Motivation: The Flaky Mate Who Ghosts You Most Days
Motivation is a liar.
You don’t wake up motivated. You wake up with bed hair, morning breath and a vague resentment towards your alarm. Waiting for motivation is like waiting for your one friend who’s always late but still gets invited because she’s good at karaoke.
Motivation might show up occasionally. But if you want to make a real change, you’ve got to design your life so that it doesn’t rely on motivation.
Because habits trump motivation. Every. Damn. Time.
Let’s take a closer look….
Motivation is a slippery little no-show.
Occasionally spectacular. Mostly absent.
And yet—and yet!—we worship her like she’s the answer to everything.
“If I could just get motivated…”
“If I felt more motivated, I’d totally do that thing…”
“If motivation could just pop by with a soy flat white and some clarity, that’d be fab.”
Let’s call it: Motivation is the unreliable narrator of your success story.
She talks a big game. She shows up with great eyeliner once every few weeks, belts out ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ and disappears into the night.
But if you’re planning your life around her arrival?
You’re stuffed.
Real Change Doesn’t Wait for a Feeling
Here’s the harsh truth: If you want to make a real change, you’ve got to design your life so it doesn’t rely on motivation. At all.
Because motivation is a feeling.
And feelings are notoriously unreliable.
(See: every text you’ve ever sent after 11pm, every fringe you’ve ever cut yourself, every decision made within three metres of a cheese platter.)
What actually works? Habits.
Boring, repetitive, deeply unsexy habits.
Habits that happen without fanfare.
Habits that don’t care whether you feel like it.
Habits that run quietly in the background like a decent bassline—steady, dependable, often underappreciated but absolutely holding the whole damn thing together.
Habits > Motivation. Every. Damn. Time.
This isn’t a quote on a coffee mug.
It’s the law of physics, human behaviour and why brushing your teeth is still happening long after your will to live has clocked out.
Motivation gets you started—maybe.
Habits get you there—definitely.
You don’t floss because you’re passionate about dental hygiene.
You floss because it’s what you do before brushing your teeth and you’re slightly terrified of your dentist.
Same with exercise. You don’t need to feel pumped to go for a walk. You just need to put your shoes near the door and not think too hard.
Same with eating well. You don’t need a motivational podcast and a crystal grid. You just need to not buy three family sized blocks of chocolate you’ll regret inhaling at 10pm.
So What Do You Actually Need?
You need structure. Routine.
A plan that functions even when your brain is being a grumpy little gremlin.
You need to stop treating “not feeling like it” as a valid excuse and start treating it as background noise.
Because feelings come and go.
But habits? Habits stay.
Like glitter after a kid’s birthday party.
Here’s what works better than waiting around for motivation to seduce you:
Make it so easy you can’t not do it.
Pair it with something you already do (floss after brushing, stretch while the kettle boils, walk during phone calls).
Track it. Tally it. Celebrate the tiny wins.
Lower the bar so hard it’s practically underground. (Ten squats count. Half a salad counts. Stopping at three biscuits instead of the usual seven? Also a win.)
In Conclusion, Before You Drift Off and Forget All This
Motivation is fine.
Like a cameo in a musical.
Nice when she shows up, but not the star of the show.
Design a life that works without her.
Stack your habits like bricks.
Keep showing up. Even when it’s boring. Especially when it’s boring.
And one day, you’ll look up and realise:
You didn’t find motivation.
You became someone who doesn’t need it.
And that, my friend, is where the magic actually is.