Demotivate Yourself Now

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Look for Reasons NOT to Do Something

Your primary purpose in life is to try to maintain the status quo. The sad truth is you have to demotivate yourself daily in order to do this. However, occasionally – OK, very rarely in your case – you get this weird feeling in your body.

At first, you have no idea what it is. Vaguely you get the sense that it is somehow connected with a wild thought you entertained yesterday. This strange sensation you are experiencing – perhaps for the first time – is that you actually want to DO something with this crazy new idea.

Whoa, Bud. Demotivate yourself now. Careful there not to get yourself all hot and bothered by this insane notion. Like the Good Book says,

“This too, shall pass.”

Fight it. Resist it. Defeat it at all costs. Trust me, this is the best way to demotivate yourself.

Better you settle down and direct that over-active mind of yours towards something more practical like creating a new list of excuses just in case you eat a bad batch of nachos and cheese which causes you to take action before you have a chance to think this all through.

Seriously now! Get a hold of yourself.

Yup, a thorough list of excuses can save your bacon in tricky situations like this. It’s one of the most effective ways to demotivate yourself. So let’s not waste any time, lest that urge strikes and you find yourself doing something worthwhile.

Excuses, Excuses

Here’s a few great excuses to get you started. Most people accept these without question because they are valid and airtight, especially in your case. You’ll be safe with these:

Who am I, Einstein? I couldn’t figure that out in a million years!
Do you realize how much time (effort, money, connections, etc.) that would take?
What… and be the laughing stock of my family and friends? Look what happened to…
Who am I kidding to attempt something so far-fetched?
It seemed like a good idea at the time but I’m really not that interested.

This list should suffice. After all, to come up with any more on your own would take even more effort. We certainly can’t have any of that, can we?

If, for some reason, people (like that smart aleck brother-in-law for example) don’t buy into these solid excuses, pretty much any “I can’t, I wouldn’t, I’m not” kind of thought will have you rapidly spinning off a plethora of even better excuses. Drown ‘em with enough excuses and they’ll eventually go away and leave you alone.

Can you think of a better way to demotivate yourself?

Let’s quickly recap:

#5 – Hang Out With Low Achievers
#4 – Cutting Down Achievers Makes You Appear Bigger
#3 – Stop Setting Goals
#2 – Look for Reasons NOT to Do Something

Note: Remember, this is a backwards, sarcastic way to look at motivation by taking the path of least resistance to demotivate yourself. You may want to go back to the first article in this series to truly appreciate the ‘humor’ of seeing motivation this way.