Is This Some Kind of a Joke?
I like easy. We’re going to follow the path of least resistance and attack motivation from the back door as we explore five easy ways to demotivate yourself.
Many people, if not most, have no problem bemoaning the things they can’t do and the things they don’t want. Law of Attraction calls this contrast. It’s the main reason why so many lives are derailed.
Before we attempt to get this train back on track, I want you to understand that this is going to be a tongue-in-cheek look at how to demotivate yourself. Unfortunately, there’s no way you can read my sarcasm unless I point it out.
This is meant to be a fun article. However, if you see yourself in any of these five easy ways to demotivate yourself, now you know that you need to do the exact opposite as George did in one of the funniest Seinfeld episodes of all time. (Google George Does The Opposite – YouTube Video)
The Opposite of Motivate is Demotivate
“If you can believe it, you can achieve it.”
And that’s the problem right there. Too many people really BELIEVE they CAN’T achieve what they say they want. But let’s look at the bright side – the contrast – the opposite. These people are the masters of our 5th technique in our five easy ways to demotivate yourself.
So the next time you get this weird feeling in the pit of your stomach to get off your slack backside and actually do something, here’s the first of five easy ways to justify staying right there in your little comfy zone.
Top 5 Easy Ways To Demotivate Yourself Now
5. Hang Out with Low Achievers
One of the main influences in your life is the people you choose to hang out with, be they in real life, on TV or through practically any media at your disposal.
In order to demotivate yourself, you must pick people who have no goals or dreams and who don’t hide the fact that they are envious of anyone and everyone who has them.
Read books, newspapers and magazines filled with gossip and trash talk… that is, if you read at all.
Spend all your time watching ‘Reality TV’. No effort involved on your part; just soak up those nasty influences automatically through osmosis.
You can spot low achievers by the way they talk. Listen for cues like:
- I wonder how many people he had to step on to get where he is
- With money like that, he must be dealing drugs
- I don’t have much but I’m happier that way
- I never get a break
- People who are rich are snobs; it’s all for show, baby – all for show
Yup, hang out as much as possible with people like this and in no time you’ll see, you really can demotivate yourself.
4. Cutting Down Achievers Makes You Appear Bigger
Our #4 technique to demotivate yourself is very similar to #5.
Whenever you see another person achieving something you perceive as special, be sure to cut them down. This way you’ll appear bigger (well, at least to yourself – and that’s what really counts, right?) This has several advantages:
- It saves you the trouble of achieving something great on your own.
- By minimizing someone else’s accomplishments, it spares you the embarrassment of being compared to the person who is actually doing something as you misdirect the focus.
- Since it’s easier to cut people down rather than create value, you may become the new ‘hero’ of the ‘loser nation’.
You can even be a high-profile achiever yourself and still utilize the lazy man’s tactic of cutting others down to make yourself look bigger. Not only is this a great way to demotivate yourself, it’s also the perfect way to DEMOTE yourself in the eyes of others. So while you may think cutting down achievers makes you look bigger, in the long run it actually has the opposite effect.
Put-downs and underhanded digs are favorite techniques of those who love to cut others down in order to build up their own image. Look for language such as:
- I suppose that’s OK… but look what he had to sacrifice in order to get it
- The guy should take a blood test. No human could do that unless he was juiced.
- I guess she’s too good for her old friends now.
- Look at that smile. I wonder if he takes that mask off at home.
- How much is enough, already? What’s he killing himself for?
You know the old saying, “A lie told often enough becomes the truth.”
Even if you have no self-serving interest of making yourself look bigger by cutting others down, simply by thinking cut-down thoughts and lies is a sure way to demotivate yourself. Through justification in your own mind, you let yourself off the hook as far as having to contribute anything of value to society.
3. Stop Setting Goals
Goal setting doesn’t work. Come on, you’ve tried it, right? Did goal setting ever work for you. I’m not talking about the piddly little stuff that you would have gotten anyway, with or without goal setting. I’m talking about those ‘stretch-yourself’ goals. How many of those ever worked out for you?
I rest my case.
So grab the chips and a brewsky, go back to the couch and settle in for another mind-numbing experience of endless ‘reality’ shows. Heck, if it’s really your ‘goal’ to demotivate yourself, it doesn’t get much better than that, does it? (But I thought you weren’t into goal setting)
That’s right, don’t even bother setting goals. In fact, don’t bother working towards anything meaningful. For example, if your smart aleck brother-in-law offers you an opportunity to join his fast growing company, should you take it? WHAT?… and miss Jon and Kate Plus 8?
Oh, you can accept the generous dollar-an-hour raise at that job you hate. It would take a goal and a plan to actually leave all that ‘security’ for goodness sake! You’re not planning on exerting yourself much more than a dollar’s worth anyway, are you?
What If You Don’t Stop Setting Goals?
For sure, don’t do anything that might expand the already infinite possibilities that are available to you. Avoid at all costs things such as:
- Taking courses
- Starting a new hobby or business
- Going to the gym to get back into shape
- Joining a community group or civic organization to contribute to society. (blasphemous!)
Nope, stay right where you are on the big old comfy couch. Mind your own business. You don’t bother them, they don’t bother you, right?
People who deviate from this concept have been know to become excited, hopeful, and enthusiastic about their lives. How dangerous is that? That’s certainly NOT the way to demotivate yourself.
So stop setting goals right now before the demotivation cops have to hunt you down and put a big hurt on you. This is for your own good. Stop it!
2. Look for Reasons NOT to Do Something
Your primary purpose in life is to try to maintain the status quo. The sad truth is you have to demotivate yourself daily in order to do this. However, occasionally – OK, very rarely in your case – you get this weird feeling in your body.
At first, you have no idea what it is. Vaguely you get the sense that it is somehow connected with a wild thought you entertained yesterday. This strange sensation you are experiencing – perhaps for the first time – is that you actually want to DO something with this crazy new idea.
Whoa, Bud. Demotivate yourself now. Careful there not to get yourself all hot and bothered by this insane notion. Like the Good Book says,
“This too, shall pass.”
Fight it. Resist it. Defeat it at all costs. Trust me, this is the best way to demotivate yourself.
Better you settle down and direct that over-active mind of yours towards something more practical like creating a new list of excuses just in case you eat a bad batch of nachos and cheese which causes you to take action before you have a chance to think this all through.
Seriously now! Get a hold of yourself.
Yup, a thorough list of excuses can save your bacon in tricky situations like this. It’s one of the most effective ways to demotivate yourself. So let’s not waste any time, lest that urge strikes and you find yourself doing something worthwhile.
Excuses, Excuses
Here’s a few great excuses to get you started. Most people accept these without question because they are valid and airtight, especially in your case. You’ll be safe with these:
- Who am I, Einstein? I couldn’t figure that out in a million years!
- Do you realize how much time (effort, money, connections, etc.) that would take?
- What… and be the laughing stock of my family and friends? Look what happened to…
- Who am I kidding to attempt something so far-fetched?
- It seemed like a good idea at the time but I’m really not that interested.
This list should suffice. After all, to come up with any more on your own would take even more effort. We certainly can’t have any of that, can we?
If, for some reason, people (like that smart aleck brother-in-law for example) don’t buy into these solid excuses, pretty much any “I can’t, I wouldn’t, I’m not” kind of thought will have you rapidly spinning off a plethora of even better excuses. Drown ’em with enough excuses and they’ll eventually go away and leave you alone.
Can you think of a better way to demotivate yourself?
1. Throw Yourself a Pity-Party
Well, we’ve finally counted down to #1 in our top five ways to demotivate yourself. You’ve worked hard to get people to leave you alone.
You hung out with the losers; now they’re all dead, in jail or out finding some other sucker to mooch from because you certainly don’t have anything they want or need.
As for the few go-getters you used to know, well they got tired pretty quick of your feeble attempts to hold them back at your level. They found other successful people to emulate and upon whom they could depend for support. ‘Birds of a feather’, you know.
You have nothing to look forward to because you stopped setting goals a long time ago. Those things only work for ruthless people and dope dealers. You are neither. In fact, you are nothing.
Have nothing.
Do nothing.
Be nothing.
The only thing you’ve got to show for your life is a long list of excuses. You should be proud though because with all your justifications and rationalizations, you successfully have managed to repel and sabotage any glimpse of success that may have ever come your way.
Congratulations.
It’s party time!
The Prophecy Is Fulfilled
Except for one thing. You’ll be drinking alone… out of an empty bottle.
You’ll be sleeping alone tonight, too.
And they said it was lonely at the top? Ha!
You see, my friend, you are experiencing a self-fulfilling prophecy. As within, so without. Because you never felt good enough, smart enough, worthy enough or even likable enough, your outside circumstances now project and magnify your pitiful inner sanctum for all the world to see.
The good news is that this isn’t the end of the trail for you. Oh, no – not by a long shot. As time goes by you’ll feel more like a victim, focusing your vengeance on all the people who have crossed and cheated you in life. Think of the anger, jealousy, bitterness and rage you’ll enjoy as you sit there alone at your pity-party. Just contemplating these thoughts is a quick and sure way to demotivate yourself.
So there they are folks, the top five ways to demotivate yourself. Your life is now a tangled mess of despair and hopelessness.
If you find the lack of companionship to be too much, repeat the five steps over and over. Somebody is bound to join you sooner or later. After all, misery loves company.
The world can seem like a crazy place sometimes… OK, a LOT of the time! However, no matter what is going on in your life, magic happens when you learn how to choose better feelings now! You’re Gonna Love That Feeling