24. Lacking Motivation? Here’s the Real Reason

Hi, I’m Natalie Ottosen and you are listening to The Mindset School for Soulful Entrepreneurs, episode number 24.

Welcome to The Mindset School podcast, a show for spiritual entrepreneurs who are ready to stop feeling stuck, reconnect to their soul’s purpose, and create a deeply fulfilling life and business. I’m Natalie Ottosen, transformational life coach, and reconnection healing foundational practitioner, and I can help you scale and grow a six-figure business from a place of inner authority, wisdom, knowledge, and truth.

If you are a spiritual entrepreneur and you are looking to take that first step towards your dream of running your own business, this is the show for you. Ready to step into your power and move forward with clarity and purpose? Let’s go.

Hello, spiritual entrepreneurs and welcome back. I don’t know if it’s the heat, if it’s mercury retrograde or if I got bit by the I don’t want to do anything bug, but my lack of motivation has been off the charts these last two weeks. Raise your hand if you can relate. Obviously today, if it isn’t obvious, I want to talk about lack of motivation because the last episode I talked about processing heavy emotion. And I think sometimes when we do things like processing heavy emotion or release what’s going on inside of us, there can be somewhat of an integration period that takes place, and it can kind of show up as lack of motivation.

So over the last two weeks I have not been able to do anything. I’ve kind of been in what you would call a funk and I haven’t been able to really show up like I normally like to do. I haven’t been sending out my emails. I haven’t been posting on social media. I haven’t been meeting in my groups. I haven’t been doing a lot of the things that I do on a normal basis. And I really needed to kind of take a step inward and just allow myself to take a step back from all the external things and allow myself to just process what came up for me.

So I wanted to talk about lack of motivation today because I know that this shows up for me regularly. I don’t know about you, but I know that this is something that shows up in my life, and sometimes it’s a matter of giving myself the time that I need. Sometimes it’s giving myself a kick in the butt. Sometimes it’s giving myself a break, whatever that ends up looking like, and whatever lack of motivation. And I’m using the term lack of motivation because that’s what we think it is but sometimes it can be lots of different things.

And so I thought it might be helpful to talk about this topic because as spiritual entrepreneurs, as we’re building businesses, as we’re wearing many hats, as a mother who takes care of my family, as a wife, as a spiritual entrepreneur. All of the many hats that I’m wearing, we can get overwhelmed, we can get bogged down. It can show up in so many different ways. And so it can look like lack of motivation and so I wanted to talk about this a little bit more so that we can see what lack of motivation looks like for you and for me and maybe address how we can overcome lack of motivation.

So ultimately what is lack of motivation? I went to Google to see what their answer was, and lack of motivation is essentially lack of passion. There are no goals, desires, or willingness to work. You simply don’t want to do anything, there is no faking it like laziness does. Lack of motivation is usually a deeper psychological problem and could have some elements of depression. I also looked a little bit further and it gave me eight symptoms of low motivation.

And that can show up as you’re easily overwhelmed. You have no idea what you want. You lose control of your physical health. Lacking motivation has become part of your identity. You procrastinate all the time. You lack ambition. You favor motivation over habits, or you feel lost. When we look at lack of motivation, I think it’s important to look at some of the reasons why lack of motivation might be showing up because as spiritual entrepreneurs, when we experience this phase in our life there can be reasons why.

And I shared with you one of the reasons why I believe lack of motivation was showing up for me over the last two weeks. It was some circumstances that I was getting triggered by in my personal life and then also doing some healing energetic work that was releasing some of this. And then I was going through the integration process. Some other reasons why we could be having lack of motivation is we need some self-care. Spiritual work is deeply emotional and can be energetically demanding.

If you are feeling like you don’t want to do anything, it could be a sign that you need to rest and recharge, your body and your spirit may be asking for a pause. I think in the process of expanding your spiritual and self-awareness, it’s important to start honoring what your body is asking of you. And what my body was asking of me over the last two weeks is that I’m not going to pretend that I’m okay to go post on social media and I’m going to honor what my body needs, which was some rest, some relaxation, a pause to allow myself to process and integrate what came up for me over the last two weeks.

Sometimes it can be a spiritual re-evaluation. Lack of desire to engage in your work might signal that a re-evaluation of your spiritual path or your business direction, it could be needed. Are you still feeling aligned with your purpose and the methods that you are using? I think it’s important to ask yourself these questions and maybe work with somebody like a coach or a therapist or even chatting with a friend can be helpful. But I think allowing yourself to evaluate that could be an important thing for you when you are experiencing lack of motivation.

Another thing is potential burnout. We are constantly being bombarded all the time. We’re having to create reels. We’re having to show up on social media. We’re having to do the emails. We’re having to run the businesses, all of the things all at the same time. And it is not uncommon for spiritual entrepreneurs who are working to create these beautiful businesses to feel potential burnout. And especially when you’re working with clients on a deep and personal level or again, you’re managing your business and you’re wearing all of these different hats, it really can lead to burnout if it’s not balanced properly.

So again, going back to that self-care, how are you taking care of yourself? This can manifest again as lack of motivation or desire to do anything. Another one is energetic blockages. It is possible that there is an energetic blockage or imbalance that might be at play here and you may need to assess and heal what’s hindering that low energy flow.

I was on a discovery call this morning and I was chatting with a potential client about money. And the topic of money came up and her wanting to create more money in her business is something that she would like to have in her life. And it was so fascinating because in her astrology chart she had the potential for money to be abundant in her life. And I offered her that she needed to do some work around blocks around money because it’s there, it’s available, it’s showing up for her in her chart.

And that whether she decides to work with me or work on her own or work with somebody else, that ultimately this money block, it’s there and that can show up in our lives. And if we are working towards these businesses or these goals and we’ve got these blocks because of belief systems that we’ve developed over our lives or past lives, if you believe in that, ultimately we need to go in and clear them so that we can clear the path to be able to move forward.

Another one is astrological or human design influences. Your lack of motivation, it could be tied to certain astrological transits or elements in your chart or in your human design that are temporarily impacting your drive. Maybe it’s your progressed moon has moved into a part of your chart that’s asking you to go in and do more interpersonal work. It may be beneficial to examine these aspects for a more clear understanding of what’s going on for you personally, which is something that I can help with.

Sometimes the desire to do nothing might be a call to go again, inward and reconnect with our spiritual source or intuition. Maybe it’s an invitation to seek greater understanding within ourselves. It can be an invitation to deepen into our connection to our higher self rather than focusing on external actions or accomplishments. Maybe we need to question our commitments. If the feeling persists, it might be a sign to question the commitments on your current path. Are they aspects of your work that no longer resonate with you? Are you being called to pivot or make significant changes?

One of the things I love doing with my clients is a value survey. Is your path where you’re headed still in alignment with the values that are important to you? Maybe you need to check in with that and find out what do you value the very most and am I moving in alignment with that? The other thing it can be is seasonal or cyclical patterns. I know many people who have cyclical patterns where they just need to go inward. So recognizing that motivation and energy levels, they can be cyclical, and they can be influenced by many various external factors. Some of them can be lunar cycles or even personal life events.

Again, being able to go in and do the inner work of inner child work or looking at our belief systems. We can go back and see what’s going on inside of us that may be cyclical or seasonal patterns that are showing up in our lives that are creating those lack of motivations for us. So this could be a temporary phase that will pass as you navigate through it. It can also be a potential for growth. This period might be an incubation phase where ideas and inspiration are brewing beneath the surface.

So as I was going through this over the last two weeks, yesterday I kind of had this epiphany as I was sitting on the couch because since I’m now offering the shortcut to enlightenment, which is where we go in and look at your north node, which is your life purpose. It’s kind of your karma in this life and it’s areas that you can jump into to help move you forward.

I had this idea that I can do coaching sessions and tie it directly to astrology. And I kind of had this huge, just kind of wow idea on how I can do that. And I’m so excited to be talking about this soon to offer this to you guys because sometimes when we go into this lack of motivation period. This really is a time for inspiration to kind of cumulate and cultivate inside of us. And it allows us to, instead of seeing it as a problem we can view it as a valuable time to really kind of reflect and grow and maybe even eventually transform through the process.

I want to talk really quickly about what lack of motivation doesn’t mean, because I think that this is equally important, especially in the context of being a spiritual entrepreneur. So here are a few things that I want you to keep in mind.

Number one, lack of motivation is not failure. Feeling unmotivated does not mean you have failed as a spiritual entrepreneur or along your path. It is so common, and it is so human, and it is so normal to experience lack of motivation or feeling unmotivated and it does not reflect your overall success or potential.

Number two is it doesn’t mean lack of spiritual connection. Just because you are feeling unmotivated, it doesn’t necessarily indicate loss of spiritual connection or alignment. It might just be a temporary state that requires some introspection like I talked about a minute ago, but it is definitely not a judgment of your spiritual authenticity or depth.

Number three is it’s not a permanent state. This feeling doesn’t mean that you will never be motivated or passionate about work ever again. Emotions and states of being ebb and flow. This is likely a temporary phase for you as well. It doesn’t mean that you lack skills or capabilities. Experiencing a lack of desire to do anything doesn’t mean that you lack the skills, talents, or capabilities needed to succeed in your field in order to become the successful entrepreneur. It also doesn’t mean lack of care for your clients. This does not mean that you don’t care about your clients or your mission.

It might be a sign that you need to care for yourself in order to continue serving others effectively. It also doesn’t mean that it’s a sign to abandon your path. While introspection could be warranted, this feeling alone does not mean that you should abandon your spiritual entrepreneurship journey. It might mean that you need to adjust or shift what’s going on, but it doesn’t necessarily signal a need to quit entirely. It doesn’t reflect on who you are morally or ethically as a spiritual practitioner. It could just be a personal experience that doesn’t have any bearing on your integrity or ethical approach to your work.

It can also be an uncommon experience, you are not alone in feeling this way and it doesn’t mean that something is inherently wrong with you or your approach. Many entrepreneurs, spiritual or otherwise, experience similar feelings many times, various times, all the time. Raise your hand if you feel this way. It also is not a quick fix. It’s likely not something that can be instantly fixed or ignored.

While it might not be something major, it may require you to do some thoughtful reflection, some self-care, maybe even seeking some professional support to understand and help you navigate through it, like working with a coach or working with a therapist. It also doesn’t mean that it’s a reflection of your entire journey. This feeling is a snapshot in this moment, in this time and it doesn’t define your entire spiritual entrepreneurial journey.

And I just want to say in conclusion of all of this, every single one of these is how I felt over the last two weeks. I felt like I was morally failing. I felt like I was just failing in general. I felt like I lacked connection. I felt like this was permanent, that I lacked skills and capability, that I was not caring for my clients, that I was abandoning my path. All of the things, I felt all of these over the last two weeks as I was feeling this lack of innovation and dealing and processing what was going on.

So I just want you to remember that lack of motivation or desire to do anything does not necessarily signal failure, loss of skill, need to abandon your path, any of that. It may require you to have some compassionate exploration, but doesn’t undermine your overall purpose, success, or value in your field. And it is so beneficial to approach this experience with curiosity and compassion and grace for yourself.

Using it as an opportunity to go deeper into self-exploration and understanding and being able to go in and utilize some of the tools that I’ve given you so far in this podcast like meditation, maybe hiring somebody for energy healing. Maybe hiring somebody to find out some of these astrological insights that can help provide clarity and guidance in this phase that you’re going through.

And if the feeling persists, maybe you seek support from a therapist or you hire a coach or a mentor or a fellow spiritual practitioner to help you through this process. Because I think there’s nothing more valuable than having somebody that you know that you can talk to every single week to help you through this very normal part of your journey that you’re experiencing.

I hope that this was helpful for you today. As always, if you have any questions or you’re needing any further help in this process of dealing with your own lack of motivation, what it looks like, how to find your motivation again and you just need somebody to work with or talk to or share with, I’m here and I’m available. And you can always find me @soulsistercoaching on Instagram. I hope you have a fabulous rest of your day and stay cool. It’s hot out there, you guys. Alright, I’ll see you next week. All my love.

Thank you for joining me for this week’s episode of The Mindset School. Ready to dive deeper into finding your purpose and create a deeply fulfilling life? Visit soulsistercoaching.com for more guidance and resources. See you next week.