so basically i was at a company retreat, think its been like 6 months since, and we were doing a teambuilding activity. we each had to go around and say a quote that had made a meaningful difference in our lives. one of my coworkers offered the phrase: ‘never waste a motivated moment’. as he explained himself, his story started to really resonate with me. having the sparks of motivation at 3am, but not the follow through. having the feeling of being destined for more, but no results to prove it. being told to ‘be more disciplined’. being told to just ‘plan more’ or ‘build good habits’, but nothing ever seemed to stick.
he explained it more eloquently than i will here, but the phrase is about letting those sparks of motivation catch fire. sparks are weak on their own. the 3am motivation dies the next morning when you wake up. your plan to ‘go to the gym later’ gets thwarted by some unanticipated plans. but turning those precious motivated moments into just a few minutes of action gives you something to look back on, and be proud of. the spark turns into a flame that can sustain itself. and as you continue to act on it, the flame only burns brighter.
i can honestly say that listening to his advice has changed the trajectory my life has been on. i’ve gone from needing every productivity trick in the book to do an hour of leetcode, to putting in 10-12 hour work sessions regularly. i’ve gone from not knowing if i could live up to my ‘potential’ to more conviction in myself than is responsible. it may be hard to see the fruits of the labor, but i can feel it compounding. all you need to do is turn that feeling of ‘i really want to do that right now’, into doing it right now
so what do you say? are you gonna waste this motivated moment?