89. How to Get Started When You Have Zero Motivation

Ever find yourself staring at a growing to-do list, knowing exactly what you should do—but just not feeling like doing it? You’re not alone. In this episode of Work-Life Balance for Speech Pathologists, I'm diving into why getting started is often the hardest part and, more importantly, how to break through that resistance.

We’ll Cover:
🔹 The myth that motivation needs to come before action (spoiler: it doesn’t!)
🔹 How intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation affects task initiation
🔹 The “Action Before Motivation” principle and why waiting to feel motivated is a productivity killer
🔹 5 simple strategies to make starting any task easier—including lowering the barrier, temptation bundling, and using time limits
🔹 A real-life example of how I’ve used these techniques in my own life to get unstuck

By the end of this episode, you’ll have practical tools to stop procrastinating and start taking action—no motivation required.

Episode Breakdown:
[00:00 - 03:00] Why getting started is so tough & common SLP struggles
[03:00 - 08:00] The truth about motivation: Intrinsic vs. extrinsic
[08:00 - 12:00] Action creates motivation—how to use this to your advantage
[12:00 - 18:00] Small tweaks to make tasks easier to start
[18:00 - 22:00] Real-life example: How I applied these strategies
[22:00 - 25:00] Recap + your challenge for the week

Next Steps:
✅ Choose one strategy from this episode and apply it this week
✅ Join the SLP Support Group on Facebook for accountability and discussion
✅ Join me live in the group on Wednesday 3/5/25 at 12 PM ET for a  video training with even more strategies to help you take action

Tune in now and take the first step toward tackling your to-do list—without waiting for motivation to strike! 🎧✨

To find out how I can help you improve your work-life balance, click here.

Come join the SLP Support Group on Facebook for more tips and tricks!

Follow me on Instagram! @theresamharp

Learn more about Theresa Harp Coaching here.

Transcript

Speaker: [00:00:00] Welcome to Work-Life Balance for Speech Pathologists. I'm Theresa Harp, an SLP and productivity coach, and this podcast is all about how to build a successful career as an SLP and still have time for yourself and the people and things you love. So if you're ready to ditch stress and burnout for a more balanced and fulfilling life, then you are in the right place. Let's dive in.

Hey, SLPs, PTs, and OTs. Welcome back to the podcast. It is so fun to be here chatting with you, even though it's really just me and a microphone and screen, but you know what I mean? I love podcast recording. It's been a little while since I've done any and it feels good. So this episode. is for you if you have ever found yourself in a situation where you have had something that you had to do, you needed to do, and you had absolutely no motivation to do it.[00:01:00] 

If you've ever found yourself in a position where you know you've got to get something done, but you just can't seem to bring yourself to start, and then you might Procrastinate or productively procrastinate, as I call it, avoid, forget, suppress, might be a better word, right? Just because you just cannot seem to bring yourself to go, to get going, okay?

If that has ever happened to you, This episode is for you. And let's be honest, who hasn't that happened to? I mean, it's incredibly normal for that to happen. I think that this is something that probably happens perhaps a little more often in individuals with ADHD. And it also is probably a little bit more difficult for people with ADHD to overcome this.

Not to minimize the experience of neurotypicals. [00:02:00] Those who have a neurotypical brain. This is something that you struggle with too, right? This is something that we all can relate to. But I'm going to be offering two things today. Number one, I'm going to be pointing out moments where this is happening that you might not even realize.

Okay? And that's not to be all gloom and doom. Really that is to help you recognize Opportunities to practice this, this skill, the skill of getting started when you have no motivation. So I'm going to be pointing those out to you. And number two, more importantly, probably why you are, why you are all here is strategies.

So strategies that you can apply. Tangible, tactical, practical strategies that you can apply and use. Today, that is the plan. Alright, so I want you to start by thinking about the places, the times, the tasks where this shows up for you. Okay, [00:03:00] think about your day. Think about if you kind of close your eyes and go through your day from start to finish.

Where do you see, I'm laughing because I could see one right at the beginning, which is getting out of bed, right? I think that's a little bit different than what we're talking about here. But granted some of these strategies will probably help you with this as well. But there are lots of times where this is, where this will show up and I want you to start looking at where it's showing up for you.

I guarantee you there are patterns. Some of you might be aware of what those patterns are. You might already know. Oh Teresa, I know. It is session notes. It is Scoring a test, uh, you know, standardized. test, or maybe it's writing up the evaluation report, maybe it's something at home like doing dishes, laundry is a common one, right?

So you might already know what the patterns are, but you might not also, you might have just sort of, might not have ever really kind of stopped to [00:04:00] think what the patterns are. And if you are aware of your patterns, I want you to take it a level deeper. I want you to go one level deeper and ask yourself this question and really answer this question, which is, what do those tasks have in common?

Like, okay, we've identified that it happens always with laundry, or it is very likely to happen with writing an evaluation report. So what is it about those things that bring up that resistance, okay? And I also want to offer that there might not be patterns. where this is showing up. I think there probably, there probably will be some patterns.

Yes, but there's also going to be times where it's a task or an activity that you don't typically have a problem starting, and for whatever reason you might just be feeling stuck. Like, I just can't get going. Normally this isn't an issue, but for whatever reason [00:05:00] today I'm having a hard time getting going.

I cannot bring myself to start this. Okay, so think about that as well. Alright, so a couple of common scenarios I already mentioned in terms of work, uh, session notes, um, starting an evaluation report or scoring an evaluation report, that was always one for me, scoring the report or scoring the test.

Sometimes it's responding to emails. Sometimes it's stuff at home, like, uh, making phone calls for, uh, you know, annoying phone calls, like calling the insurance company, the health insurance company, to go through a bill that was incorrect. Or it might be paying a bill that isn't on autopay and I have to figure out where all the login information is and, you know, get that information.

So those are some common ones. [00:06:00] It could also be like your frequent flyers, like I said, doing the dishes or tackling laundry. So lots of opportunities for this to happen and lots of opportunities for you to practice what we're talking about. Alright, now, I want to start out by dispelling, if you will, one common myth that I hear people say that I have fallen victim to, if you will, you know, it's just sort of like a trap that we get stuck in and that is the belief that in order to take action on something you have to feel motivated beforehand.

That is not true. often the case. In fact, I would say many times it is not the case. It is not necessary for you to feel motivated [00:07:00] in order to take action. It's not. And here's how you know if you have gotten stuck in this trap. You'll find yourself thinking or saying something like this. I've got to exercise, but I'm just not motivated.

I'm just not in the mood. So let's start tomorrow. I'll do it tomorrow. Or you'll say something like, Oh, you know, I really need to clean the bathrooms or clean the whatever, but I gotta be in the right mood to do that. And today is not the day. I'm just not. I'm not in the mood. I'm not in that kind of mood today.

Or I've got an evaluation report to write but I know that I'm not in that mood right now. I'm not really thinking up like that way. I'm not feeling like I'm firing on all cylinders. So I'm just gonna wait until I really feel inspired and then [00:08:00] I'll sit down and I will crank it out. Okay. Now, if you've ever said that, thought that, any versions of that, you then have this belief that you need to feel motivated beforehand in order to take action.

And I'm here to tell you that you can take action without feeling motivated. In fact, sometimes it is the action that creates the motivation. Sometimes it is you getting started. that builds the motivation, creates the momentum, and helps you complete the task. But if you keep sitting around waiting to feel motivated, you're never going to get it done, or it's going to take you a whole lot longer than it needs to.

Okay? An important distinction here is, [00:09:00] and I'm trying to think of how to articulate this because I've definitely said on the podcast and said in webinars and talked with clients about listening to your body and listening to your energy and your rhythms and recognizing what time of day do you tend to feel creative?

What time of day do you tend to feel more, you know, procedural and like you can take on those administrative tasks? What time of day do you tend to be low energy and you need to do things that don't require a lot of cognitive load? Right? That's different. That is A strategy that you can use in service of yourself and to help you create a schedule or a rhythm, a daily rhythm that supports you and works with you instead of against you.

That is different than this. That's different than Me telling you that you don't have to be [00:10:00] motivated to take action, that you don't have to feel like doing it in order to take action. That is different, okay? There are lots of times where I know I have to do something and I just can't bring myself to do it, even though I might be in, it might be an activity that is in a time of day that I normally am in that kind of a mood and ready to do.

Like, podcasting is a perfect example. Okay. But what if, imagine if you had the ability to create that motivation? What a superpower that would be, right? If you could create that motivation for yourself, if you could take action and then create that motivation, what if there were things that you could do to overcome that hurdle?

That's what we're going to be talking about today. Okay, so [00:11:00] you're probably wondering how, right? Like, how? How do we do this? Teresa, how can I? You're telling me I can take action without feeling motivated. But how do I do that? How do I do that? So, there are a number of strategies that I'm going to walk you through.

It's about, I think I've got about five. So we're going to get to that. But first I want to explore this concept of motivation. Because I think this is really important. What do you mean when you say I'm not motivated? What do you, what are you saying? What do you mean when you say I am not motivated to do X, Y, Z?

Okay. Well, do you mean There needs to be a why, there needs to be a big reason, that a drive that creates that motivation for you. Do you mean that there needs to be, you need to be, you know, have all of your physical [00:12:00] needs met where you are fed, right? You're not hungry, you're not thirsty, you have enough energy, you're not tired.

Does that, Is it a reward? Is it, I need to, you know, and I, I need to give myself some sort of a reward system so that when this thing is done, I get this reward for it. And that will help me stay focused and stay on track during those moments when I feel like quitting. Or that will get me started because I know that at the end of it, I'm going to get X, Y, Z, right?

Really what I'm talking about here are two different types of motivation. Intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. And I know many of you who are listening probably already know what that is. But just in case, intrinsic motivation refers to motivation that comes from within, within you. So it's something internal that is driving you.

to take action. [00:13:00] So it could be curiosity, it could be enjoyment, it could be something that you enjoy doing, it could be feeling proud and satisfied and accomplished when you are doing it, right? Those are intrinsic motivators, and those quite frankly are the most powerful, but extrinsic motivation then. Is also at play here and we got to look at that.

We got to talk about that because we can utilize that as well. So extrinsic motivation is motivation that comes from outside of you. It's motivation that comes from others. So that would be like a reward like I was talking about or it would be, um, maybe it could be something negative. factor, a negative consequence that you're trying to avoid, like maybe a deadline that you have to meet, and if you don't meet that deadline, you're going to get written up at work or you'll be put on a performance improvement [00:14:00] plan.

Maybe it is an extrinsic motivation might be knowing that you've got people hounding you to submit this report to them. You want to get them off your back, so you just want to get it done, right? So intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and both of these are at play here. And let's be honest, a lot of the things that you struggle to get started with, probably.

are things that you do not feel very intrinsically motivated to do, right? I don't think there's very many of you who are listening who love to write reports, who enjoy writing reports, who enjoy doing laundry, who enjoy writing session notes. Okay, let's be honest. There are lots of parts of our jobs, both our jobs that we are paid for and our jobs that we do as spouses, partners, um, adult children, [00:15:00] caring for parents, um, parents with young children, right?

There's a lot of things in our roles, a lot of responsibilities that we have as people serving those roles. Don't really connect to our intrinsic motivation. We aren't really very intrinsically motivated to do them. I go through them all the time, right? I'm thinking of all the stuff with, you know, running a household.

So it can be very difficult to get started when you lack that intrinsic motivation. And one way that you can help push yourself and get yourself to overcome that is by creating some extrinsic motivators. So an accountability buddy or creating a deadline for yourself or filling out a habit tracker or giving yourself a reward.

a celebration when you're done, right? So sometimes we need to create those extrinsic motivators in [00:16:00] order to bring ourself to take action. And that is, that is one thing that I want you to consider. I also want you to consider this though. What if there are ways that you could tap into that intrinsic motivation and create it for yourself?

So hear me out. I know that you don't like writing reports, right, but don't you love the feeling when it's done? Don't you love just having that off of your shoulders, off of your to do list, off of your brain, out of your mind, right? Once it's done, you are free. I mean, granted, there's probably a bunch of other reports that are waiting in the wings, right, for you to write, but One thing that has helped me is to create that intrinsic motivation by thinking about how I will feel when it is done.

How am I going to feel when this thing is done? And I just imagine that for a minute and I think of that as a form of [00:17:00] self care. I really do. I think of that as a form of self care. Like this thing is on my mind. I don't want to do it, but I know I have to do it. And when it's done, I'm going to feel so much better.

So one of the ways that I can take care of myself right now is to just get this thing done. I'll be that much. It'll be, you know, the faster I do it, the faster I can enjoy. Having finished that thing and then move on to the things that I want to do. So sometimes I have had success with creating intrinsic motivation that way.

So that might be a big leap for some of you. It might, you might be rolling your eyes and think that's impossible, but others, you might be open to it. Try it out if you are. It's worked for me. It doesn't work up with a hundred percent, you know, it's not a hundred percent of the time, but it has absolutely been a skill that I have strengthened over time and it has worked well.

So, all right, [00:18:00] I'm going to give you though some tactical, tangible, practical strategies, like I said, because those that I've discussed so far are a little bit more You know, elusive, a little bit more, you have to sort of, it's a mindset, you sort of have to have to create that yourself. But I'm going to give you some five tangible things that you can try in addition to what we've already discussed.

Just to help you get going when you have zero motivation. Alright, so the first thing that you can try is to lower the expectation. Whatever barrier there is to getting started, lower it, like whatever you have to do first, whatever that first step is, think about how you can break that down even smaller.

For example, [00:19:00] if it's exercise that we're talking about that you want to do or need to do and have zero motivation, instead of thinking about, I gotta get to the gym, start with putting on your sneakers, your gym shoes. Lower the barrier. Make it ridiculously easy and simple that you can't fail. You can't not do it, right?

Just start there because sometimes your brain is thinking about the whole thing. Your brain is thinking about the entire thing that you have to do and not thinking about, and then that can create sort of overwhelm and. prevents you from recognizing just the first simple step that you can take. Okay? So lower the barrier.

Take that first step. So for me, maybe it would be, if it's laundry, maybe it's, you know, gathering the dirty clothes from wherever they are, okay? Maybe [00:20:00] it is, if it's a report, maybe the first step is opening the file on your computer or getting the test protocols that you've scored, okay? So, like, the easiest, simplest thing you can do, start there, okay?

That's the first strategy. The second thing is something that you might already do. I'm sure you've heard of this, but it is taking something that you don't like to do and making it a little bit more enjoyable. And this is, I think, one of those really simple, obvious strategies that so many of us overlook.

So this could be putting on your favorite song while you are folding laundry or watching a show. Once I started pairing Netflix with laundry, I started actually, dare I say, enjoying the process. I started to enjoy it a little bit more because I knew that I would get to watch my show and I could do it guilt free because I was [00:21:00] folding laundry.

I didn't have to feel bad about it. I was getting something done and then laundry's folded. I sit back. I relax. I enjoy. Okay, so make it enjoyable. I remember somebody telling me that they hated doing laundry. And when we really looked at why, it was because of the environment, the laundry room. It's in the basement.

It's, you know, kind of dark and dingy. It's messy. And no one wants to go down there. Like, you just don't feel good when you're in that type of space. So we changed the environment. Clean it up, add in, um, some, you know, new baskets, put in some, put, hang some things on the wall, do something to make it a little more enjoyable.

If we're talking about doing a work task, it could be lighting a candle. Well, not if you're working in a school or something like that, but you get the idea. You can light a candle, you can put on music, you can get yourself one of your favorite drinks. And that will help you to overcome [00:22:00] that, that initial barrier as well.

So. Whatever it is that you're doing, find a way to make it more enjoyable. A little less painful. Okay? Third thing is, and this is essentially like a reward, but it's a little bit different. It's something called temptation bundling. Where something that you love to do, And that you might start to do in avoidance of the thing you don't want to do.

You then tell yourself that, okay, I'm only going to let myself do that when this is done. Or when I've started this task. Might not even be when this task is done. It might just be after I've started it. So, here's an example for you. This is a little embarrassing, but I'll just go ahead and share it.

Whatever. My children introduced me to this game. It's called Snake or something. It's kind of like, it's not like this actually, but do you [00:23:00] remember with the Nokia phones where you could play Snake? That's what I just thought of. It's called Snake or something like that. You play it on, I play it on the iPad.

And it's this just stupid little, like, video game on the iPad that is ridiculously addictive. And they introduced it to me and now I, like, I cannot stop playing it. I mean, that's not really true. I've definitely stopped playing it, but you get the idea, right? I noticed that over the, you know, last month or so, I would avoid doing work by playing that game.

And you just get sucked in, you know? If you know, you know. So, I decided that I would only allow myself to play that game after I had done X, Y, Z. And it's not always the same. X, Y, Z is not always the same. I just sort of set a, set a goal and I then say, okay, that game will be my reward. So the thing that I used to use to avoid doing the task now becomes my [00:24:00] reward after I start the task.

And that has actually been really helpful for me. But you've got to find something that is tempting enough that you'll want, you'll look forward to getting this task done or starting this task so that you can get to the temptation. But it's not so tempting that you can't control yourself from doing it sooner, okay?

So you gotta, you gotta find the line, okay? But that's essentially temptation bundling or rewarding yourself when you have. started a task. And notice that I keep saying starting the task. Sometimes I've said finish the task, but I purposely been saying starting the task. And that is intentional because the fourth strategy that I have for you is to only require yourself to start.

Instead of thinking about I've got to write an evaluation report, just require [00:25:00] yourself to do it for five minutes, right? It's that Two or five minute rule. I think that's in David Allen's getting things done. If I'm not mistaken. It's a great strategy Especially for those with ADHD Just do it for two minutes.

Just do it for five minutes. Just do it for ten minutes. Whatever you get to decide This was really helpful for one of my clients when we were working on incorporating Exercise into her daily routine. The goal became walk on the on the treadmill for five minutes And wouldn't you know, not only did she hit that goal every time, nine times out of ten she was doing it for more than five minutes and that's the thing.

Getting started is the hardest part. Getting started is the hardest part. Once you've gotten going, you can keep going. It's so much easier, right? It's physics, a theory of physics. So an object in motion stays in motion. You just have to get [00:26:00] yourself in motion. So change the expectation to the point where you just have to do it for two or five minutes and start there, okay?

And then the last strategy that I'm going to offer you is one that I use I use this very frequently and it is to use a timer to, to signal me when to get started. So I know Mel Robbins has like her, what is it? Is it 54321GO or is it 321GO? I don't know. She's got like that countdown thing that she uses and, um, you know, lots of different people have recommended.

strategies like this and in different flavors and different packaging, but essentially give yourself some sort of a countdown to get going. So what has worked well for me is setting a timer on my phone or setting an alarm on my phone. And when that goes off, that's when I have to start. And that has helped me to take [00:27:00] action and sometimes I use that when I like have to, when I'm maybe comfortable sitting somewhere and I need to get going.

Alright, I'm like, alright, I'm gonna get up, gonna get up in five seconds. Five, four, three, two, one, go. Right? And it's just kind of, that was quicker than five seconds, but you get the idea. It gets me going. So use some sort of version of that, a countdown method to help you take action. Okay? All right, so just to quickly recap, five tangible strategies for you.

Lower the barrier to beginning. So make that very first step ridiculously easy. Make the task enjoyable. Make it something pleasurable, something exciting, something about it that you enjoy. Give yourself a reward at the end, something that you really, really enjoy. motivated by or tempted by and it's your reward after you've started.

[00:28:00] Set yourself up with a time limit. Instead of having to work on it for until it's done, you just do it for five minutes. You just do it for two minutes, whatever works for you. And then last but not least, the countdown method. Give yourself some sort of timer or countdown to help you get started. All right?

So there you have it, five strategies to help you get going when you have zero motivation. Last but not least, I just want to let you know that during the month of March, every Wednesday, in the SLP support group on Facebook, I'll be going live at 12 noon Eastern. to do a deeper dive or spinoff of these topics.

So when this episode airs, uh, it will come out on, I think it's Tuesday, March 4th. So Wednesday, March 5th at noon Eastern in the SLP Support Group. I'll be going live, Facebook Live, to talk about [00:29:00] this topic. But a little bit more, you know, I, it's different every week. I honestly can't tell you what the exact topic will be this week because I don't know yet.

And sometimes I just kind of decide what mood I'm in as I go. But if you like this content, if this is helpful for you and you want more of it, make sure you're in the SLP support group. So you'll have access and I would love to have you there. So come and join us. All right. That's it for today's episode.

Talk to y'all soon.