Exertion and Relaxation – Dealing with Lack of Motivation

Imagine driving a car. When you are driving on a highway, at times you accelerate. At times you take your foot off the accelerator. You don’t brake, unless you have really sped.

So you take your foot off the accelerator, and as your car starts to slow down a bit more, you put your foot on it again.

A bad driver uses brakes to slow down and accelerate to speed up. But a good driver will put his/her foot on the accelerator to speed up, and take it off that pedal rather than braking – because braking always has a sense of abruptness to it.

Similarly, in general life as well, when you want to focus on any healthy task, the greatest secret to a good engagement is knowing when to exert (mentally) and when to relax. Relaxing is taking your foot off the gas pedal and exerting is pushing it.

When you feel lazy, or dozing off, at that time you have to refresh your concentration and that refreshing is done by exerting. Soon you will feel tired by the way – that is what happens when you exert. If I clench my fist, how long can I keep it clenched? Very soon I am gonna get tired, and then I have to relax. To maintain that firm grip, I have to maintain that balance – between exertion and relaxation. That balance comes with practice.

Let’s put this discussion down in three simple steps-

Step1: Finding a Healthy Task

The task needs to be such which calms your mind and elevates your spirit.

Step2: Exertion

When you are feeling lazy, mentally exert yourself and make yourself focus on the task you found in Step1 (for as long as you can exert). It is similar to putting your foot on the accelerator while driving.

Step3: Relaxation

Soon you will feel tired from the exertion. Then is the time to relax – take your foot off the accelerator.

Summing Up..

When you feel lazy, you exert – mentally. When you feel a little restless from that exertion, when you feel tired from that exertion, slow down – take your foot off the gas pedal, and simply relax.

This art – this fine balance of relaxation and exertion – is at the heart of any good activity.

When you exert too much, your mind becomes restless and really agitated. When you relax too much, inactivity and laziness develop.

Think of your mind as a small child. You can’t always be firm with the child. Some days you have to pat, sometimes you have to cajole, sometimes you have to pacify, other times you have to be firm – same goes with your mind. Every single person’s mind is unique. You have to pay attention to what is the best method that works for you. When it comes to getting yourself to do a healthy task though, it’s going to be within this framework of exertion and relaxation. If you know when to exert and when to relax, you have championed the art of managing your mind.

Activity-

Try this technique on one healthy task and share with us how it went.