Momentum Over Motivation: Why Willpower Isn’t Enough

Why waiting for motivation doesn’t work—and what to focus on instead.

Jul 29, 2025

“Don't expect to be motivated by motivation.” - Gretchin Rubin

Motivation Isn’t the Goal—Momentum Is

Motivation is often thought of as the spark that ignites action. But if you’ve ever waited around for motivation to strike before starting a task, you know how frustrating—and ineffective—that can be. Especially for ADHD brains, motivation is unreliable, inconsistent, and emotionally driven.

Motivation is rarely a reliable starting point. It doesn’t magically strike and carry you into action. In fact, motivation usually follows action—not the other way around. You start moving, and then motivation kicks in.

Instead of waiting for motivation to arrive, the secret is to build momentum—small, steady movement that creates its own energy to propel you forward.

1. Why Motivation Keeps Letting You Down

When we talk about motivation, we’re often referring to two things:

The push to start a task
The drive to keep going once we’ve begun

But for ADHD brains, both of those can be challenging—especially when a task feels boring, vague, or overwhelming. That’s why waiting to feel ready doesn’t work. It’s like sitting in a rowboat on a still day, hoping wind will push you to shore.

What you actually need isn’t motivation. It’s movement. And that’s where momentum comes in. It’s time to grab the oars and row.

2. Motivation Relies on Willpower—And That’s Exhausting

When we depend on motivation, we often end up depending on:
• Willpower
• Internal pressure
• Discipline
• Guilt

But none of these are sustainable—not for ADHD brains, and not even for most neurotypical ones. They drain your energy quickly and rarely create lasting momentum. If you don’t “feel like it,” the task simply doesn’t happen—which triggers the all-too-familiar cycle:
Pressure → Effort → Crash → Shame → Avoidance

Each round makes it harder to face the task next time. Motivation becomes something you can’t count on, leaving you feeling more stuck, more behind, and questioning why you can’t just “make yourself do it.”

3. Momentum Is Different—and Way More ADHD-Friendly

Momentum fulfills the same needs motivation does—it gets you started and helps you keep moving—but in a much gentler, sustainable way. Momentum is movement-based, not emotion-based. It doesn’t require willpower. It doesn’t even require enthusiasm. It just needs a tiny bit of action—and that action creates more action.

Momentum:

Starts small and low-pressure
Based on action, not emotion: movement, not mood.
Doesn’t require “feeling ready”
Self-reinforcing (action → progress → reward → more action)
Emotionally sustainable and forgiving

Instead of needing to feel ready, you just begin. Gently. Imperfectly. And the energy starts to build.

4. Don’t Trust the Thought—Test the Task

Often, it’s not the task itself that feels overwhelming—it’s the idea of the task.
What you’re reacting to isn’t the reality of doing it. It’s the mental version in your head: vague, heavy, exaggerated.

For ADHD brains, the emotional reaction we have to a task is often based on how it feels to think about it—not how it actually feels to do it. That mental image can feel huge. But the task itself might not be.

One simple, powerful hack? Sit with the task.
Expose yourself to it in a real, physical way.
Let your brain feel the actual experience, not the imagined one.

Start with the smallest, clearest action you can. Something so tiny it almost feels silly. Once you're in contact with the real task, your emotional response often shifts.

Try this:

Instead of “write the report,” try: “open the document”
Instead of “do the laundry,” try: “put last nights pjs in the hamper”
Instead of “go exercise,” try: “put on sneakers”

Ask yourself:
How do I feel when I interact with the real task—not just the version in my head?

Sometimes, it’s not bad. Sometimes, it even feels good. But you won’t know until you start.

5. Action Before Emotion

This flips the usual script. Most people wait for the feeling of motivation before starting. But for ADHD, it works better the other way around: start first, and the feeling will come.

Even the tiniest action can shift how your brain feels about the task. It can reduce the emotional weight, spark a little dopamine hit, diffuse the ADHD wall, or remind you that “hey, this actually isn’t so bad.”

Suddenly, the task feels lighter, and the next step feels more possible.

Starting creates momentum, which fuels the elusive feeling of “motivation”. Not the other way around. You don’t need motivation to start. You just need to crack open the door.

6. Momentum Becomes Its Own Motivation

Each time you take a small step and realise “Hey, that wasn’t so bad,” or “I feel better now”, your brain builds a positive association with starting.

Over time, this rewires your emotional response. Your brain starts to expect:

relief
satisfaction
progress
flow

And when your brain expects something good, it resists less. Eventually, starting becomes the easier option—not the harder one. You may even start to enjoy it!

Ask Yourself: “What Feels Good to Have Done?”

When you’re stuck, motivation might not show up—but using the strategy of momentum, your body remembers. Bypassing the need for force, motivation or mental gymnastics, lived experience tells your brain: This helps. This feels good. This works.

That memory and associated feelings can pull you forward.
It’s not just about getting started. It’s about knowing how it feels after.

Here some examples of how that looks like for me:

💻 Work

Mental tasks often feel vague, heavy—like a wall I can’t get through.
But when I use my go-to strategy—Test the Task, Don’t Trust the Thought—I sit down and just start.
And more often than not? Flow kicks in. I enter hyperfocus, and suddenly I don’t want to stop.
Now, I trust the pattern:
Even if I don’t feel ready, I can access focus mode on command.
And afterward, I feel clear, capable, and satisfied.

👟 Exercise

I never used to see myself as “someone who works out.”
But now, putting on my sneakers instantly gives me energy.
It’s like my body remembers how good movement feels—light, bouncy, alive.
The shoes carry the feeling of past workouts—and that gets me going.

🧘‍♀️ Yoga

I hadn’t done bedtime yoga in years. I remembered it felt good, but the momentum had faded—and I started to doubt it.
Finally, after a week of resistance, I tried a simple 15-minute session.
And it was great. Easy. Soothing. Totally worth it.
That one moment refreshed the emotional memory.
Now, I know: even when I feel reluctant, it’s not a big effort—it’s a gentle gift to myself.

You begin to associate certain actions with how good they feel.
That association fuels your momentum—and sometimes even creates excitement.

This is the power of linking—when cues like shoes, music, or time of day anchor your brain to a positive state.

7. Momentum Makes It Easier to Get Back on the Wagon

Once you've built momentum, it doesn’t just disappear overnight. The positive associations—the relief, the pride, the feel-good payoff—they live in your body and brain. They’re like a path you’ve already walked. Even if it gets overgrown, it’s still there underneath.

But here’s the tricky part:
One skipped day? That’s a pause.
A few skipped days? That’s a new pattern forming.
And the longer the gap, the fuzzier those feel-good associations become. You start to wonder, Was it really that helpful? Did I just imagine it felt good?

You didn’t. You just need to remind your nervous system.

The goal isn’t to be perfect. It’s to keep the thread alive.
Try to return before the thread snaps completely—while you still have a foot in the door.

The way back is gentle:

Pick the smallest possible step.
Touch the task. Sit near it.
Let yourself re-experience even a drop of relief or satisfaction.
Let your body remember what your brain forgot.

This reignites the old pathway. The one that says: This helps. This works. I feel better after.

And the more often you return, the easier it becomes. Until one day, showing up is simply what you do—not because you forced yourself, but because you want to feel like that again

Final Thought: You Don’t Need to Feel Ready—Just Start Moving

Motivation isn’t about willpower or discipline. More often, it’s built through momentum. For the ADHD brain, momentum isn’t just a workaround—it’s a powerful way to access the feelings we usually hope motivation will deliver: energy, clarity, progress, and satisfaction.

Remember, you don’t need to wait until you “feel like it.” With momentum, starting isn’t about willpower or pushing yourself hard. It’s about gently taking one small step.

Each time you begin—and feel the relief, the satisfaction, the shift—you’re wiring your brain to expect ease, not effort. To associate starting with safety, not stress. Over time, that rewiring makes it easier to show up again.

Let action lead the way. Let momentum carry you.

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