6 reasons why you lack motivation

One of the most common symptoms of losing your mojo is a lack of motivation.

I don’t mean a short-term “pump up”.

I mean deep, consistent, pervasive motivation to step up and strive for career goals and life dreams that matter to you.

Ultimately, the reason men lose their motivation comes down to 6 main factors:

1. You’ve made “I’m not motivated” part of your identity.

One of the most powerful forces in our life is to remain consistent with the image, or identity, we have of ourselves.

It’s in our wiring to demonstrate that we are who we think we are.

When boxer Mike Tyson was 19 years old he taught himself to believe he could beat anyone in a fight. He saw himself as a champion. And that influenced all his training, diet, focus, and drive.

In a similar way, if you define yourself as being ‘lazy’ or a guy who’s never been all that motivated to push yourself to new levels or overcome the odds, it’s highly likely you’ll “train” yourself to give up early, not develop discipline and not develop the know-how to get out of a slump.

And so just like other annoying habits – smoking, biting your nails, social media, and mindless tv – procrastination, dragging yourself out of bed every morning, and that feeling of lethargy that follows you around all day become a permanent fixture in your life.

How you identify yourself becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

2. You’re not aiming high enough or big enough.

As men, we rise to a challenge. That’s just how we’re made.

And without a challenge to rise to, you end up bored. Disengaged. Floundering.

Ever play basketball with a toddler and a 4-foot hoop? Your kid could play for an hour, enjoying every minute of it because it’s still brand new – a challenge – and exciting. But you’re ready to move on to something else after 5-10 minutes.

Because apart from seeing your kid light up when the ball finally tips over the rim, dunking into a 4-foot basket for you requires no special effort.

The same thing happens in your career. When your goals are the equivalent of a 4-foot hoop, and your soul knows you’re not aiming high enough, you end up mailing it in.

It’s too easy. It’s not a challenge. It’s not fun anymore.

Like a muscle that is not being used, your motivation wastes away and you stop trying.

3. You don’t know what you want NOW.

Too many people are chasing dreams, goals, and ideals that they craved when they started their careers. But as the years pass by, and you pass through different stages of life it’s normal for your values, interests, and drivers to change.

What motivated you in your 20s may simply be outdated and irrelevant to you in your 40s.

Without a new target to work towards, you become rudderless and adrift.

No longer inspired by what you are doing. Not clear on what you want to do instead.

This lack of direction can lead you to treading water — burning a lot of energy but not going anywhere — which deflates your drive and motivation, leaving you going through the motions and no longer feeling fully alive.

4. You downplay what you really want.

Most men I talk to actually do know what they want – or at least some inkling of the characteristics it entails. But instead of putting their own passions and goals first, they allow their own desires to take a backseat.

Maybe you do this because you think it’s too late, too hard or you’re too old to pursue them.

Maybe you don’t feel worthy of achieving your ultimate goals so you never give it an honest effort.

Maybe a series of setbacks in your career has left you deflated and lacking the confidence to declare and go after what you really want because you’re afraid that if you do you might fail….again.

Or maybe you’ve decided that your real passion – what you really want – won’t pay the bills or isn’t secure enough, so you settle for a job or career you don’t love just to pay the bills.

Either way, anytime a man denies his true desires and neglects his own interests, his motivation gets suffocated and withers away.

5. You are overwhelmed and burnt out.

The universal factor in the working world over the last decade has been the exponential increase in the demands we need to deal with. The sheer volume of information, constant connection to work, devices and screens, and pace of change have been unprecedented.

And it’s only going to get worse. The technology is here to stay.

The impact is clear: significant rises in stress, anxiety, and unrealistic expectations.

If not managed well it is a recipe for overwhelm and burnout. Both of which are the polar opposite of feeling motivated, focused, and in control.

When your mind is cluttered, disorganized, and overloaded it is easy to lose sight of the goal and allow inertia to take hold.

When your tank is empty, it’s impossible to muster the drive to keep going.

6. You’ve allowed your fears to become bigger than your dreams.

We all have fears. Everyone who has accomplished anything great has fears.

But when you allow your fears – fear of failure, fear of the unknown, fear of risk – take the wheel, you’re sacrificing your dream.

When you let that happen for too long, you end up playing small. You start shrinking from what you’re really capable of.

And on that path to fear-dom, you freeze, become stagnant, and stuck in inaction. Bye-bye motivation.

Can you relate to these six factors?

If so, you’re not alone and I can assure you that each and every one of them can be resolved.