#6 Breaking Barriers for Manifestation: Reclaim Your Motivation

Are you constantly seeking that spark to propel your journey towards your dreams? Buckle up as we venture on a thought-provoking ride to unlock the secret of motivation and how it can become a habit. Together, we will decode the fascinating Think, Feel, Act cycle and explore why motivation seems to be on a high at the beginning of any new endeavor. 

Ever wondered why procrastination seems so appealing? Let's take a deep dive into the human brain and its behaviors to demystify this. We'll unravel the motivational triad, the three primal instincts that govern our brain – seeking pleasure, conserving energy, and avoiding pain. Understanding this triad opens avenues for us to break our mental barriers, create new neural pathways, and align our desires with our actions. 

Lastly, we address the common stumbling blocks that drain motivation and discuss ways to reclaim it. We'll talk about the allure of instant gratification, the pitfalls of all-or-nothing thinking, and the trap of quick fixes. We'll also explore how trusting in divine timing and the process can greatly impact our motivation levels. This is your go-to guide when you feel caught in the rut and need a reminder of why you're striving towards your goals. So come along, reignite your motivation, and get your brain geared up for your manifestations!

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:39

Hello, welcome back to the podcast. Today I want to talk to you all about motivation. Motivation is a big topic that we discuss quite a lot in the schools of manifestation. I know that a lot of people, as they're working towards manifesting change, manifesting big things in their life, manifesting, doing things in a whole new way Motivation is something that can come up for most people. So I want to talk a little bit today about what motivation is.

Speaker 1: 1:07

If you've not really scratched under the surface of motivation, it might actually feel a little bit like one of those mysterious things that just descends upon you every now and then and you feel as if you're struck by motivation or struck down by a lack of motivation at times when, in fact, motivation can be cultivated. Motivation can become a habit. Motivation can become easier and easier over time when you know how to create it. So I want to talk to you today about manifesting motivation. So what does it look like when we're not feeling motivated? Have you ever felt blocked? Have you ever felt stuck? Have you ever found yourself procrastinating or avoiding doing certain things that you know will be particularly helpful if you're looking to grow your business, to manifest more money, to manifest more clients, to start to change your life and up level in a number of different ways. You're probably doing an awful lot of change, and sometimes that change is not necessarily a straight line, a direct line from point A to point B, where we've completely created the life and the business that we're looking for. And so as we meander down this path and we take a couple of U-turns, sometimes we might feel quite blocked, quite stuck, finding it quite hard to actually do the things that we know will be really, really aligned actions that will take us closer to receiving what it is that we dream of.

Speaker 1: 2:40

I'm going to talk in another podcast a little bit more about aligned action, but just for now, just to say you know, when I speak about aligned action, what I'm really talking about here is the, you know, the top priorities, the things that actually move the needle and make a difference, the things that only you can do as the physical entity here on earth, being the creator of your experience. Okay, so I'm not talking about having a massive to-do list and doing all the things. I'm talking about doing those most kind of beneficial things to create your goal and take a step closer. So let's talk a little bit about what motivation is, and then we'll talk a little bit about, you know, what comes up around low motivation. We'll talk a little bit as well about the human brain and how are we actually motivated? Because I think understanding the human brain in the manifestation journey, getting our brain on board and what I like to think of as a brain-based approach to manifestation, I think is one of the quickest and easiest ways to get in alignment, because we have so much empowerment and ability to change our brain. And so when I, when I, you know think about these kinds of topics where we talk about how do we create change, how to create motivation, I think the brain is absolutely fascinating.

Speaker 1: 3:59

So let's talk first of all about what is motivation. So motivation is the driving factor behind actions that we take. That probably sounds pretty obvious, doesn't it? But it's really a feeling or a sensation. And feeling sensation if you look at the Think, feel, act cycle, then that is created by our thinking. Now, sometimes that's conscious thinking and it's really, really obvious, and sometimes it's subconscious and we don't really know what's going on exactly. But we might just feel a lack of motivation, we might feel stuck, we might feel blocked. Quite often that's coming from the subconscious mind. And yet there is thinking there. We're just not necessarily completely aware of it, and science has shown over time that motivation actually increases after we do things, after we take action.

Speaker 1: 4:49

So you start to do things and you gain more momentum. Have you ever found that when, for instance, you, you know, you start a new health plan, you decide to get fit, you join a gym and for whatever reason you know, at the start of that you you go, maybe every day, every second day, and the more you go, the more you want to go and you start to get that momentum and it starts to get easier and easier. Isn't it interesting how that happens? So the more we do things and the more we get that positive reinforcement back into our brain, like, actually that was really good, I really enjoyed that, we start to really gain momentum. However, we tend to have the most motivation at the start of any journey. So let's think about that example. Can you come up with an example of something like that in your life? Maybe it was a gym example, maybe it's a fitness example, maybe it's a weight loss example.

Speaker 1: 5:45

I used to be a weight loss coach, so I've had a lot of experience in that area, seeing people at the start of their weight loss journey. They've just started a new program, they've just invested in something, they've taken some big action. Maybe it's deciding to sign up with a personal trainer, maybe it's deciding to do this particular eating program in order to make a transformation in health. Quite often people feel super excited, really optimistic, can't wait to get everything started. Going out and buying all the stuff, buying the equipment, buying new gym clothes, getting the food stocked in the house in a different way, in alignment with your eating program all of that stuff. Can you relate to that?

Speaker 1: 6:28

At the start of your journey, it feels like you can just keep going and going and going because it feels so easy at that point. Well, what's just happened? You've taken a massive action. You've joined the gym, you've signed up to that personal trainer, you've invested in that program, you've really taken it on that. Yes, I'm going to do this. And maybe you've gone out and taken even more action, like buying the food or doing your first personal training session, whatever it might be. So the more action you take, the more motivation you have.

Speaker 1: 7:01

So it's really normal, especially at the start of a program or a journey, like the journey that you're on to manifest this thing in your life, this goal that you're working towards. Sorry, the motivation feels really high at the start, but it tends to wane over time and this is really important for us to recognize. It's completely normal. So when people bring me these kinds of low motivation topics when we're coaching in the School of Manifestation feeling blocked, feeling stuck, avoiding procrastinating I want you to recognize and really really hear me when I say this it is completely normal for this to happen. It's not like you should be in this place where you're perfectly motivated every single day and it always feels incredibly easy and incredibly aligned and it just everything flows and it's just so easy. Wouldn't it be beautiful if it was always like that.

Speaker 1: 7:57

But the reality is, for most of us, these things can become like that over time once we've built the habits. But while you're in the habit building phase, while you're in the trenches, creating that change in your life, you're actually doing something that I believe is a little bit like an uphill journey. You're climbing up the hill and it's harder at the start because there are more things that you're trying to get to grips with, and so when we're looking at building a business or expanding a business. It might be that there are certain things that you think, hey, if I show up in this way online, then my message will reach more people and then maybe I'll be able to have more conversations with people and I'll be able to have more people hire me and get more clients. So there's certain things that we need to do. And until that behavior becomes second nature and you're just operating from your future self, you are your future self and it doesn't take a lot of extra brain capacity to think about all those different moving parts that you're trying to integrate. It's normal for you to experience these low motivation moments really, really normal.

Speaker 1: 9:08

But the beautiful thing of understanding that actually motivation is a sensation or a feeling and it's driven by our thinking, even if it's subconscious, thinking that you're not completely aware of. The amazing thing about that is that it can be changed. Your brain is malleable. Your brain is plastic. Your brain has the ability to change over time, so you've got a bunch of neural pathways that have fired together and wired together over the course of time and it's easy for your brain to think this way. And because it's easy for your brain to think that way, either consciously or subconsciously, it's easy for you to act in this way and to be in a place where you feel like you're procrastinating, you're feeling like you're stuck, you're feeling like you're blocked, because that's what your brain has practiced doing for a long time. So this really is about habit change. This is about your brain being the 1.0 version and we're upgrading to the 2.0 version, and it just takes time for those new neural pathways to start firing together, wiring together and going from something that's more of a chemical change to something that's a structural change. So that is the really exciting thing here your brain can be changed. We are literally upgrading your mind through this process.

Speaker 1: 10:17

And yes, I know this is a podcast about manifestation. I talk a lot about manifestation, which is really about co-creating with the universe. But wouldn't it be easier to co-create with the universe if we get our brain on board, if we get our neural pathways on board, so that they are also aligned with what it is that we're manifesting? I think that is one of the most powerful ways and one of the most powerful tools that we have in our toolbox when it comes to manifestation. So let's talk a little bit more about the brain. How is it that humans are motivated. So understanding this piece for me was really, really transformational when it comes to all of the change I've made in my life. Yes, manifestation, but also other things like changing my relationship with food and changing my relationship with my body and coming into a better place. With all of that. When I understood how humans are motivated and that my brain was also wired like every other human being on the planet, it really helped me to understand.

Speaker 1: 11:16

Why was I motivated sometimes to procrastinate, to avoid when it comes to eating? Why was I motivated to keep eating chocolate when I knew that I wanted to not eat so much chocolate? I wanted to generally eat a lot healthier and experience different changes in my body as a result of that. When it comes to manifestation, building a business, why was it that I used to overspend? I used to spend on my credit card when I knew that I wanted to see a different financial version and I knew that I wanted to create new income streams and manifest greater and greater amounts of money? Why was it that sometimes I was still tempted and I would still go and spend money on things that I didn't need to? When I started to understand why my brain was motivated to do three things to seek pleasure, to conserve energy or to avoid pain. Those are the three components of the motivational triad, and that affects all the behavior that we do in our life, and that just changed everything for me. So let's break that down.

Speaker 1: 12:27

Think about avoiding pain. When it comes to manifesting change in your life, there's probably something that you're looking to do. That is a step up that might feel a little bit scary. It might feel like you're going into a whole new business. Maybe you're creating a business from scratch. You've never done that before. Maybe you're pivoting and you're going into a new area. Maybe you're expanding your business. Maybe you're going from doing a lot of one-to-one work, or maybe you're doing work in person and you're transitioning online, or you're going from one-to-one to group work.

Speaker 1: 12:57

All of this is change, and this is change in a level that you've perhaps never experienced before. So yes, of course we are going to get the universe on board. Yes, of course we're gonna ask the universe to help us along the way and for our spirit team to guide us along the way, but we also need to recognize that your brain is wired to avoid pain, and so your natural tendency will be to avoid situations where you might fail to avoid situations where there could be fear of embarrassment, fear of shame that comes up. So if you are doing things this is a classic example with the women I work with who are in business doing more things on social media if you're not used to that, if you're doing new things on social media that you're not used to for example, reels, or doing videos in a different way or doing podcasts and you're not used to talking, you know that can feel really scary and our natural inclination in those moments will be to not do it. And this is where the motivational triad comes in. So the fact that this is happening is totally and utterly normal. There is nothing wrong with that. So when you understand that there's nothing wrong, you're not broken. The fact that you are avoiding this. There's nothing wrong with this. It's just a matter of taking action and practicing and understanding what's going on in your brain and finding new ways of operating and knowing that it's not always gonna feel good on this journey. You know and that actually is completely normal for these fears to come up because your brain is trying to avoid pain Then we can understand that, then we can work around it and try to figure out how do we get beyond that.

Speaker 1: 14:36

Conserving energy is the second part of the motivational triad. So when your brain is trying to conserve energy, essentially it's a survival mechanism. Your brain doesn't want to expend more energy than necessary, whether it comes to thinking, and you know that type of energy, which you know your brain uses so much energy in your body in comparison to the rest of it, but then also on a physical level as well. So your brain is programmed to conserve energy on a mental and a physical level. So when it comes to creating change in your life, it's you're being asked or you're seeking to do something different, and that takes extra energy, especially, as I mentioned before, with the neural pathways that you've got in your mind. You're literally building new neural pathways, you're building new ways of thinking, you're building new ways of doing things. That takes energy, and so it's really normal that your brain will want to just go for the easier thing, and so this tends to show up like oh, I can't be bothered doing a social media post today, I'm just going to do the easy thing, you know, and maybe that is going and stacking the dishwasher If you're working from home, I know a lot of us who work from home have that type of thing going on. Or maybe the easy thing is oh, I know I've got to do some work on my account, so I'm going to get that done. It's the busy work right, the ones that the work that doesn't really call us to expend more energy and to push ourselves beyond that point of comfort.

Speaker 1: 16:05

Our brain will also seek pleasure. That's the third part of the motivational triad. Our brain likes to seek pleasure, so your brain loves dopamine. Your brain will always seek to get the dopamine hits and we can get pleasure from all sorts of ways in life. There are many, many sources of natural pleasure and those natural sources of pleasure will provide some dopamine. But it's not a huge dopamine hit. It's a dopamine hit that, if you like, it's kind of in balance, so it doesn't cause you to get really, you know, out of balance and overly craving something where you might compare that to, for example, if you went out and took cocaine. If you went out and you know you you ate a lot of sugar or some processed food, you know all of these things provide big dopamine hits and so your body will crave more and more and more of that to get the dopamine hit.

Speaker 1: 16:59

So how does this show up on the manifestation journey? If something doesn't feel pleasurable, it is going to be something that your brain does not want to do. Now there is a lot of pleasure available on your manifestation journey, especially if there is accomplishment along the way, if you're celebrating successes along the way. But you need to consciously actually celebrate those successes. So you know, when people go through, you know certification programs and they get the certification at the end, that can be a dopamine hit. Getting things ticked off a to-do list that can be a dopamine hit, you know.

Speaker 1: 17:36

So it's that delayed gratification can also provide us with that dopamine hit. So there are things that are pleasurable along your journey to manifest something new, but it might be the different kind of pleasure that you're not used to. So if you've got the option, if your brain has the option, of going and watching your favorite show on Netflix for the next hour or doing a Facebook Live because you said you'd do that today what do you think your brain is most going to want to do? Probably go ahead and watch your TV show and get the dopamine hit of finding out what happens next in that show, and that's just an example. You can substitute the Netflix show with a cup of coffee, with a snack, with a cigarette, whatever your pleasures are. You know, when your brain has those choices, it is always going to want to seek the thing that is more pleasurable.

Speaker 1: 18:30

So I love to understand this. I love to understand that there's absolutely nothing wrong with us, like what's going on when we are feeling blocked, we're feeling stuck, we're feeling like we're avoiding and we're procrastinating all the time. There's nothing wrong with that. Okay. Now, what tends to happen with low motivation? So something that can happen with that is that we get into this space of all or nothing thinking, those two ends of the extreme. It has to be this thing or that thing. I have to grow my business by having 20 clients or have none. Right. We're not celebrating the three that you've got.

Speaker 1: 19:04

That all or nothing thinking can put us into a space of you know it's either working or it's not working, and that can have us feeling really, really disappointed and feeling like we're failing if we're not getting to the positive end of that scale and seeing, you know, those results that we want to see. Another example I want to manifest 10K, but I've got zero, right? All or nothing thinking. Not perhaps recognizing all the free coffees and the green lights that the universe has been sending you, and the discounts and the bill that was written off and you know, etc. Etc. Etc. Right, this is that all or nothing thinking. Well, it's not working. It's not working because you haven't seen the 10K yet.

Speaker 1: 19:45

What about all the things that are working? That can be a cause of low motivation. So has that been happening for you recently? This is something that you can think about. If you've been experiencing not feeling motivated is have I been thinking in an all or nothing way? Is that one of my triggers? And I would invite you, if this has been affecting you, to, you know, really have a think about that and jot that down. Jot down all or nothing thinking and see if you can explore that a little bit more and see how that's showing up for you.

Speaker 1: 20:16

What about something like the one size fits all mindset, like I'm trying to do something that worked for someone else? Like maybe you've seen someone in business, maybe you've got a colleague that you quite admire, things have worked for them, they've done amazing things. You're trying to replicate the same thing and it's not working. That one size fits all mentality. Well, what if it was something else available for you? When you have this expectation and I think a lot of these low motivation causes are coming back to this expectation this expectation that, well, if that template worked for someone else, it should work for me. And if it doesn't, if you're feeling blocked, stuck, procrastinated, avoiding what if something else was possible for you? So, if that's something that you're recognizing, as I say that now ask yourself that question Is there something else that might work for me? How could it work just for me? I've really been exploring this a lot more in my business recently, really getting in touch with my intuition, starting to tear up the rule book around things that I've learned in marketing and business, because things are just so different now that I have a baby and I'm finding that actually I'm starting to find my own fit, my completely and utterly unique fit that actually works for me in the season of my life and it's slowly coming into something now that's much more prominent within me, whereas before I was trying to make all these different frameworks and rules work for me and a combination of them work, and it wasn't quite right for me. So how can you make it work for you. What's the next step for you? That might be aligned, that might actually work for you a lot better.

Speaker 1: 21:49

Okay, so there's a couple of things that are usually happening behind low motivation. Here's another one. Are you believing in quick fixes? Are you believing that things should have already worked? Are you thinking that there should be instant gratification? Like, I've been trying to manifest 10K. I've been trying to do it now for a week. It hasn't happened. Why hasn't it happened? It's not working. And then that's when we feel blocked, we feel stuck. Actually, the problem here is not the fact that the 10K is not here, it's the fact of the expectation around that timeframe. So are you feeling like things should be happening quickly and I'm not saying they can't happen quickly, by the way but this in itself is gonna be a block for you.

Speaker 1: 22:31

If you're believing in quick fixes, if you're believing in that instant gratification, what if you had to look at that again and see is that really serving me? Why is there such a rush? What if it was to come in a different way? What if it was all to come within divine timing? Still opening up to the possibility. It can happen quickly, it can happen now, but not rushing yourself, not pushing the universe, not trying to control the outcome and figure out how it should come and when it should come.

Speaker 1: 23:03

Another low motivation cause. I've got two more for you Overwhelming complications. So are you feeling overwhelmed? Have things been feeling complicated recently? I find this with people who either take too much on for themselves, so instead of outsourcing some to the universe, instead of trusting that you know things will work itself out in the process, you'll figure out how to do something, you'll manifest the right person, you'll manifest the right course, you can push it down the road a little bit to a different time and trust that the solution will come to you. Instead of that, you know, trying to put all the parts in place now and having a big long to do list and really, really complicated, and then starting to feel overwhelmed Is that something that's coming up for you and is that possibly behind some of your feelings of feeling blocked, feeling stuck, procrastinating and avoiding?

Speaker 1: 23:58

Maybe it's worth having a look at that. Am I complicating things? Or is my goal or the thing that I'm looking to manifest so far off that actually it feels impossible. It feels overwhelming to think of that greater change in my life Like, if you're going from I'm going to come back to that 10 K example if you're going from zero to 10 K and you've never, ever in your life, had that level of income before and you've never had that through your business in the way it's set up right now, it might feel really overwhelming. Is it the right thing that you're looking to manifest right now? Of course, 10 K might be on your roadmap, but maybe the next milestone is 2 K. If you were then to bring your focus in to 2 K, what would that feel like? Does that feel complicated? Does that feel overwhelming? How does that one land for you? See, if you need to do a little bit of adjustment around your goals, maybe that's going to help you a little bit more with your motivation.

Speaker 1: 24:58

And finally, I want to explore misalignment with you as well. So if you've, you probably want to come to this one last. You know, rule out the all or nothing thinking. Have a look and see if you're expecting that. You know someone else's system, someone else's rules and frameworks should be working for you and it's not. See if there's other ways that are better fit for you. See if you've got any rush, any any like control of the how, with the instant gratification and the quick fixes. Have a look at your overwhelm. Have a look at whether you're making it complicated. Have a look at whether you need to bring the focus of your goal in a little bit closer so you've got the next step on the journey much more in focus. If you've crossed off all of those things and it's still feeling like it's hard, it's hard to get going. I'm still feeling blocked.

Speaker 1: 25:49

Maybe you want to have a look at whether or not you're in complete alignment. Are you looking to manifest the right thing? Is this coming from a sole lead place? Is this coming from your ego, or is it coming from maybe even external factors and other people's expectations? So maybe you want to then have a look and rethink is this the right thing for me? Is this what I really want? So have a look at that as a possibility as well.

Speaker 1: 26:14

So there's five different causes around low motivation, the all or nothing thinking, one-size-fits-all believing in those quick fixes, the overwhelm and complication, and then the misalignment. So I want to invite you to explore those triggers, see if one of those five stands out for you and maybe do a little bit of journaling around it. You know, why have I got this all or nothing thinking going on? What's going on here? Ask yourself the why, ask yourself the how is that impacting? And see what comes up, explore what's there, and then what you might want to do is have a look at rewiring your brain with some affirmations around that Start to really, you know, see if you can start affirming affirmation coming to you. So you know, if you want to Google it, there's so many motivational affirmations out there. It's just there is just so many, and maybe you can find a few that really speak to you at the moment.

Speaker 1: 27:08

You know, being motivated to my goals comes naturally to me. I manifest everything with ease. You know. Clients come to me easily, money comes to me easily, prosperity flows to me and through me I am motivated, positive and confident with my life vision, all of these types of things. Find a few that cherry pick, a few that really work for you and see if you can start using those, start repeating those to yourself to start rewiring your brain and then you can take care of those triggers and see if you can turn the dial down a little bit more on those as you work through finding a way to go beyond your brain's constraints, of avoiding the pain, conserving the energy, seeking the pleasure, knowing that your brain is showing up like that, knowing the lack of motivation is not a problem in and of itself.

Speaker 1: 27:54

You're working it out, you're figuring it out while you're building these habits. And then I tell you what once you get onto the other side of this, you'll realize that it becomes easier and easier as these habits start to set in, as it's something that you're not trying to change and upgrade in your brain anymore. It becomes natural to you. So you no longer need to manually cultivate this motivation because you've done it. It's here now.

Speaker 1: 28:19

And do you know what else is the beautiful gift of this? You're also figuring out how to cultivate motivation. So when something else comes up in your life that you want to create, you want to change, you want to work towards doing something that might be considered hard by some people, you know how to do it. This is the beautiful thing about the growth journey, all right, so I hope that's been helpful for you this week. Save this one, save this episode. Come back to it if motivation is something that you often feel a little bit stuck with. Okay, have a wonderful week. I look forward to coming back to you next week with another podcast. Bye for now.