I stumbled upon a phrase “Action Precedes Motivation” sometime during my wanderings of the Internet yesterday, and sufficiently intrigued by its truthiness to dig a little deeper. I found this longer quote online:

“The common conception is that motivation leads to action, but the reverse is true — action precedes motivation. You have to ”prime the pump” and get the juice flowing, which motivates you to work on your goals. Getting momentum going is the most difficult part of the job, and often taking the first step is enough to prompt you to make the best of your day.” – Robert J. McKain

I have to admit that for me, motivation is hard to summon even when I’m 100% certain of an action’s benefits. I’ve spent quite a number of years trying to train myself to self-motivate in the face of the unknown. My best trick so far is to allocate 5 to 15 minutes to the action, giving myself permission to give up after that time has elapsed. Just about every time I do this, I find that I’m likely to keep going; it is starting itself that is difficult, and once that hurdle is overcome I find I can be quite productive. What I find so interesting about the notion of action preceding motivation is that (1) it does seem to work for me as I’ve described and (2) it hints at a different model for understanding how my intentions, actions, and motivation are connected. Ideally, I’d like to more easily move from intention to productive action in my everyday work, particularly for my own personal projects. Being a solo entrepreneur working in isolation, being able to crack this nut is of critical importance to future productivity. (more…)