Why You’re Not Motivated To Create
Let’s not waste time with pleasantries.
You’re not motivated to create because you’re telling yourself an unmotivating story.
It’s true. Many of us in the world today just aren’t very motivated to create any more. I get it. With all the stuff going on in the world today, it can be hard to get a creative momentum going.
There are times when life is just ‘meh’.
The exciting vibes are gone.
You feel no desire to create much of anything.
You might even feel it’s not worth it.
Everything you try frustrates you.
You’re over it.
Maybe that’s you. Maybe not.
Either way, we could all use some motivation here and there. And I’m not talking about a pep talk to get you hyped for the next twenty minutes. I’m talking about a new way of looking at the world. And that’s not in some grand metaphysical sense, but in everyday considerations about real life.
Motivation is that Energy that comes from external forces pushing us in directions we want to go. What most people won’t tell you is that you can intentionally find motivations to encourage your own forward movement.
(Note: Motivation is closely related to ‘inspiration’, but it is different because inspiration is about what comes from within. I’ll cover that in another post.)
“Oh here he goes with the positive thinking angle.”
Well…yes… BUT there’s more to it than just thinking happy and dancing through the tulips. Let me give a more practical spin to it.
The original question asks: “Why am I not more motivated to create?”
I reply with “It’s because you haven’t been telling yourself a motivating story”. I’m saying that you’ve been training yourself to expect your world to naturally motivate you, but the world doesn’t do the motivating. You either extract motivation from the world or be discouraged by it.
Yes. It can be difficult. But it’s a constant process that can take us to better places.
Start by acknowledging this…
We all tell ourselves narratives about the world we live in. We assign all manner of stories with beginnings, middles, and endings to events we experience in the world. Basically, we see things as things have happened, things that are happening, and things that will happen.
Now, it doesn’t really matter so much what’s actually happening, but how you perceive what’s happening that determines your motivation to create. Your mind is a narrative-constructing machine that works night and day to build your view of things, constantly narrating the it all. (That’s why they call it a narrative.)
We do this naturally and unconsciously.
Here’s an example:
Imagine you’re walking down the street, and a crumpled ball of fancy paper bounces on the ground before hitting your foot. At this point, you’ll immediately start constructing a story about how/why this fancy paper ball ended up in your path.
Is this an advertisement? A diploma? A bond? A gift certificate? An award? Is it trash?
Did someone discard this by mistake?
Who threw this at me?
Is someone trying to get my attention?
Has an applicant their resume?
Could this be worth a million dollars?
Is it interesting enough to pick up?
Am I being watched?
Is someone pranking me?
…and yada yada yada goes your mind.
In a split second, you started building up characters, scenes, rationales, actions, and events all while ranking its importance to your life. Based on that narrative, you start acting out the story of your life.
As you get more information, parse the details, think over things, process feelings, and consider alternatives, your narrative and your worldview will simultaneously adjust for the moment.
Do you see where this is going?
Because it’s important to catch this.
When you create, the idea is to bring something into existence in a way that makes you feel better.
So as you construct narratives about the world, tell yourself about a world that empowers you to create. Do not keep sparking narratives that discourage your creative nature.
And yes, it’s fine and it’s natural to ask “negative” questions:
What’s the point?
Why bother?
Who cares?
How can this ever work?
And so on…
The problem comes when we don't advance these questions, and we get stuck in a headspace that doesn’t motivate us to create.
Start asking yourself…
What can I do?
Who can I talk to?
What did I learn?
How can I use this to my advantage?
And this is real talk.
I didn’t even want to create this newsletter today. I had a narrative going in my head saying that it wasn’t worth it to write, but that’s actually not true. Because I get plenty of positive responses from my newsletters and posts. I was basically lying to myself. So what better way to get a better narrative going than to actually make something.
Anyway, let’s wrap this up.
I’m not asking you to pretend like everything is sunshine and roses, but I am asking you to keep creating a better world where your narrative works to motivate your creativity.
Work on that story.
Take your time and practice it.
Improve your narrative.
Tell that story.
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