They say that starting is the hardest part. “All you have to do is find the motivation to begin.”

As the ‘longest month of the year’ comes to an end, many of us will have spent the time wondering how to stop procrastinating and find our motivation. But what if this mystical, allusive motivation that we all search for, isn’t actually something we need to find?

At university motivation was the key ingredient to completing every task assigned to me. It was this magic quality I thought no one possessed, unless they were special, and no one could find, unless they were lucky. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to my lack, or abundance, of motivation. Often times my coursework was the same in format and, whilst the topics varied in interest to me, I always ended up dragging myself to the finish line. This wasn’t exclusive to typical ‘work’ either. Reading a book, choosing a movie, showering, you name it.

So, I set out into the world on a grand search for my motivation source. I would try everything. Tidying was often the first port of call, then cooking or making coffee after coffee. Then I’d end up watching TV as a well-deserved break from all the exhausting searching. Sometimes I would turn to a walk, in efforts to turn fresh air into an essay. But, eventually, I would give up.

No matter where I looked or what activity I settled on as the solution, I was left empty handed. In fact, the harder I looked, the more impossible it seemed.

And yet, as soon as I gave up (and maybe had a nap), I always got up again and finished the task.

At the time I’d sit and try to identify which one of my efforts had worked. I always found some external past source that I decided then and there would be my go-to coping mechanism. However, after a few tries that source would run out or become so unreliable I’d have to throw it away and begin my search for another.

So where was I finding the motivation?

Secret is – I hadn’t found it. I had stopped looking for it and just started.

As soon as I stopped looking into the external for my solution to a problem, I had cleared enough space to get the job done. The minute I realised the search was simply creating another task for me to do on top of my looming deadline, suddenly I had time and space to settle down and the work would happen.

That feeling of relief to know that my ‘mojo’ was inside myself all along has given me an immense sense of freedom. The best thing to do was to stop, do nothing and then just start.

In the words of Michael Neill, “just getting started is like putting up the sails on a boat.” All you have to do is hoist the sails up and then let the wind sail you away. Looking for motivation first is like using the oars, dragging the boat along slowly, using all your energy up and potentially quitting before you even get to dry land. If you just get started, hoist up the sails and wait, you’ll reach land far quicker.

Motivation isn’t something to search for or create, it is something to uncover.

There is an authentic desire to get things done in us all. Whether it is the particular task at hand, the money you would earn from completing it or the impact it would serve you or others when it was finished. If you uncover that desire - and dismiss the myth that motivation has to be found - you tap into your innate ability to get things done.

What’s more, if you see that your wellbeing and happiness isn’t dependant on how much you get finished, how quickly you finish it or how well you think you have done it, motivation ceases to be needed at all. Some of us call that innate ability motivation too, “I was really motivated to get stuck in”, but to distinguish it we would call that inspiration, which feels more effortless and natural than the grind of motivation.

Stop looking for it, and just start.

Watch Dan Pink talk further on the nature of inspiration and motivation here.