Motivation is a Rocket Ship

When a motivation rocket launches, that’s our window to get that thing done. Are we recognizing the launch and latching on?

Discipline and motivation are not mutually exclusive like most argue— they are deeply intertwined. I believe that discipline is a trigger for motivation, and we only get things done when that dose of motivation hits.

That dose of motivation and the way it hits us is similar to a rocket ship. The rocket ship sits idle, waiting for 1.) the rocket factory and launch pad to complete prep work, and 2.) the right uncontrolled conditions. When everything is in order, the launch is triggered. Upon trigger, the rocket finally launches. When it launches, it is our job to pay attention and latch onto that motivation rocket.

At surface level, motivation might seem random and irregular. But like a rocket ship, there are things we can do to cultivate motivation, control the launch schedule, and trigger launches. Your brain is likely doing this cultivation, prep work, and triggering subconsciously. If you can elevate this work to a conscious level, you can better control your motivation rocket factory and launch pad.

Prep Work & Triggers

The prep work varies for all the different things in our lives. Prep work might look like established systems, processes, routines, habits, goals, etc. Whatever the prep work is, it reduces the cognitive and/or emotional resistance to “doing something”. When this resistance is reduced, it’s easier for motivation to trigger.

Motivation Doesn’t Always Feel Good

Motivation is often viewed as a good feeling, excitement, or pure energy. We need to stop looking at it that way. Motivation doesn’t always feel good. I’d love to hear your opinion, but I believe that things only get done when the motivation hits. We do a lot of dreaded things on a daily basis. Following the logic, it’s fair to say that motivation is not always triggered by something positive, and it doesn’t always come with a positive feeling. The feeling that comes with motivation is determined by what triggers motivation.

So it’s a sequence of events:

1. Something triggers motivation
2. Then motivation triggers action (assuming we latch onto that motivation properly)

Motivation Triggers

Some common motivation triggers are:

• Interest in something that drives excitement to work on it
• Discipline & will power — knowing you just need to grind it out
• Our principles and life philosophies
• External forces like your boss, family, etc.
• Processes and systems
• Fear and punishment

While the trigger results in motivation feeling different, the end result is the same. You are motivated to do something.

A common thought is that you need to rely on will power and discipline when motivation is lacking. While this is generally true, I view it from a slightly different angle. Will power and discipline are used to trigger motivation, you then latch onto that motivation rocket and are driven to action.

Building Your Own Factory & Launch Pad

The points made so far are really the foundation of our factory and launch pad. As a precursor to building our rocket factory and launch pad, it’s important to understand that each rocket is different:

• Some are huge rockets, some are small
• Some take a lot of fuel, some take very little
• Some fly infrequently, others fly regularly
• Some fly for a long time, some only a few minutes

Our goal as a factory and launch pad is similar to NASA and SpaceX. Make rockets cheaper, more efficient, and frequent fliers. Introduce new systems to generally make them better and less intensive to launch. Make big rockets as small as you possibly can. Reduce the barrier to space. Reduce the barrier to motivation.

Missing the Rocket

Now here is where we often go wrong. The motivation rocket has been triggered and is launching, but we don’t latch on to it. Sometimes we don’t recognize that it’s launching. Other times we do recognize that it’s launching and decide not to latch on.

For example, after having a negative emotional reaction when thinking about something you need to do for a while, you wake up one day and finally have a positive reaction. Maybe even thinking — “I can get that done, I’m excited to finally get that done today”.

Your rocket just blasted off for that task. Did you recognize it? Are you going to latch onto that rocket and actually get it done, or are you going to miss it?