Do the Thing: On doing when you don't feel like it

Some days I wake up and I don’t want to. I don’t want to get out of bed. I don’t want to parent. I don’t want to meditate or do yoga or exercise or any of the other actions and activities that I know I need to do (and will feel better for doing). I am willing to bet that you too experience this lack of desire and drive sometimes! 

Here’s the thing. Most days, just starting my morning routine (even if I got out of bed later than intended – hello snooze!) will kickstart all the other actions. I wrote earlier about what my morning routine looks like. I’ve learned that my keystone habit is meditation. I pull out my meditation cushion, start up the Insight Timer app on my phone and just sit. Even if I only do five minutes instead of twenty or half an hour, it’s enough to reset my mind. After this keystone habit, I flow into doing my morning movement, and then into my day. Skip the meditation? Everything else is harder. Think about how you start your day: Is it reactive (hit the snooze button until the absolute last minute and then run about frantically until you make it out the door, frazzled, late and irritated?)? Or is it proactive? Do you have a set of steps you take to make your morning more zen and flow (maybe you grind your coffee beans and set out the coffee maker the night before, or choose your clothes ahead of time, or have a system that allows your family to be independent as you prepare for the day)?

What about work? I (like many) tend to think of inspiration as a bit fickle. It shows up on its own time. How am I supposed to force inspiration to happen, exactly? But what’s interesting is how many highly creative people say they do just that. They show up at a predetermined time and place and just do the thing. Whatever the thing is. It’s like my friend who is becoming a runner said recently: “Forward is a pace.” So show up. Do your thing – write, play, move, cook, dance, bake, sing, knit, sew, garden – and do it whether you feel like it or not. Over time, inspiration will start knowing when to show up too, and it will be when you are there, doing your thing, whether you feel like it, or not.

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