No Motivation Monday
- Gaubriella Drollinger-Minshew
- Jul 28, 2025
- 3 min read
No Motivation Monday
You sit down (just for a minute) and your mess is looking you dead in the eyes. Maybe it's a messy room staring back at you or your thoughts running wild. But now you cannot get up; it’s like the mess paralyzes you. You know you need to get up, but you just can’t. Your motivation is gone, sucked dry by the mess of life.
Does that sound like you? Because it has sounded like me many times. So, what do you do when no motivation strikes?
Just do it!
Sometimes we just have to kick ourselves in the rear and do it! John C. Maxwell said, “Motivation gets you going, but discipline keeps you growing.” So there are times when you have to choose growth and dig deep beyond the lack of motivation. Want to know a little secret? Just because you choose to get up and do it doesn’t mean you have to do it all. Maybe today being disciplined looks like cleaning for 5 minutes, or my favorite trick is picking a category and accomplishing that category. It makes a big task seem bite-sized. Then, when you are done, sit back down. Or you might just find that the little dopamine hit you get from meeting your goals sparks the motivation you were lacking.
Overwhelmed brain, Overwhelmed Body
Sometimes our thoughts can be exhausting, even though they are in our brain, they can leave our body too exhausted to do anything. Hence, you feel like you are in an unmotivated slump. So what do you do?
As a planner, one of my favorite things to do is make a plan. I cannot deal with all of my thoughts, nor can I change/ control some things. But maybe you can take a moment to make a plan for a simple task. Then, immediately put that plan into action; if you have to wait to start, set it aside. When that thought sneaks up again, say to yourself, “ I have a plan, it’s going to be okay.”
What about the thoughts that you cannot control or plan for? Those that just run circles in your mind. Challenge them. They are your thoughts. You have the power to swipe them away just like you would a bad Tinder match. I know it doesn’t always feel like we have control, so it may be something that you need to stop, ground yourself, and then swipe the thoughts away.
Overwhelmed body, Overwhelmed Brain
You know how I just said that when your brain is overloaded, your body can be as well. Well, it works the same way when your body gets overwhelmed. Your body is trying to tell you that you need to slow down, but not by binge-watching another TV show or taking a nap just to run away from the chaos. You need to do something restful, something that brings energy, motivation, and passion back to you. I cannot tell you what those things are because they are so different for everyone. For me, it's taking a walk, eating a favorite snack, and sometimes not thinking about my responsibilities. When I had a little bit more free time, I was reading a book and sunbathing. What you find truly restful will be different for each person and different in each season of life. Just remember that your body might be trying to tell you to take a step away, reconnect with yourself, and then tackle the chaos or responsibilities in front of you.
When you just can’t
At the end of the day, it is so easy to read or write about how to deal with the no-motivation slump. But it rarely feels as easy to get out of it or to be successful right away. Reach out for help, have a friend be your accountability partner, or even better, talk with a therapist who can help you find those truly restful techniques or teach you how to challenge your thoughts in a way that works for you. Your challenges are not one-size-fits-all, so your solutions do not have to be either. Find someone who can help you find the path for you. Here is a link to the practice that I contacted, which is full of therapists ready to help you find your motivation again. Inspired Practice LLC
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