You don't lack motivation*. You drown in distraction.

Believe it or not, a lack of motivation isn’t your problem.

The thing standing between you and your goals isn’t a lack of inspiration, a lack of time, or a lack of ambition.

You wake up most days with a clear idea of what you want to get done. You set goals, you have ideals, you make plans with friends and family, you buy groceries, you have your fitness aspirations, you have your to-do list on your desk… The motivation is there. The ideas are there. The desire to improve, to do better, to live healthier… it’s all there.

So… why does it feel impossible to get things done?

This post was inspired by an epic episode of Sam Webster Harris’ podcast, The Growth Mindset Podcast. I would highly recommend giving it a follow! He does an amazing job simplifying complex ideas into genuinely useful, excitingly concise episodes.

“Paris is too stimulating”

^ That’s what Victor Hugo (the guy who wrote The Hunchback of Notre Dame) told his publisher after being reprimanded for delaying the book time and time again.

Hugo kept getting caught-up in throwing soirées and hosting guests, or simply getting sucked into the bustling energy of Paris’ streets. While Hugo enjoyed the Paris lifestyle, his book stayed unwritten.

Hugo didn’t lack ambition; he wanted to finish the book.
Hugo didn’t lack motivation; he had a publisher sitting on his tail feathers waiting for the book to be done.
Hugo didn’t lack inspiration; he was surrounded by a beautiful city, and some of the richest art history we know today.

What Hugo lacked, however, was a world free of distractions.

Akrasia

The Greeks coined a term called Akrasia. It refers to a "lack of self-control" or "acting against one's better judgment." It describes Hugo’s predicament well. And it describes many people’s situations too — throughout history, right through to present day.

This isn’t new, and this isn’t uncommon.

Akrasia, procrastination, distraction, decision-fatigue… whatever you want to call it, it’s important to acknowledge that it’s something literally everyone has had to deal with at some point in their life.

Why is this significant? Because by acknowledging that, you immediately empower yourself.

By labelling your situation as distraction-rich, instead of motivation-less, you’ve automatically acknowledged that the problem isn’t you, it’s your environment.

You stop telling yourself that you don’t have enough — enough motivation, enough skills, enough ambition, enough time — and you start telling yourself that you are not in an environment suited to thriving.

A rose can’t grow in a desert. But that doesn’t make it a bad rose.

There are thousand tiny interruptions that batter you daily. The endless notifications. The five-second scroll that turns into 50 minutes. The emails that never stop. It’s the noise, the clutter, the relentless drip-feed of “urgent” over “important.”

We take the path of least resistance. It’s natural to do so. But, unfortunately, the path of least resistance tends to be a cellphone, a TV, or a YouTube recommendation… and not a quicker path to achieving our goals.

So what did Hugo do?

He took drastic action. He realised the outside world was too tempting. He couldn’t afford to go outside until he had written his book.

So, he locked away his clothes.

To eliminate the temptation of going out, he ordered his servant to confiscate his wardrobe, leaving him with nothing to wear except a large gray shawl. He turned his distraction-rich environment into one that forced focus.

No pants, no outside. Not until he was done writing for the day.

And then he finished The Hunchback of Notre Dame way ahead of schedule.

It wasn’t about finding more motivation. It was “simply” about creating an environment that removed temptation.

Environment > Willpower

Here’s the thing about distraction: it’s relentless. And willpower? Finite.

Every day, you’re up against the Attention Economy. It’s designed to hijack your focus.

Social media platforms, marketing campaigns, advertising, your email inbox, your notification centre, your chat apps, your games… everything is engineered to exploit your attention. Because that’s their currency.

You can out-swim a strong current. You can’t out-hustle distraction.

You have to build yourself a raft, and pull yourself out of the current. You have to change your environment.

Quick side-note: Distractions > Bad goals

I need to add something very important at this point: Distractions are a big part of the problem, sure; but struggling to get things done / struggling to achieve your goals could also very well come from having bad goals.

If you don’t actually want the thing that badly, it’ll always be an uphill struggle.
If you don’t believe in the goal, there’s no intrinsic desire to realise it.

Assess your goals. You might even just need to find step 1 before reaching for step 10.

Before gunning for a 21km, run a 5km. Before launching your company, sell your product to 10 people. Before losing 20kg, lose 2kg.

How to build a focus raft

1. Find a community

It’s so much easier going into these things with other people: You have accountability, you have access to other people’s ideas and techniques and tactics, and you have the feeling of showing up somewhere regularly, not needing to generate everything by yourself all the time.

You can create one yourself (you and some friends, all with similar goals in mind), or join an existing one. There are tons online, and a 5-minute ChatGPT conversation will give you a great place to start.

2. Don’t rely on willpower

James Clear has a great framework for sticking to things you set out to do. And stopping the things that pull you away from your goals.

For things you want to do more (e.g. exercise):

• Make it obvious (put your running kit by your bed)

• Make it attractive (run to your favourite coffee shop)

• Make it easy (have everything you need for your run ready to go the night before)

• Make it satisfying (have a coffee at your favourite coffee shop)

For things you want to do less (e.g. Instagram):

• Make it invisible (remove the app from your home screen and turn notifications off)

• Make it unattractive (download an app that shows you how much time you spend on it per week)

• Make it difficult (log out each time you use it, or get an app-blocking app)

• Make it unsatisfying (use an app that donates money to a charity every time you log in)

3. Reframe the story you tell yourself

You’re not lazy. You’re not unmotivated. You’re not "bad" at focus.

You’re just in a world that’s throwing so much at you, you can barely breathe. A world where Akrasia is amplified by every buzz, ding, and scroll.

When you recognise that the problem isn’t you — it’s your environment — everything shifts.

You stop fighting yourself and start designing a space where you can thrive.

I dare you…

Take a page out of Hugo’s book (pun intended), and strip your environment of one major distraction today.

Maybe it’s closing all the tabs except the one you’re working on.
Maybe it’s putting your phone in another room while you work.
Maybe it’s saying no to something you’d usually say yes to.
Maybe it’s deleting Instagram altogether.

But try something, even if just for one hour.

Feel what it’s like. There’s nothing to lose. It’s 1 hour out of your 168 hour week.

Good luck 😉