work, but trust me when I say this: in a few years you will not care how long it took you, you will just be so happy and grateful that you even started.

2: You’re doing it all wrong

.. and you don’t even know it, so no shame here. But let me ask you this: If you had a partner/boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse/friend, who was unreliable, unpredictable, and only showed up whenever they felt like it, how long would you stay in touch with them? And no, this isn’t about relationships, by the way. Relying on motivation is simply just wrong. Motivation is fleeting, and it comes to you out of nowhere without you having to work for it. I want you to completely stop relying on motivation and break up with it, because you’re gonna wanna get into another new relationship with a much more reliable partner: habits. 

You have to develop the habit of showing up, everyday. The point here is not to show up and do 5 hours of deep, daily work, but to simply do a bit of work every single day. You see, showing up beats perfection any day of the week. Now stay with me ↓

You’ve probably heard that it takes 21 days to form a habit, and while that may be true, there really is no exact number for it. But the one thing that’s not different for everyone is that consistency is the key. So, for the next 2 weeks, I want you to just show up and do 20 minutes of work every day. It doesn’t matter what it is, only that it is something that takes you towards better things: working your new business, a side hobby, working out, improving your diet etc. Please keep in mind that abandoning your new habit for a day does not destroy the streak, as we tend to commonly assume. Remember, we are taking a new path in life. The more we take it, the better. 

Here are my final words, and these are truly important when things start to feel overwhelming and too hard: It won’t feel good to take consistent, daily and uncomfortable action, especially without motivation. But lucky for you, feeling good isn’t the point nor the goal. Building your mindset, endurance and determination is.

I hope you enjoyed this read.

Best regards, Niklas