Why Feeling Unmotivated at Work Is Not the Problem You Think It Is
A friend told me recently that he is always late for work, not because of traffic, but because he feels unmotivated, and something in me went quiet, because I know that shame from the inside.
None of us want to feel unmotivated, most of us hope to be the person who wakes up with unstoppable energy, walks into the room like nothing weighs on them, and inspires everyone else just by showing up, yet so many of us secretly feel like the opposite, stuck somewhere we never meant to stay.
We get stuck when our careers stop giving us meaning, and while it helps when a company's vision lines up with what we value, I used to think that if a company failed to hand me a reason to care, I simply did not have one, and holding onto that belief cost me more than I expected.
Vision matters, because it lets us lift our eyes from the task in front of us and see the larger shape of what we are actually part of, and without it, the same job can feel like belonging on Monday and a cage by Thursday.
Even while we feel stuck, life keeps asking us to show up, we still owe rent, we still need to eat, and I told myself surviving was enough, until something happened that made survival feel like the cruelest word anyone had ever used around me, and I am still not sure I am ready to explain why.
I am ready now, and what happened next is the only reason I no longer wait to feel motivated before I start living.