Where's your enthusiasm? What do to when you're feeling deflated.

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You thought you'd feel more alive, excited, enthusiastic than you do. You used to feel enthused about the thing you're working on, the goal, the job, the project, but somehow your enthusiasm waned and you're left with... well, a pile of work you don't really want to do.

What to do?

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You either need to find another way to bring it to life again or back out of the commitment.

Get fully in or get fully out.

Enthusiasm is the word we use when we feel positive expectation of something we are working on going well and we feel motivation to do the work required to make it happen.

It provides us with the fuel to get through the uncomfortable bits that are inherent with any task, goal or project.

If you're working on something that you used to feel good about, excited about, enthusiastic the sooner you can have a solid conversation with yourself about your lack of enthusiasm, the better.

Do you want to ditch the thing: the goal, the project or the job?

Or do you want (or need to) find a way to stay with it?

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There might be any number of reasons why you want to ditch the thing.

Maybe you said 'yes' for the wrong reasons. Maybe you thought you wanted to do this thing but once you started you realised it wasn't really for you. Maybe your life circumstances changed and something much bigger and more important showed up and you would much prefer to put your time and energy into that instead.

There could be a million good, legitimate, totally sensible reasons you no longer want to do the thing and sometimes it is more sensible to walk away from something than see it through. Sometimes seeing something through may actually hurt you and your precious body because that deflated feeling is your body saying, "I don't have the energy to do this thing. Don't make me."

Only you will know if that's true.

If you're feeling this way--you're lacking enthusiasm and you do want to give up on the thing but you're struggling to do so--then you might like to check in with yourself about who you might upset if you were to walk away from the said thing.

I say this because I've seen, over and over again in my coaching practice that, for most people, this is the number one thing that makes them keep pushing when they really don't have the genuine desire to do that thing anymore.

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And sometimes you might really want to persevere with the thing you started.

I know when I was training for ultra marathons several years ago my enthusiasm to do the training required often waned. But I wanted to do these races, I just had to find a way to rediscover enough enthusiasm to do enough training that I wouldn't hurt myself (by undertraining for such hard races).

At other times, or in other situations, you might need to stick with the thing.

Maybe it's a job you don't like but you can't quit until you find something better because that's how you feed your family. If so, this is a totally legitimate reason to stick with something even if you really don't feel like it.

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Whether you want or need to stick with the thing but you're feeling deflated (i.e. lacking that enthusiasm you once had) then the solution is the same:

Find your "why". That is:

  • Why do you want to continue doing the thing?
  • Why is it important to you to continue?
  • What will keeping this commitment bring into your life (or allow you to keep having or doing)?

Yes, these questions are designed to manufacture enthusiasm and it's not as ideal as spontaneously and organically just feeling enthusiastic without even trying. But if you have to use your clever mind to find a way to re-create some enthusiasm, it will sure as heck feel better than going through life feeling deflated every time you need to do that thing.

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I read a book talking exactly about this same thing. Finding the why. A point in the 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth by John C. Maxwell. Since then, I evaluated a lot of my decisions and unfortunately, I had to pull out of somethings and others I wrote down my whys. Everyday, I repeat why inside of me, fueling my enthusiasm and most times, I use music to see ahead. I see where I want to be and this just brings me enough energy. I wake up excited these days. I think I found my drives...

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Thoughts on why: cool!

Your daily habits:

Oh, I like this soooooo much @deraaa! So much. I don't know if it's that I hate routine or I have blocks around success in particular areas of my life but I LOVE what you've shared that you do:

  • repeating your why
  • using music to see ahead
  • pracitising seeing where you want to be

I think I need to take a leaf out of your book!!! I so often struggle with imagining something better, let alone doing it consistently!

Can you tell me how you use music to see ahead? What does that mean exactly? What do you do?

!LUV

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Okay. So I have these days when I get silent. Not just days. Moments. It happens all the time when I'm not busy on one project or the other. In that moment, I pick out my favorite songs and put them on loop. I wrote a post one time about how I use music to travel in time. See, the mind is so powerful. There's a certain block to everyone's mind but when you find your flow, you unleash things within you.

Joseph Murphy in his book 'The Power of Your subconscious mind' spoke about using your mind. Carol S. Dweck spoke of the same in her book 'Mindset: The New Psychology of Success' and Brian Tracy was very indept and explicit in his book 'Goals'.

The first thing I do is acknowledge that my mind is mine and the next is imagine where I want to be in the next few years. Music is a soul lifter so it's not hard to really imagine and see the vision with it. Some of My personal favorites are Enya's Carribean Blue and Boadicae, Plus Sia's Unstoppable and Angel by the wings, then Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.

I hope I didn't ramble too much... I tend to do so sometimes... Doing it again...will stop now😂🤦

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😊😁😂 I don't mind that you shared a lot. I don't think you were rambling (though you are funny!!!) I think you were on a roll about something you are enthusiastic about 😉

I really like this line:

"...when you find your flow, you unleash things within you."

And it looks like you've read lots of great books! I'll have to... add them to my (very long) list! 🤣

(BTW, I think the word you were looking for to describe the way Brian Tracy teaches in his book is "adept". It means "very skilled at something").

Music is a soul lifter so it's not hard to really imagine and see the vision with it.

I really, really like this. I can see that what you're doing--to make it easier to imagine/visualise--is you are changing your emotional state. It makes perfect sense and I realise I've done this before to manifest my now partner. I just hadn't worked out how to do it for any other goals 😂

But of course, it's so simple: Just use any song that makes you feel good! Right? Is that what you're pointing to here?

Thanks for indulging my questions! I appreciate it a lot!

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Oh thank you so much for the correction. I like to write but definitely need to study the English language more.

Yes. That's the point I'm trying to make. Hope I manifest my own partner soon.....😁

It is a pleasure ❤️🙂

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Oh, I'm glad you liked to correction. I don't do it often as most people don't like it (even though it will help them). I think your command of the English language is already fantastic. Of course, we can all do better, always. But English is my first language and I'm 41 and I've been writing online for others for more than a decade and I still make mistakes 😂

I'm sure you can manifest your own partner. Keep doing those awesome things you're doing. Sounds like you're very much on the right track!

❤️ !LUV

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Thank you so much. I look forward to being more than I am now. Haha

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I think this lack of enthusiasm comes from as a result of not seeing so much result as expected from something one is doing.
But I'm learning from this beautiful piece, to find my WHY'S... thank you so much it was a nice read

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Ah, that's a very good point: our lack of enthusiasm could come from not getting the results we were expecting. Very good point!

I think I want to ponder this as I have areas of my life where I haven't got the results I have wanted and it definitely impacts my motivation.

Oh, you know what? When I work on a project and I don't get the results I want it highlights to me just how important this thing is to me (or not). If it's important then I remember why as we talked about but I also commit to learning more so I can do something different.

Because (as someone wise said) if we always do what we've always done, we'll always get what we've always got!

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Right 😊
So in the end we keep trying other beautiful thing despite the outcome..
I mean outcome that is different from what we use to get, I think is what matters..

I don't know if I expressed my words fine😊

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I think I understood you, @redna. I think what you're saying is:

If we stop doing the things that we discover we don't like after all, then it makes space for us to try out different, wonderful things.

Is that what you meant?

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Exactly 😊😊 thank you for putting it right

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Great points from you; these are very encouraging words. I really do enjoy reading your article. Thanks for sharing with us.

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Thanks, Abu! I'm glad you found it encouraging.

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enthusiasm is certainly important and gives us momentum in things; I believe that it happens quite often that we get lost going forward in projects (obviously not in everything, there are things that will arouse perennial enthusiasm in us heh heh).

I believe that enthusiasm is one of the things that makes the difference, in fact those who are persevering even when they lose it continue to follow the road until they reach their goals; there are others who give up instead... I believe that enthusiasm is one of the watersheds between successful people and people who are still working to become successful (success in all its meanings, given that it is still something quite subjective).

Very interesting and beautiful post!

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Thanks awesome-person-with-a-really-long-username-I-can't-pronounce. !LOL (What do we call you??)

But seriously, thank you. I love it when you jump in and comment on my posts. !LUV

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Pikkio, but my name is Antonio maybe it's simpler heh heh!

thanks to you!🤗

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Hehe. Love it. Pikkio might be easier to remember because it's kind of like your username 🤔☺️😁

Have you ever thought about adding either Pikkio or Antonio to your short bio? I personally find that people find comfort in knowing what they can call me (other than "consciouscat").

!LUV

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I truly love your posts. Thank you for sharing them with us and keep it up!!🖤

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Last year I was elated to learn a new skill, I heard a lot about it..I was so enthusiastic. But then when I started the feeling wasn't there anymore and just as you said, I said yes to learning that skill for the wrong reasons. Your writeup just reminded me of that and I find it helpful. Thank you for sharing.

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Oh! You're so welcome, Marriot. Yes, I think I shared the same insight with someone else in another comment - we can start something and when it gets hard we realise we didn't really want to do it after all. How useful to discover that so we can let go of the things that aren't aligned for us.

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Hello @consciouscat 🤗

We loved your approach to the theme of the month, so dynamic and practical. 👍

From start to finish you left us clear lessons, like that sentence that we loved: "It provides us with the fuel to get through the uncomfortable bits that are inherent with any task, goal or project."✅

Also, those final questions we should have them written down in a paper inside our wallet and purses. 😁

On behalf of the entire community team, we welcome you warmly.🌸

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Yay! Thank you for saying so. 🤗

And so glad it was helpful. 😁

Happy to be here. Thanks for the warm welcome. 🌸

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You have shared great wisdom in your talk about why one should quit doing something. Sometimes, we want to quit for wrong reasons. At other times we started for wrong reasons. We need to be clear about the reasons for our feelings. There is a need to figure out why we are feeling what we are feeling.

Sometimes, it happens that we don't want to quit only because we are afraid of what others would think of us. It is not a good reason to continue anything.

Something that has to do with our enthusiasm is WHY. The stronger the why for doing something is, the more enthusiasm it is likely to generate

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Hi sister!

Sometimes, we want to quit for wrong reasons.

At other times we started for wrong reasons.

We need to be clear about the reasons for our feelings... to figure out why we are feeling what we are feeling.

Agreed! 💯%

Thanks for stopping by! !LUV

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You have shared great wisdom in your talk about why one should quit doing something. Sometimes, we want to quit for wrong reasons. At other times we started for wrong reasons. We need to be clear about the reasons for our feelings. There is a need to figure out why we are feeling what we are feeling.

Sometimes, it happens that we don't want to quit only because we are afraid of what others would think of us. It is not a good reason to continue anything.

Something that has to do with our enthusiasm is WHY. The stronger the why for doing something is, the more enthusiasm it is likely to generate

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(Edited)

I'm glad I found this post because I was about to drop something I was doing for work and it was just the boost I needed to keep going
Thanks!

!PIZZA

I found this post by browsing Threads. Learn more about threads.

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Oh, fabulous! I'm glad ❤️

(And I love that little note at the bottom of your comment. Very good!)

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The problem is we are trained for quick results as well be on top always, be it in school, college or even at work. And when these things do not go our way we lose enthusiasm. The only thing we need to understand is that we should be better than ourselves and should not actually compare ourselves with anyone else and thus our life will become much better.

I found this post by browsing [Threads]https://leofinance.io/threads/@niallon11/re-leothreads-5cypn4). Learn more about threads.

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not actually compare ourselves with anyone else and thus our life will become much better.

💯% agree 👍

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This is a great and reflective piece. It made me think about my own misgivings especially during the times when I'm not at my best. Thank you for this :)

I found this post by browsing Threads. Learn more about threads.

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We all go through different phases in life and that's how life goes on. I try to be a better version with each passing day and this helps me to stay positive.
I found this post by browsing Threads. Learn more about threads.

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Finding the "why" is always the game changer to making us feel active, feel energized to carry on with those goals we initially set out to achieve. At a point, we will encounter certain challenges that could make us fall out, but if we can remind ourselves about why we began the race, and if that reason is still valid, then we will reach the last point.

Awesome post.

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Enthusiasm is the key to a happier and fulfilled self and the ability to "manufacture enthusiasm" is something which comes with learning and some help. That is an extremely important skill to survive in today's world. I am glad I found this thought provoking post today.
Talking about finding...
I found this post by browsing Threads. Learn more about threads.

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Thanks for stopping by, @thetimetravelerz! Looks like the current thread/s sent a lot of people to this post 🥳

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Hi @consciouscat threads seem to be working for us in a good way I regularly find more and more interesting content and the authors behind them just because they or someone used a thread to share the post.
The results do point to the fact that one might use them to get more attention to our posts.
Have you used or plan to use threads and if so how has your experience been so far ?

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There's definitely a lot of potential that I can see.

When @niallon11 tagged me and shared this post the other day (👋🙏) was the first time I participated in a thread and also the first time I actually got a sense of what threads is about.

In hindsight, it seems that no only is there great potential for authors of great posts to share or have their work shared with a wider audience AND have participants in a thread find more great content but I also see that doing exactly what niallon11 did is a great way to promote threads and expose it to a much greater audience.

So many wins.

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Hello Caroline and what an interesting post and one that more relates with me in my younger years!

Your why is what my father told me when I was at school and wondering what to study at Uni! Basically whatever we choose will have its lows and you will need that to see it out or change direction!

Ever since then it is what I ask myself in one way or another in whatever I am doing.
I found this post by browsing Threads. Learn more about threads

Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy your parkrun if you are both doing one
!ALIVE

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Ever since then it is what I ask myself in one way or another in whatever I am doing.

Awesome 😎

I found this post by browsing Threads. Learn more about threads

I take it there's been encouragement to copy and paste this (with the links embedded) into all your comments on posts you've found directly in a thread?

I've been seeing it a lot on this post, which is great! I take it I can copy and paste the same if I find my way to a post from a thread? Is it that simple?

Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy your parkrun if you are both doing one

Thank you! We are and we did!

!LOL !ALIVE !PIZZA

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