When you lack Motivation, do it anyway + weekly recommendations

The Slow Hustle companion

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When you lack Motivation, do it anyway + weekly recommendations

Varun Duggirala

Mar 06, 2021

I finally got down to reading Atomic Habits by James Clear, and what a fabulous book indeed. One insight that he talks about really stuck with me. He talks about how we shouldn't set goals for ourselves. Instead, we need to establish systems for ourselves that put us on the path of progress, no matter what the eventual goal we achieve is.

Or as he puts it

"The purpose of setting goals is to win the game. The purpose of building systems is to continue playing the game. True long-term thinking is goal-less thinking. It's not about any single accomplishment."

This idea does ring true in so many ways, A goal sets a goalpost for us to achieve, but that makes it both a finite target for us to reach and something we can quickly give up on. It's the difference between saying I will publish a novel (goal) and I will write every day ( system), I will lose 10 kgs (goal) I will workout every day & live a healthier lifestyle ( system)... all these things when looked at seem less ominous as systems than as goals. Especially on the days, we lack motivation.

I go through this a lot, especially with writing. As I sat down to write this, I lacked any form of motivation.! it'd been a long week, I was tired and lazy (I'd also had a beer and watched the season finale of Wandavision), but I had a newsletter to put out, and so I sat down to write.

If I looked at this from a goal pov over a system pov, I'd have struggled with what I'm writing. Because goals set benchmarks, but systems make you commit to a process. They pull you over the line even when you lack motivation. They do this because they put you under less pressure to perform.. all you have to do is write something. And even if it's terrible, all you have to do is refine it rather than staring at a blank page waiting for something to flow. Just figure an idea to share. It doesn't have to be long, just something that gives value to the person spending five minutes reading it.

So, next time you lack motivation.. go through the motions. Worst case you'll suck, but at least you would have gotten something done.

Weekly recommendations

As I’ve been considering a regular Vlog, I started re-watching Casey Neistat and i realised that many people dont know about him ( that shows that i’m old) and I couldn’t not share two of my fav videos by him talking about his process , but check out any of his videos.. they teach you so much.

Also listen to this fabulous chat ( its got a part 2 coming up) that Reid Hoffman ( Founder of Linkedin) had with Bog Iger ( The “Till recently” CEO of Disney)