Motivation is the Result of Action

Motivation isn't the source of action.

Motivation comes after you acted. Once you've started it compels you to keep going. It's a multiplier of action.

So don't wait around to feel motivated before you act.

It starts with doing.

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Yes I know this is easy to say.

You might be asking: "how can I ‘do’ if I don't feel motivated?"

Make it easy.

If you’re not feeling motivated, don’t try to do something hard. Do something small and easy.

Practice disconnecting action from motivation.

Connect action with other things.

Like commitment to do what you say you'll do.

Break the process of taking action into tiny steps.

Don't feel motivated to floss your teeth? Just floss one tooth. My guess is that all of a sudden you'll feel motivated to do the whole lot.

Motivation is the result, not the source of action.

Figure out a way to act in some small way and the motivation will come.

Nutritious and Delicious

I'm interested in nutritious things.

Nutritious food.

Nutritious relationships.

Nutritious movement. (Check out Katy Bowman)

Something is nutritious if it contains what you need for life and growth. By its very definition, what is nutritious will change over time and depending on who you are and what you need.

Nutritious things fill you up. They help you grow and change with the world around you.

Remember food as information and communication? Nutritious things are the information you give your body that see you grow and change.

They're the delicious parts of your story.

Nutritious and delicious is a good mantra to live by.

How Your Bad Habits Serve You

Are you sick and tired of your own bad habits getting in the way? Are you frustrated that you can't seem to stop even though you know they're shitty habits?

Let's try a different approach.

First, I'll tell you something that might sound a bit crazy:

Your bad habits are serving you in some way.

You're not crazy.

You're doing it because it works on some level.

In some way, your “bad” habits are helping you to cope.

Good on you for finding a way to cope.

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Instead of beating yourself up for your bad habits, why not try a different approach. Let's celebrate your coping mechanism.

Then you can give yourself a little self compassion and take a moment to figure out what exactly you're coping with.

Once you understand what you're trying to cope with, you might be able to start to replace your bad habit with a good one.

It doesn't need to be perfect right away (or ever!), just 1% better than yesterday.

Upgrade Your Body’s Software

Communication in teaching movement (or anything really) has two main phases:

Phase one: instruction from the teacher to your ears. Phase two: from your ears and brain to your body.

How does this message get from your brain to your body? If you understand what has been said and what was asked, do you expect to be able to immediately do it on the first try?

Even if your teacher manages to give you excellent instruction that you understand perfectly in your brain, can you instruct your body to do it?

Can you feel the parts of your body you're being asked to move? Do you know how to instruct them?

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There needs to be a process of upgrading your ‘software’ before you can follow the instructions. Much of learning is about upgrading this software to translate instructions from the teacher, through your brain and into your body.

Pay attention to this next time you're learning anything. Try to learn what your teacher teaches, while also taking the time to upgrade your software to make it a little easier to learn next time.

You Are How You Move

I teach movement at Praksis. I spend lots of time training and exercising.

Because of this, you might think I espouse the idea that everyone should be training a few hours a day.

I enjoy what I do and my training has improved my experience in the world. But I notice this most outside of the realm of training activities.

Movement is about so much more than working out. It's about how you live.

It's about limiting the immobilising factors of the world.

Some immobilising factors to consider:

• Constantly sitting.
• Practicing looking down with your neck forwards (at your phone or laptop).
• Wearing restricting shoes.
• Wearing restrictive clothing.
• Never putting your hands above your head, say, to hang from something.
• Focussing on ‘posture’ meaning your spine is immobile.

Removing some of these immobilising factors is, in many ways, more important than any time spent at a gym working out. Sometimes working out might exacerbate injuries caused originally by being immobile.

Look for ways to bring nutritious movement into your day. I recommend the video below and everything from Katy Bowman's channel. But before you watch, stand up!

Move your body!

To Hear, One Must be Silent

Ogion, when asked about the ‘use’ of a plant call the fourfoil:

“When you know the fourfoil in all its seasons root and leaf and flower, by sight and scent and seed, then you may learn its true name, knowing it’s being: which is more useful than its use. What, after all, is the use of you? Or myself?... to hear, one must be silent.” The Books of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin

Our perspective is almost always from the point of view of utility. “What can I use this for?”

And that question defines things for us.

It makes sense for a human to be interested in what things in the world might be useful for. And it makes sense for things to be defined that way.

But this perspective doesn't always lead to the true being of things and, if misapplied, can lead us to miss the point entirely.

Pay attention. Look. Listen. Notice the world around you for what it is.

To hear, one must be silent.