Nicole Begley (00:00)
In today's episode, Heather is taking over the mic and we are talking about motivation and specifically why waiting for it to show up is not going to serve you well. Heather's talking about getting through her own stuck season, what pulled her out of it, and the one thing that has to shift before any strategy or system is going to work. If you have a project that you keep not starting, well, welcome to the club, but this one's for you. Stay tuned.

Nicole Begley (00:26)
I'm Nicole Begley, a zoological animal trainer turned pet and family photographer. Back in 2010, I embarked on my own adventure in photography, transforming a bootstrapping startup into a thriving six-figure business by 2012. Since then, my mission has been to empower photographers like you, sharing the knowledge and strategies that have helped me help thousands of photographers build their own profitable businesses. I believe that achieving $2,000 $3,000 sales is your fastest route to six-figure businesses.

that any technically proficient photographer can consistently hit four figure sales. And no matter if you want photography to be your full-time passion or a part-time pursuit, profitability is possible. If you're a portrait photographer aspiring to craft a business that aligns perfectly with the life you envision, then you're in exactly the right place. With over 350,000 downloads, welcome to the Freedom Focus Photography Podcast.

Nicole Begley (01:27)
Of course, it feels great when we are motivated to work on our businesses, and it feels awful when we're not. I do believe, however, that you can manufacture motivation. I do it fairly often, but I want to give you a scenario, something that played out recently for me.

Because I was talking with a one-on-one client about it and she found it very helpful. So a couple of months ago, this was in the November, December time frame, I wasn't feeling very motivated. And I hesitate to say that because that's really not like me. I am a highly motivated person, but I guess I just wasn't in the right frame of mind. I mean, okay, I was fine, but

I did not have a ton of motivation. I was lacking a little bit of focus and I had ideas, but I wasn't acting on them. And my energy for me, my energy was pretty low. And I remember thinking, well, I don't know what to do next. I don't know what to work on. And even if I did, I'm not sure it would work. And I think that that right there was the thought that.

kills motivation. I don't know what to do next and I'm not even sure if it would work anyway. It was lack of belief. And that disturbed my motivation. I was really off track because when you don't believe something will work, you will not take action. Why would you? Your brain is smart and it is not going to invest energy

in something that it is convinced will fail. So, I mean, let me be very clear. I didn't feel stuck because I'm lazy. I am absolutely not a lazy person. And neither are you, by the way. Even if you try to tell yourself that I could prove it prove you wrong a hundred different ways. I also was not unmotivated because I lack discipline or drive. I have those things in spades. I was unmotivated because

I had no belief. Okay, I wouldn't say I had no belief. I I was falling out of belief because I was thinking things like, well, nothing's working. I'm pretty sure I've tried everything. Maybe I'm wasting my time, which is technically not something I think very often. I've eliminated that phrase. I don't think I'm ever wasting my time. However.

When I am working towards something and it's not working, my brain wants to convince me that I am. And it also was saying things well, like, what's the point? If none of these things you're working so hard, none of these things are working the way you think they should, then why even bother? And those thoughts created honestly a feeling of hopelessness. And hopelessness will shut you down faster than anything else. So think about it.

You combine a lack of belief with feeling hopelessness? I mean, are we surprised we're not motivated? Really? Motivation is a feeling that comes from what you are thinking. So you have to examine those thoughts to determine why you are not taking action. And this shows up behavior-wise. It shows up as, well, inaction, of course, but procrastination, motivation.

All of the things that just keep us really stuck. It doesn't feel good, obviously. And I I know this. I coach on this. It's your thoughts, Heather. It's your thoughts. It's your thoughts. And I was like arguing with myself. It's like, yeah, I know. It's my thoughts. But I can't change them because they're true. You know, I have a bad attitude. It's okay. But if you fast forward to now, in this moment, as of this recording.

I have been taking massive action, feeling sharp, creative, focused, like my brain is on fire. Super highly motivated. So when I was talking with my one-on-one client about this, the conversation started out, she's struggling with motivation. And I said, that's interesting because I was feeling really unmotivated a couple of months ago. And now I'm feeling very motivated. And she asked me a very simple question. How?

Or why? What are you doing that led to that? And I actually had to think about that. We discussed it for several minutes. I took notes, which is what led to this podcast. But I just want to point out it started with I was unmotivated and now I'm motivated. She asked me how, and here we are. So we're unpacking how I shifted from feeling awful to feeling honestly like I am on fire.

I get up super early in the morning. I work out, I get to my computer, and I I honestly can't work fast enough. I'm just so, so excited. So, okay, you know what changed? I did not discover some brand new strategy. I didn't download a magic marketing calendar. There was only really one thing that changed, and it was it was what I was thinking.

My thoughts shifted. So instead of just kind of percolating on I don't know what to do, ruminating is a better word. Instead of ruminating on I don't know I don't know what to do, I started thinking there's something I just haven't tried yet. And it could work. I haven't figured it out yet. There is something out there I could experiment with. And I truly believe that a breakthrough is coming.

I just need to stay in the game. Those thoughts gave me hope. And then hope leads to guess what? Clarity. Clarity leads to action. Action compounds, gives you momentum, and momentum will ultimately and always lead to results. So maybe something you could ask yourself is what am I?

Thinking when I am not taking action. Because it is a hundred percent not about laziness or even capability, it's not about willpower. It is always about what you believe. If your dominant thought is it's not working, then you will not work it. It's that simple. You will self-sabotage, you will procrastinate, you will.

Quote, rest in ways that feel like relief but are actually avoidance. In other words, you will avoid. But if your thought is there's something out there that could work, that will work. I just don't know what it is yet. That thought creates curiosity, which is what happened for me. I got really curious. Curiosity sparks.

Energy and energy leads to action. So if you're in a season where you're feeling stuck or low energy or just plain discouraged, it's okay. We all have those moments. It is perfectly normal. You don't need to fix your calendar. You don't need a new strategy or a new checklist. I promise you, you don't. You have everything you need. You just need a new

Thought. So ask yourself, what am I believing right now that's keeping me stuck? What could I believe instead that would create hope? And that's where you can manufacture motivation. And if you don't know how or what to do, that's fine as well.

I think you should join us inside of Elevate so so that I could support you and we could talk about it. I hope at the very least this episode helped you see that nothing has gone wrong. Your motivation isn't missing. It's just buried under a thought that you haven't questioned yet. And this is, again, exactly the kind of work we do inside of Elevate. We uncover the thoughts that are holding you back. We replace them with beliefs that actually move your business forward.

So if you're ready to stop waiting for motivation to magically show up and start creating it on purpose, then Elevate is definitely where you need to be. It's flourish.academy slash elevate. That link is always in the show notes. I hope that you found this useful. I'll see you in the next episode.