"Motivation is like a unicorn"

An email from the awesome Aadam of Physiqonomics


"Today I sat for three hours staring at the blank screen of my Google Docs page. By the end of those three excruciating hours, which, I should add felt like having the flesh torn off my limbs by man-eating penguins, I'd written a jaw-dropping 100 words. (I'd say that was sarcasm but I guess depending on how you look at it, it is jaw-dropping.)

(Quick aside: For those who doubt the feasibility of man-eating penguins because OMG how could something so cute commit such an act? I should have you know that penguins frequently cheat on their partners and penguin mums have been known to kidnap other penguin mum's chicks. So who's crazy now? OK BACK TO THE EMAIL.)

Yup. You read that right. Three hours. 100 words.

And between bouts of wanting to smash my MacBook to pieces and smashing my own head into the screen – the universe plucked a lesson from its bosom and smacked me in the face with it. The lesson was this:

Motivation is like a unicorn – fickle and terribly timid.

The more you chase it or try to hunt it down, the further it runs from you. And the only way to court it is to show up and not pay it any attention. Yes, I'm asking you to play hard to get with motivation. Because while motivation is timid, it's also extremely proud. And by refusing to pay it any attention, it'll want to come to you.

This is why, even on the days I don't want to write, or I'm struggling to write: I show up, sit my *kitten* down, and get started. Even if that means a three hour-long staring contest with a blank screen. So be it.

Eventually, as hard as it is, you find yourself getting in the zone and wanting to continue – that's because motivation has shown up.


But you have to start, first.

Because here's the thing: People think they have to wait for motivation to show up, but really, motivation is waiting for you to show up."



Yep, a fickle, temperamental and precious unicorn. Don't wait around for it to grace you with its presence. Just *kitten* do it.