Everything we put off is a way to delay joy and prolong suffering.

One of my high school teachers often said, “don’t put off to tomorrow what you can easily accomplish today.” Then, he was referring to my schoolwork. Now, it is a way of life.

The thing is, accomplishment is more potent than motivation.

When we complete even the most mundane task (even begrudgingly), we move closer to joy in that moment. When we move closer to joy, we tap into motivation. Positive feelings give us the momentum to do more positive work.

In this sense, waiting to be motivated can mean you’ll be waiting a long time – sometimes waiting until it’s too late. If your M.O. is to wait for motivation, than your key motivator is some form of stress. Stress that you’ll have late fees applied to your bills. Stress that you can’t fit into your jeans. Stress that you’ve let your relationship die and now must salvage it. Stress that you haven’t delivered on a project and could get fired.

Living with stress as our primary motivator means we’re always living behind our integrity and beneath our potential. It means we’re dependent upon stress to get going, taxing our nervous system on a regular basis and squashing joy and peacefulness.

When this cycle of anxiety kills our access to joy, our paralysis takes the form of depression. Even tiny, little depressions like the unpaid registration sitting on your desk or the bag of clothes ready for the dry cleaner have an impact.

Look around your home, your car, your office. What has become invisible in its stagnation? What has become a fixture that was never intended? How have these little depressions built up, clogging the flow of creativity and integrity in your life?

In this setup, the motivator is avoiding pain. What if your motivation could be feeling joy? Take inventory of the way you accomplish tasks and execute deliverables: How often are you acting to avoid or alleviate pain? How often are you acting to cultivate or prolong peace?

Free Yourself

Every one of us has limitless creative potential. To access and unleash that potential freely, we must first free ourselves from the snags and binds of our little depressions. We’re all patterned into our own bad habits.

You can shift out of a life fueled by stress (I need to pay my rent, I can’t get fired, she can’t get mad at me) and into a life aligned with peace and joy (I do this because it’s right, I am grateful for my work, I take pride in my home, I love him).

What are you waiting for? (hint: not motivation)