Photo: selster.com
In my last postI presented you 5 ways to motivate yourself to get work done. Today I’ll share the second part of that post with my other 5 favourite methods, but this time they are easier to adopt in life. ;)
6. Surround
yourself with positive and motivating people
Photo: doyoueven.com
It should not
surprise you that people around us influence our behaviour and the way how or
what we think. So if you really
want to be motivated, surround yourself with people who will help you with that – who inspire and
motivate you, who believe in you and support you, those who will lift you
higher! This way you not only are motivated for a while, but you’ll become a
motivated person for a longer period of time. Working with other motivated people, as well as observing their actions
and behaviours can positively affect our approach to the task and motivate us
more. They
spread a positive energy around themselves, which will easily make you want to
experience the same, so you’ll follow their example, pursuing your goal in this
way.
But on the other hand, you should avoid negative people who only make you feel
bad and who are toxic to your motivation. We all know at least one person that makes us feel tired or emotionally
exhausted. They criticize, complain, say other unpleasant things or simple suck
all energy from us telling about their problems over and over again. They’ll
only waste your time and make you unmotivated to do anything, so stay away from
them!
7.
Small
task first
Photo: timemanagement.com
This method is my
favourite, because it helps me almost every time and it’s sort of a
psychological „trick”. ;) When you must do something, but you don’t want to, decide that you will spend only a few
minutes on dealing with that… because it’s enough time to get you moving.
It will be much easier for you to start working, if you know that you don’t
have to commit a huge amount of time. It doesn’t have to be something complex –
just start with a smaller task, e.g.
make a “To-Do List” or clean up your mailbox. Once you take the first step and
start working, you’ll probably exceed those few minutes and you won’t even
notice that you spent more time that you planned at the beginning. And the best
part about this is that you will go with the “flow” (you will just get your
creative juices flowing). Maybe something will suddenly inspire you and you
will not want to stop? It's the first step that's always the hardest,
so when you have it behind you, you will be ready and willing to go one step
further and do the next task. Because here’s the thing: you start with something small and during the working process you gain
the motivation to continue the action and you are craving for more. It’s
better to start slowly with something smaller, than not work at all...
8.
Remove
distractions and avoid time killers
Photo:
poorexcuses.com
Let’s be honest, how many times a day do you check what’s
happening on Twitter or Facebook? You peek at your phone every moment, because
you constantly receive notifications about new emails or messages? A friend
sent you a link to video on YouTube and after you decide to see it (even if
only 3 minutes long), you waste your time watching other videos… for the next
half an hour? Yes, we have to struggle with such distractions every day… and
unfortunately we succumb to them!
All of these distractions
not only switch our attention from the important issues, but also steal our
time, that we should spend on things that matter. I know exactly how it is, I
turn on the web browser with the intention of checking only a few things and
after a while it turns out that 2 hours just passed by… and I don’t know what
exactly I have been doing. And the guilt that I could have made a better use of
this time is not pleasant at all…
So if you really have to do a task, you need to focus your
attention on your goal and avoid all the distractions as much as possible! Do
you have to write an article before a deadline? Turn off your web browser! Have
you decided not to eat sweets? Don’t keep them within easy reach - if there is no sweets near you, you won’t
eat them. Have you been trying to study for an exam, but everything around you
disturbs you? Clean up the mess on your desk (or in your room) or go to the
quieter place, like a library (changing
your environment can help your motivation too!). Of course things that distract
you (e.g. music) can be motivating for others and can increase their
productivity. Write down all the distractions that consume your time with all
honesty and avoid them like the plague!
9.
Reward
yourself
Photo: heartfb.com
We
all like rewards, don’t we? Especially if they are given to us for hard work.
That’s why it’s good to make use of their motivational potential - give
yourself rewards for your effort not only after you reach your big end goal,
but also when you complete a smaller task from your “To Do List”. Because why
not celebrate smaller success? Reward yourself for every step of the goal you
achieved… and it doesn’t have to be big! Did you clean up the whole apartment? You deserved to
watch your favourite TV show! Lost 5kg? It’s time for a new pair of jeans! Did
you prepare properly for an exam? Go out with friends to a party! It’s better
to give yourself greater rewards for achieving the end result or for more
demanding tasks. It’s up to you what reward you enjoy the most and what
motivates you even more to keep working.
And last, but not
least:
10.
Inspire
yourself every day
Photo:
bradys100thingstodo.com
As Jim Rohn once
said, "Motivation alone is not
enough. If you have an idiot and you motivate him, now you have a motivated
idiot". I know it sounds brutally, but it’s so true! We often need
something more than motivation alone, especially with the creative work when we
need an inspiration as well. Even if we are highly motivated, we can be stuck
in place because of lack of creative vein. And because prevention is better
than cure, look for inspirations on a daily basis. There are so many ways to
get inspired, just look around! Some of my recommendations:
- Read inspiring books, e.g. about self-development, coaching or motivation, as well as those ones full of inspiration, thereby causing an avalanche of new ideas, which only help you to build motivation.
- In point 6 I wrote that you should surround yourself with positive people, but nothing stands in your way to observe the most successful ones as well, such as Steve Jobs and Walt Disney or other individuals from the field you want to develop your skills. Check out their biographies and analyze a case study of their achievements. By the way, did you know that Walt Disney was fired from the Kansas City Star Newspaper because his editor thought he "lacked imagination and had no good ideas."? How funny is that?!
- Watch videos on TED with great speeches on the topics you are interested in, or even about motivation, and you will be inspired very quickly. What’s more, this way you can see how good presentations should look like and how to keep your audience’s attention.
- You probably use the computer every day, so find the most inspirational quote (I mean, the one, that inspires you the most) which will be your motto and set it as a motivating wallpaper on your desktop. After you look at it a few times you will be repeating it like a mantra which will motivate you to take action. Below is an example. :)
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