Moving. Yep. In case you didn’t guess, motivation as word has strong links to motion. Often, it is the act of doing something that brings about motivation. Whilst you could see that as circular logic, with motivation being required to self motivate, the truth is rather more promising.

If we agree for a moment that motivation comes from action or motion then the next most important thing to deciede is if the motivator required to kickstart your motivation needs to be the same type of motion/action or not. If it were the same, then motivation would end up being a virtous or vicious cycle, depending on your initial success.

Luckily this is not the case. I have found such simple things as going for a long walk, deep breathing and swimming are often enough to provide the motivation kickstart I require. Having said that, there is some truth also, to the idea of motivation as a cycle. If you take on too much to begin with and then fail, you are much more likely to fall into a despondant mood and give up.

So, for me at least, the key is to take some physical action, such as swimming and then once motivated, tackle a very small part of the task to ensure that I have a high chance of creating a sort of feedback loop of success that keeps me motivated. Why not try it yourself?