Generating Motivation on Purpose

My music students have asked me over the course of years I’ve taught music lessons how to cultivate motivation to practice when they don’t feel like it. I love it when they ask me this because it means they’re ready to ‘level up’ in their musical abilities.

Many of you know I'm a classically trained pianist. I used to practice for three to four and sometimes upwards of six hours a day while studying piano performance in college on scholarship. ⁠
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I didn't want to practice, but did it anyway out of sheer grit.⁠
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And then I burned out. And I burned out hard. ⁠

When my students ask me about motivation, I usually ask them some form of the question, “how do you want to feel about your music?” They almost always say, “I don’t know,” which to me is never a suitable answer.

I then follow up and say, “Don’t you want to be really good? Isn’t that what you’re going for by taking lessons from me?”

They’ll usually say yes, which means we are heading in the right direction. I then ask them again, “So – how do you want to feel about your music?”

They all say the same thing, but in different ways. It goes something like this.

“I want to feel inspired/motivated/accomplished/capable/confident/amazing.”

I then ask them what they would need to think in order to feel those things.

This almost always stumps them. And here’s why: Most of us think that in order to feel inspired/motivated/accomplished/capable/confident/amazing, we need to work super hard and be super disciplined and THEN we’ll feel all of those things.

But I think we have it backwards.

We need to FEEL inspired/motivated/accomplished/capable/confident/amazing FIRST, and cultivate the THOUGHTS that will create those feelings within us, that will then generate those kinds of feelings.

Because Thoughts create Feelings.

And Feelings are the fuel that drive and motivate our Actions.

If we’re waiting to take action based on being in the right mood, or based on waiting for motivation to happen to us, then we’re going to be waiting for a looooooong time my friends.

The reason we do anything that we do is based on the feeling we want to feel when we do the thing.

We think the reason we don’t feel motivated is because of the work we have to do or the time it will take; but it never is. It’s always because of a thought that we’re having right now. Thoughts are either driving us toward action or stalling us by the feelings the thoughts are creating.

We have around 60,000 thoughts a day. That’s A LOT of thoughts!

Knowing that we have so many thoughts a day, it makes sense to start noticing what you’re actually thinking.

Here's what we need to do in order to feel more motivation:

1.) Notice how your thinking creates your feelings, actions, and results.

2.) Once we notice the thoughts that are serving us, and the thoughts that are getting in our way, we are then able to cultivate the thoughts we purposefully want to attach to, and let go of the thoughts that are limiting.

How do we change our thoughts? One thought at a time, and over time. It doesn’t happen overnight. In fact, it takes a lot of practice. Just like learning a musical instrument, it takes deliberate effort and intention and practice over time.

So – start paying attention to your thoughts. Write them down. Do a brain dump on paper, and be curious about what you’re thinking.

Once you are able to identify which feeling you want to generate and feel more often, find the Thought to think that will create it.

Here’s an example:

Thought: I have a hard time with mornings.

Feeling: Discouraged.

What I really want to feel is more drive and motivation to follow a Morning Ritual that will help me feel more productive throughout the day. If I continue to think the thought, “I have a hard time with mornings,” I won’t be able to generate the motivation I need to create a consistent Morning Ritual. So, I need to think a new thought.

Instead, I am going to practice thinking:

Thought: I am becoming a person who enjoys the morning and looks forward to my quiet time in my Morning Ritual.

Feeling: Capable

Notice how my new thought doesn’t quickly jump to rainbows and unicorns of “I love mornings!!!”

No. This isn’t a thought my brain believes yet. So I need to bridge my way to thinking a thought that will help me see possibilities. As I consistently practice thinking, “I am becoming a person who enjoys the mornings and looks forward to my quiet time in my Morning Ritual,” I start to feel more expansive inside and think of ways to enjoy my mornings versus dreading them.

This kind of Thought Work is powerful! When we do it deliberately, we experience powerful shifts in our results.

I want to feel ‘capable’ more and more in a lot of areas in my life. So, it’s important for me to root out the thoughts that are shutting down my sense of possibility and fueling the feeling of discouragement. Once I’m able to identify the thoughts that aren’t serving me, I can then get to work on practicing deliberate thoughts that generate the feelings I want to experience more of; feelings like inspired/ motivated/ accomplished/ capable/ confident/ amazing.

This is available to all of us.

Thoughts create feelings. Feelings drive Actions.

Deciding on purpose to generate motivation is what you need to do to find the motivation that will fuel the Actions you want to take. Find the Thought to think that will create motivation.

You will start to see big shifts in your Actions and you will start to experience results that you are proud of.

Sending big love to you my friends,

Danielle xoxo

P.S. If you want more help with this, schedule your own private coaching session with me, and I will teach you the self-coaching Model. I use it all the time in my own life, and I teach it to all of my clients. It's a game-changer!