Passion, Procrastination, Motivation and All In.

It’s not about waiting for the time to be right. It’s about taking action because your vision is worth it ~Alli Worthington

Last week we talked about taking action. I encouraged you to stop procrastinating and take action. This could be from performing a household chore to pursuing a dream or exploring a gift. We also talked about three common reasons for procrastination and possible solutions. They were fear of failure, perfectionism and feeling overwhelmed. Fear is just False Emotions Appearing Real, explore the distortions in your fear. You don’t have to be perfect, no one is. Perfection only wraps us in guilt and ends progress. If you feel overwhelmed by a task, break it up into smaller more manageable pieces and perform a little at a time.

I Just Don’t Have the Motivation

How often have you said these words? “I just don’t have the motivation.” I know I have, many of times. But where does motivation come from? Many of us may believe that motivation comes before action. So we wait to feel in the mood to do something before taking action. Sometimes we never get in the mood; and our pattern of procrastination is perpetuated. But have you ever noticed what happens when you don’t feel like performing a task but you find the power to begin anyway? As you continue working on the task you begin to feel better, you begin to feel motivated, you begin to feel some excitement, you realize it was not as difficult as you anticipated and before you know it the task is complete and you are left with a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction. It has happened to me countless times. Action leads to motivation, which leads to more action. Psychiatrist Dr. Burns puts it this way, “you have to prime the pump. Then you will begin to get motivated and the fluids will flow spontaneously”.

What Are You Passionate About?

In a previous post I encouraged you to find your passion. I suggested that it was one of the ways to help you discover your life’s work and purpose. I said that passion is the willingness to suffer for what we love. What are you willing to suffer for? To read more about that post you can click on this link, https://inspiration524442959.wordpress.com/2020/05/01/the-gift-of-pain/.

Go All In!

Congratulations! So you have discovered your passion, and you have decided to get down off the fence of procrastination. My final piece of advice to for today is to “go all in”. Yes, go all in, not partially or halfheartedly.  Whatever you have decided to do, do it with all you got, with all your might, with all of yourself. I believe that this is also what passion is about. But, thanks to Kevin Hall, author of Aspire, I have learned a new word for it. That word is Ollin.  According to Hall, Ollin is an Aztec word which described a powerful event, like an earthquake or a great storm that shakes the earth. It signifies intense and immediate movement and means to move or act with all your heart. Hall says, “if Ollin is the measure, winning is possible no matter the final outcome. It is the private victories that matter most, are felt the deepest and last the longest. Ollin is what determines success in our lives, instead of the conventional measure of winning and losing.”

I want to suggest that this concept of Ollin has its roots in Christian philosophy, even if it was not intentional by the Aztecs. For it was the Apostle Paul when writing to the Colossians, who said, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord”, (Col. 3:23).  This has long been a favorite scripture of mine because it is my personal philosophy, a principle by which I live. Echoing Paul’s sentiment, wise King Solomon wrote, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom”, (Ecclesiastes 9:10).

There is nothing more for me to say, but to ask you a question.  Are you willing to go All in? Don’t just glaze over the question but ask it to yourself conscientiously, then take a minute to think carefully about your answer.

Leona

P.S. I would love to hear from you. Why don’t you leave me a comment and tell me what you have decided to go all in with. If you enjoyed this post please share it with a friend. Thank you😊