You Don't Need Motivation. You Need to Make a Decision.

I have transformed myself more than once in my life, and I can tell you that not one of those transformations started because I suddenly woke up feeling incredibly motivated.

Actually, I think we give motivation way too much credit.

We wait to feel motivated to work out, start the business, lose the weight, change the relationship, save the money, go after the goal or finally do the thing we have been talking about doing forever.

But motivation is a feeling, and feelings change depending on whether you slept eight hours, whether your hormones have decided to cooperate that day, whether your kids are driving you crazy, whether business is going well and approximately 700 other things happening in your life.

If I had waited for motivation to create the biggest transformations of my life, I would probably still be waiting.

Every transformation I have ever had started with a decision.

And more importantly, that decision had a very specific goal attached to it.

I decided I wasn't going to be the fat mom sitting on the couch anymore.

That was one of the first big ones.

There was a version of me who was overweight, sitting on the couch and watching other people live the kind of life I wanted to be living.

At some point, I decided I didn't want to be her anymore.

Not because there was anything wrong with her. She was raising babies, figuring out motherhood and doing the best she knew how to do at the time.

But I knew I wanted something different for myself.

So I made a decision.

I was going to lose the weight.

I wasn't motivated every day after that. I didn't suddenly love working out. I didn't magically stop wanting food that wasn't part of the plan.

I had simply decided where I was going.

And once I made that decision, my daily choices had something to answer to.

Then I made another decision.

After losing most of the weight, there were still about 20 pounds I wanted to lose.

So that became the next goal.

Not I want to get healthier.

Not I should probably lose a little more weight.

I am losing the last 20 pounds.

Specific goal. Specific destination.

And I went after it.

Then I decided I wanted six-pack abs.

Again, that required a completely different level of commitment. There were things I had to change, things I had to give up for a period of time and things I had to do when I absolutely did not feel like doing them.

But I had made the decision.

So I did them.

And now, all these years later, I have made another one.

I decided to become a runner.

Which is still slightly hilarious to me because I spent a very long time being much more comfortable underneath a barbell than running mile after mile on a road.

But I didn't just decide that I wanted to “run more.”

I attached a goal to it.

I am going to run a full marathon.

Now there is a destination.

And that destination determines what I do today.

A real decision changes the question.

This is the part I think we miss.

When you haven't actually made a decision, you wake up every day and ask yourself how you feel.

Do I feel like running today? Do I feel like working out? Do I feel like working on my business? Do I feel like cooking dinner instead of ordering something? Do I feel like doing the uncomfortable thing?

Girl, sometimes the answer is absolutely not. 😂

There are mornings when I am excited to run, and there are mornings when the thought of putting on my shoes and running several miles sounds like a terrible idea.

But I am not waking up every morning deciding whether or not I want to become a runner.

I already made that decision.

The only question now is what that decision requires from me today.

That is completely different.

Decisions eliminate a lot of negotiation.

We waste an incredible amount of energy negotiating with ourselves about things we already know we want.

I'll start Monday.

I'll do it when work calms down.

I'll wait until after vacation.

I'll start when the kids go back to school.

I'll start when I have more money.

I'll start when I feel more confident.

I'll start when life isn't so busy.

You can spend years waiting for your life to finally create the perfect conditions for you to change it.

Spoiler alert: it probably won't.

There will always be something.

At some point, you have to decide that the goal matters enough to move toward it while your actual life is still happening.

But a decision needs a destination.

I think this is one of the reasons vague goals are so easy to abandon.

“I want to get in shape” isn't a destination.

“I want to grow my business” isn't a destination.

“I want to be better with money” isn't a destination.

“I want to start running” isn't a destination.

Those are ideas.

Give the decision somewhere to go.

Lose the 20 pounds.

Run the marathon.

Pay off the credit card.

Launch the offer.

Save the amount.

Have the conversation.

Book the trip.

Write the book.

Whatever it is, make it real enough that you know whether your actions are moving you toward it or away from it.

Because once I have a specific goal in front of me, I operate differently.

I know what I am working toward.

This doesn't mean you become a robot.

Making a decision does not mean you never rest, change the plan, miss a workout or completely screw something up.

Trust me, I have done all of the above.

There are times when the smartest thing you can do is rest. There are seasons when the plan needs to change. There are goals you eventually realize you don't even want anymore.

Changing your mind intentionally is allowed.

But there is a huge difference between changing the plan because you have new information and abandoning the plan every time you don't feel motivated.

One is a decision.

The other is allowing your feelings to make the decision for you.

Faith has taught me this too.

There have been plenty of moments in my life when I wanted GOD to show me the entire plan before I moved.

I wanted confirmation. I wanted certainty. I wanted to know exactly how everything was going to work out.

Preferably, I would like GOD to send a detailed PDF with dates, instructions and expected outcomes. 😂

Unfortunately, that has not been my experience.

A lot of the time, I have had to pray about something, make the best decision I could with what was in front of me and then move.

Faith doesn't always mean you feel confident before you take the first step.

Sometimes faith is making the decision and trusting GOD enough to start walking toward it.

Then you figure out the next step.

And the next one.

And the next one.

So maybe you aren't lacking motivation.

Maybe you just haven't made the decision yet.

There is probably something you have been saying you want for a while now. Maybe you have been thinking about it, praying about it, saving posts about it and telling yourself you're going to start soon.

Stop waiting to suddenly feel different.

Ask yourself what you are actually deciding.

Not what you want.

What have you decide