Can’t find the motivation to work on your to do list? Trust me, we’ve all been there. No one is motived 24/7/365. So, how do you motivate yourself when all you want to do is sleep or watch tv?
Here are 8 ways that’ll help get you motivated in no time!
Motivation Is A Mindset
When we lack motivation, we are our own worst enemy. It’s easy for us to give up. It’s a natural human tendency to want to quit when the going gets tough. But it’s important not to let that happen. Regardless of how we feel, it’s important to take action. Push yourself to do what needs to be done and overtime it will become easier.
Don’t underestimate the power of a positive mindset. You have to believe in yourself and what you are doing. Expect that there will be bumps in the road and create a plan to overcome it. It’s not easy but by staying positive you’ll find the motivation that is within you.
Know Your Why
Have you taken the time to figure out what you really want in life? Motivation is about wanting something so much that you’re willing to work for it. It’s when desire meets determination. It doesn’t just happen for no reason. You have to be clear about what you want to achieve and “why” you want it.
People with a “why” develop successful habits. Anyone who is serious about their goals naturally wants to achieve them and has a plan to get there. They know that success isn’t achieved overnight and plan their day to day lives accordingly. It’s their “why” that gives them an internal motivation.
Break It Down
Whenever I want to procrastinate, it’s usually because something seems too big and will take too long. But you can break anything down into smaller pieces. If you find something is just too overwhelming or you lose motivation, create small bite-sized action steps. The smaller you go, the easier the task will become and the more likely you can push yourself to get it done.
Last year, because I knew I would be getting a refund, I put off doing my taxes for months. Not a good example of motivation I know! But stick with me. Because I work from home, I’m able to write off some of my home expenses and a years worth of receipts needed to be organized. I knew that I needed to break it down into small bite sized actionable steps. For me, that meant tiny, little, itty, bitty, baby steps.
I made myself a to-do list. First, print off emailed receipts. Second, collect the bills for that year. Third, separate them by month. Fourth, enter into excel one month at a time. Etc. By focusing on just one itty, bitty step each day, I got the job done.
6 Free Pretty To Do List Printables (no opt-in needed)
When you start by taking just one small step and you accomplish it, you’re more likely to keep going and take another small step. Before you know it, you’ve achieved what seemed to be just too daunting to even get started.
The Eisenhower Matrix
The Eisenhower matrix is another powerful time management and productivity tool. It helps you prioritize your tasks based on urgency and importance. It also shows you what you can eliminate that’s just taking up mental energy and wasting time.
- Urgent and important (tasks you will do immediately)
- Important but not urgent (tasks to schedule & do later)
- Urgent but not important (tasks you delegate or push back)
- Neither urgent nor important (tasks you can eliminate)
By focusing on the “important” tasks and eliminating time wasters, you will become more productive which in turn will motivate you to get started on those to-do’s.
Review Your Progress
Great people are great because they learn from their mistakes and adjust their plan accordingly. The same goes for people who want to be more motivated. If you can measure progress, you can see your journey which motivates you to show up daily. You’ll boost your self-confidence which in turn increases your motivation to keep at it. Progress is the motivation that doesn’t die.
Set A Quit Time
Productivity is about using your time effectively. A popular time management tool to help keep a person focused and motivated is a productivity timer. It can keep you focused and on task when you find it difficult to focus. The Pomodoro method is proven to keep you productive. It uses a timer to break down your day into intervals of work and break time. Pomodoro’s give you 25 mins to work on your task, followed by a five-minute break.
Personally, I find that sometimes even 25 minutes is too long to focus on something and prefer a timer that can be tailored to my productivity needs. For example, some days, I just don’t “feel” like working out. To keep myself accountable, I tell myself I only have to do 10 minutes. If after 10 minutes, I still didn’t feel like doing anymore, I would stop and try again the next day.
More often than not, I just kept going. I simply needed to get started in order to feel motivated to keep going. By setting a short time limit on something, it’s a lot easier to get started. Personally, I like a timer that allows you to set the intervals. That way if I’m having a less productive day, I can have more breaks and vice versa if things are flowing easily.
Stop Multi-Tasking
Multi-tasking may seem like a good way to get a lot done at one. However, when we multi-task, we split our concentration and it actually takes more time and effort to get it all done. In fact, some researchers suggest that it may reduce your productivity by as much as 40%.
Instead of constantly switching between tasks, try to focus on one task for 10 minutes before switching to another. It doesn’t matter if you have 20 irons in the fire. If you don’t finish anything you set out to get done, you won’t stay motivated in the long run.
Celebrate Your Wins
People lose their motivation quickly when they don’t celebrate small victories. Even if you don’t get the result you want. When you celebrate the fact that you even took action and made progress, you feel good which leads to more action and better results.
Action -> Progress -> Celebrate -> Feel Motivation -> More Action -> More Results
However, if you take action and don’t get the results you want, you don’t celebrate and you lose motivation leading to less action and less results.
Action -> Poor Result -> Feel Less Motivation -> Less Action -> Less Results
The key is to celebrate the progress you made, not the results. As long as you are making progress and moving forward, you should celebrate because you put in the effort.
Conclusion
Motivation is the catalyst for success. Highly successful people don’t let anything get in their way and know how to keep themselves motivated no matter what. If you want to be successful, you too have to find a way to stay motivated!
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