Earn Your Coffee – A Mantra for Your Motivation
Have you earned your coffee today? That is the mantra that has been pinballing in my head the last couple days. Lately I’ve been having a hard time finding the drive to push myself on my normal day to day tasks, which is usual for me this time of the year. My routine usually is to get up, make some coffee, exercise, do chores, and then finally settle into doing my work. This routine works well when it’s a warm and bright day out and it feels good to get up and stretch out into the sun. With the winter slowly approaching this routine starts to seem more like a chore in and of itself than a reward to start the day. It made me think, instead of trying to push through the urge to stay in bed and fight the monotony, how can I change the routine to make it feel more rewarding?
I asked myself, “What is the one thing you truly enjoy during your mornings? What makes your eyebrows relax, your jaw unclench, and your shoulders drop every time you do it?” For me it is coffee. Your coffee could be anything though, playing with your dog, scrolling your feed, talking to a significant other, or going for a walk. Search within yourself and find what it is that makes you feel good.
In order to reprogram myself to push through the morning and make it feel rewarding again, I moved my coffee to the last thing I do, just before I start my work. Whenever I start feeling a bit sluggish and wanting to give up on my morning routine, I ask myself, “Have you earned your coffee today?” The potential downside to this is you have to be honest with yourself, you must look deep inside and ignore that voice that says “Yes, of course I’ve earned it,” regardless if you have or not. If you feel that is going to be a problem for you, that voice is easily subverted by using a list. Write down all the things you have to do, when everything is checked off then you know you have earned your coffee.
I hope you can take this and apply to your own life if you feel like the doldrums of fall and winter are getting to you. Think of all the things you have accomplished so far and all the things you still have left to do, let it spark a fire within you and motivate you. Earn your coffee.
