Why I hate motivational Videos & you should too
I hate motivational videos, because they’re toxic – more toxic than my ex relationship
You are not alone. A lot of people hate them. The main reason behind that is because many motivational speakers/ videos only give Quotes/Stories without sharing the concrete steps/action that you can take to improve your situation.
All inspiration and no action pumps people up for a short period of time, throwing them in bigger misery shortly after.
Youtube is filled with videos, where people will tell you
- 10 Easy tips to get rich
- Get Rich today in 15 minutes
Why Motivational Videos Are Ruining Your Life
The moment that you go on social media, you have motivational quotes and videos shoved down your throat. You’re supposed to be the hardest worker in the room. You’re supposed to be doing what sets your soul on fire.
I’m here to explain to you exactly why motivational videos and inspirational memes are ruining your life.
Reasons why I hate motivational videos
- “Be yourself.”
- “Stick true to your heart.”
- “Live the life that you imagined.”
- “Work hard and be humble.”
- “Don’t let others tell you that you’re not special.”
Most of these quotes don’t actually mean anything. These quotes and videos don’t really mean much. You nod your head as you’re watching, but you’re not really picking anything up.
Do you know how many evenings I’ve spent on watching random inspirational videos?
I don’t play video games or follow sports. Entrepreneurship is my hobby.
It’s fun to watch these inspirational videos. The problem is that this become like Netflix. You consume without ever doing anything. There’s nothing wrong with hanging out in front of the TV after a long day. The problem with motivational videos is that you actually feel like you’re accomplishing something. You end up watching them for hours and then you go back to your regular routine. Sometimes you even share these videos. Your friends get all excited. Everyone’s all excited. All you’re doing is binge watching.
The issue is that most of us will begin to binge. Then we share. Then we discuss. Then we do nothing. This cycle repeats itself on a daily basis.
What’s the point of wasting hours to time when you don’t actually apply this advice.
I have friends who post videos as if they actually apply to their everyday lives. They don’t. I’ve seen these people in action first hand. They do nothing and then post about how awesome everything is.
You’re not going to apply any of the advice. So why bother pretending like you’re going to do something?
Try to focus on the how instead of the wow.
HOW > WOW.
Yes, Instead of watching hours of Motivational videos, focus on How to videos if you’re finding you need help in.
Real results are obtained through BORING work.
This is what everyone hates to hear. We all know the story about the guy who put in the work and got the results. Do you think that they were telling the whole world how motivated they were?
I’ll tell you a secret that you already know. All successful people had to go through hell to get to where they’re at right now.
FOCUS and try to eliminate the distractions.
I’m horrible at this. I need to apply this more often to my own life.
Delete those apps off your phone. Turn off notifications. Your friends can wait for your response. You don’t have to respond to everything. You also don’t need instant updates.
Try a social media fast. Try to disconnect. Focus on the work instead of talking about the work.
Everything will be fine. I promise you. You won’t miss out on any colossal news. If anyone absolutely needs to contact you, they can call you.
Our biggest setback is that we can’t focus. It took me weeks to write this post because my Instagram kept sending me notifications.
Stop watching motivational videos
They’re akin to depending on sugary energy drinks rather than a good night’s sleep to combat tiredness.
Motivational videos (and images) feed procrastination in a special way.
They make us feel productive without all the work required in between. They might lift our mood temporarily but do nothing to combat the problem. The problem might be perfectionism. It could be that you’re simply trying too much and the goals need to be broken down. Or a number of other things that continues procrastination.
Motivational videos do nothing to solve these problems. It’s far too easy to continue doing nothing at all to further progress.
Hell, there’s even a chance you’ll feel guilty because you still haven’t done anything.
Since the improvement in mood is temporary, we always need to be motivated to even consider working. That in itself is unsustainable. After a while, they lose their desired effectiveness and become boring like any other entertainment.
It leads to only doing work when we feel like it and waiting for magical inspiration to strike us on the head. Such things don’t happen. To work consistently towards something, you’ll have to do it when you don’t feel like it.
Depending on how we feel in order to start working is a poor strategy. With all the quick entertainment and instant gratification at our fingertips, when will we ever feel like working if we haven’t already become disciplined enough to make it a habit?
In this case, dependence on motivational videos is actually detrimental.
What should I do instead?
Start small – Make the goal so small you can’t say no. Or work for 3 minutes and decide if you want to stop afterwards. For example, this article was started by simply writing the title.
Be kind – Don’t berate yourself with hatred and negative thoughts for not doing something. It only serves to make you feel bad and does nothing to further progress. It actually makes you less likely to do anything. If you feel like you’re worthless, why bother starting anything?
Be specific – A huge reason why we procrastinate is because we don’t know what to do. Saying ‘get fit’, ‘read more’ or ‘write essay’ doesn’t mean much. Saying you want to write 500 words by the end of the day or lose 10kg in 3 months makes the goal much more real and attainable.
The issue is that most people will consume inspirational porn all day without ever doing anything. Try not to let that happen to you.
You don’t need another meme. I’m tempted to finish up with a motivational quote, but you need to get to work.