I recently came to a similar realization that a lot of my motivation was related to anxiety as I started some medication to reduce anxiety and I’m now having to reorient the motivation piece! It’s definitely a transition, but it feels like I’m heading toward a healthier place.
This is a really great analogy! I’ve always felt like a downside of doing healing work was you lose motivation but it’s a great reframe that it just has a different quality to it and that it pulls to different things.
The fact that I can only respond to email questions (my last favorite part of my job) if I'm either peak-caffeinated-anxiety or emotionally attuned to how my response will make life better for the recipient had been floating around unformed in my head for a while. Thanks for putting voice to it and helping me realize I can actually intentionally foster the latter mindset
I like this metaphor of the different kinds of fuels! Also:
> I want to feel the calm satisfaction of knowing I did what was in my power to improve my situation at the end of this day/week/month
I resonate with this form of motivation in particular. I once had a particular practice of self-dialogue, mediated by my journals and other personal systems, all based around setting and following through with the intention to do my best and keep learning and growing, and that gave me a kind of motivation very similar to what you describe. Something I’m looking to bring more into my present life.
Extremely relatable, down to many of the fine details. Useful metaphor, too. I’m glad to know I’m not the only pre-exit founder who’s experienced this. Thank you for writing about it.
Thank you so much for writing this. I'm in the middle of my own messy transition of fuel sources and I'm feeling so much of what you wrote very viscerally. Working and getting things done just for the satisfaction of having put in an honest effort is real but it's incredibly inconsistent for me so far. Appreciate the encouragement to keep going!
I recently came to a similar realization that a lot of my motivation was related to anxiety as I started some medication to reduce anxiety and I’m now having to reorient the motivation piece! It’s definitely a transition, but it feels like I’m heading toward a healthier place.
This is such a good metaphor, and well narrated. I'll be thinking about this and sharing it with a few fellow solopreneurs. Thank you!
This is a really great analogy! I’ve always felt like a downside of doing healing work was you lose motivation but it’s a great reframe that it just has a different quality to it and that it pulls to different things.
The fact that I can only respond to email questions (my last favorite part of my job) if I'm either peak-caffeinated-anxiety or emotionally attuned to how my response will make life better for the recipient had been floating around unformed in my head for a while. Thanks for putting voice to it and helping me realize I can actually intentionally foster the latter mindset
I like this metaphor of the different kinds of fuels! Also:
> I want to feel the calm satisfaction of knowing I did what was in my power to improve my situation at the end of this day/week/month
I resonate with this form of motivation in particular. I once had a particular practice of self-dialogue, mediated by my journals and other personal systems, all based around setting and following through with the intention to do my best and keep learning and growing, and that gave me a kind of motivation very similar to what you describe. Something I’m looking to bring more into my present life.
Extremely relatable, down to many of the fine details. Useful metaphor, too. I’m glad to know I’m not the only pre-exit founder who’s experienced this. Thank you for writing about it.
Thank you so much for writing this. I'm in the middle of my own messy transition of fuel sources and I'm feeling so much of what you wrote very viscerally. Working and getting things done just for the satisfaction of having put in an honest effort is real but it's incredibly inconsistent for me so far. Appreciate the encouragement to keep going!