Readiness Fallacy · also called waiting to feel like it
why does the motivation never show up when I need it
The readiness fallacy is the belief that motivation or confidence has to arrive before you act, when the sequence actually runs the other way — the feeling of being ready gets manufactured by having already started. Waiting for it guarantees you wait forever, because it only shows up after the first move, never before it.
The feeling was never coming first. It was waiting for you to move so it would finally have something to follow.
What to do about it
Do the smallest physical version of the task in the next sixty seconds, before you check whether you feel ready to.
Books that work on this
Each is a 90-day programme. Start with the first — later books assume the work in the earlier ones.
Discipline Over Motivation$6.99
Standards Beat Goals$6.99
Show Up Anyway$6.99
Move Before Mood$6.99
Discipline Versus Motivation$6.99
The Discipline Blueprint$6.99
The Iron Routine$6.99
Crushing Soft Habits$6.99Part of the Discipline series.
How people say it
Nobody looks this up by its clinical name. These are the ways it actually gets said.
- I never feel ready to start
- waiting to feel motivated before I do anything
- why does the motivation never show up when I need it
- I need to feel in the right headspace before I begin
- how do I start something when I do not feel like it
- I keep waiting for the right moment to begin
- confidence never arrives before I actually need it to
Written by Brian Spiker, who has run Spiker Carpet and Tile Care since 2013 — the receipts. More terms in the encyclopedia.