“If life were measured by accomplishments, most of us would die in infancy.” A. P. Gouthe.
Motivation is the essence of productivity. You can’t get much done without it, but you can achieve exceptional results if you know how to use it.
There are two ways to gain motivation. The first one is more effective but hard to manage, and the second one is a bit less effective but very easy to manage:
- Create an emergency. The first method to gain immediate motivation is to create an emergency. You are generally more motivated to do your work if you are late on the delivery date and your boss is watching behind you at what you are doing. You are also very motivated to do something if that would save the life of someone you love. While this method is effective, it has two major drawbacks: first, you can’t apply it for what you really want to do, and second, it creates stress, and I don’t like stress.
- Just get started. The second method is to just get started. If you want to do something, it may be too overwhelming to focus on the whole process at once. Instead, you can focus your energies on just doing the first step, and motivation will follow.
Naturally, I prefer to apply the second method over the first one. It’s just easier and more productive if you don’t have to worry about the whole process, and it really works. I can think of many applications of this method that you can easily try for yourself:
- Getting up early. If you want to get up early in the morning, make your goal to just wake up from bed and to go to the bathroom.
- Doing your daily workout. If you have to go running, just make your goal to put on your shoes and to get out of the door.
- Writing your next article. If you keep a journal, and you are demotivated to write your next entry, make your goal to just open the text editor or notebook.
- Doing your home-works. If you are procrastinating on doing your home-works (school, projects, etc), make your goal to do a three minutes analysis of what you have to do.
Why this works
It might look too simple for many, but this method actually works. I do it every time and I’m not the only one suggesting it.
The reason this method is so effective, is because our mind feels less pain if you just focus on a straightforward task. And once you’ll get started, it will be easier to continue. This follows the theory of inertia, which states that it’s easier to continue motion rather than starting it.
But how do you know that you shouldn’t be doing something else?
It’s nice to know how to gain motivation when you already know what to do. Perhaps you can set an alarm clock every day for your running, but most times you really don’t know what you should do, end you end up doing low value activities.
Fortunately, there’s an easy way to get around this. The following is a list of action steps I regularly take to ensure I’m really working on what matters to me.
- Know what you are doing. Before trying to optimize anything, it’s helpful to know what you are already doing. Make a list of what you do during your day. Try to be as precise as possible. Here’s the rule: every time you start to do something (browsing the internet, checking email, filling out a form, going to the bathroom) write it down, along with the current time. At the end of the day you’ll have a list of 2-300 items. You only need to do this for 1-2 days every few months, but don’t skip this step.
- Analyze your tasks. Now that you have your data, try to analyze how you usually spend your days. You may found that you are checking emails every 30 minutes and that you are consuming more time browsing the internet than working on your cool project. If you can, try to use colors to highlight similar tasks. For example, I would highlight in red all the time consuming tasks, yellow for all the things I am required to do anyways but I don’t enjoy, and green for all the activities that contributes to my goals and dreams.
- Bunch similar activities. This is where the fun begins. You should now try to group all your similar activities to avoid multitasking as possible as you can. For example if you are checking emails 7 times per day, try to do it only 2. Set specific times when you are allowed to do low value tasks.
- Enjoy your new free time. Now that you hopefully don’t have to check your stats or emails 7 times per day, you’ll have more time to do what you really want to do.
I do this process every few months, and it’s the most efficient method I know to be productive without killing yourself. It’s also easy to maintain a decent level of clarity if you adopt a few simple rules:
- Turn off distractions. This includes both your computer setup, and the environment where you are working.
- Make a list of activities you have to do.
- Don’t invent new things to do to avoid the important.
- Don’t check emails first think in the morning.
- Do the important tasks first.
- When you don’t know what to do, do nothing.
- Actually, do nothing sometimes, just relax.
- If you don’t know if a certain task is important, ask for feedback.
- Don’t focus on more thing at once.
- Aim for less, not for more.
You don’t have to work to be perfect, because you already are. But learn to use motivation to accomplish the important tasks that really matter to you.
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{ 16 awesome comments… read them below or add one }
Interesting, Oscar. I like.
I admit I sometimes get discouraged because I think too much about a project as a whole. Just worrying about the first step first, then the next step second (and etc.) does work for me as well. I think there’s a split between knowing exactly where you want to go and not knowing what to expect at all.
The problem with knowing exactly what you want is that you tend to get a lot of expectations for how things SHOULD turn out and even blow the entire thing out of proportion. That can be a huge demotivator. If you don’t know what to do, well… we all know that can get overwhelming, too. So there’s a very thin line there.
Food for thought. Stumbled!
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Oscar Reply:
October 2nd, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Thank you Valerie! You said it right: expectations, something that should happen. Let’s work and see what it happens for real instead!
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I think creating an emergency is very powerful to get us motivated. Sometimes we don’t get motivated unless there is a urgent need to do it. An example of this might be an important deadline or somebody yelling at you if you don’t finish. However, this does cause a lot of stress and make us hate our work.
The second step is more simple and it reminds of Kaizen, a simple an effective way used by the Japanese to get the most out of productivity. The concept is to start by taking the smallest actions possible, get movitated by the many results you’ll achieve, and get a lot more done.
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Oscar Reply:
October 2nd, 2009 at 8:24 pm
Hi Tristan, I didn’t know about that method, but it makes a lot of sense to me. Thanks for sharing.
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I love how you mentioned create an emergency. It’s a great way to get yourself moving. Sometimes I purposely wait until the last minute to do things, just because I know it will make me that much more motivated to get it done. Great post, Oscar.
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Oscar Reply:
October 2nd, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Hey Nate, that works, but I actually prefer to do things before they are urgent because I feel less stress.
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I also have discovered that working to an urgent deadline, while raising stress levels a bit, still tends to end up getting things done. I don’t think I’ve ever failed to reach a deadline to date.
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Oscar Reply:
October 2nd, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Hi Gordie, it’s great that you always meet your deadlines, keep doing what works for you.
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Hey Oscar,
Your writing is simple and clear. I like reading your posts.
I think your advice is good too. Just get started…I find that once I start I enjoy the project. It’s better than just procrastinating.
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Oscar Reply:
October 2nd, 2009 at 11:44 pm
Thank you! It’s better to do something because when you are done you have a bigger sense of gratification.
Oscar
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I think your decision to do less meaningful tasks rather than many projects is a great start to your success. The just get started really hits home for me. As they say Action breeds clarity, so even if you don’t know exactly where you’re going, just START, and the rest of the pieces will fall into place. Papa said so.
Excellent post, Oscar!!
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Oscar Reply:
October 3rd, 2009 at 10:10 am
Thanks for your support Brian! Yes doing less is directly connected because you have less clutter around and you are more motivated.
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Create an emergency is a great way to increase productivity Oscar. And you’re brilliant to point that out. Great article as always
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Oscar Reply:
October 3rd, 2009 at 10:11 am
Thanks Karlil. Creating an emergency is perfect but should be the last try in my opinion.
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Great post Oscar.
Creating an emergency is exceptionally motivating. I believe that you can design systems to increase you motivations. For example, when I was thinking about leaving to live in Bangkok, I told everyone my plans as if they were set in concrete. This motivated me to take the dive. I am writing two book in the next four months so I have told everyone again what they are about and have promised drafts to people, that again increases my motivation. For exercise I found a wicked mate who I run with every day and we motivated each other.
Effective motivation is about creating systems.
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Oscar Reply:
October 3rd, 2009 at 10:14 am
Hey Jonny!
How’s living in Bangkok? Congratulations for your book writing and for telling others about your blog, I’ve written an article fake it till you make it about this.
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Heya Oscar!
I’m really loving your posts lately, your writing skills have become much much better! I love it! Seems to me like your blog is really picking up also
Hope you have a great weekend!
Cheers
Diggy
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Oscar Reply:
October 3rd, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Hey Diggy, thank you for your encouragement. As always I try to do my best.
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Very nice post!
I especially like the ideas on tracking your daily activities and sorting them out.
Good stuff.
Cheers,
Rod
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Oscar Reply:
October 3rd, 2009 at 9:19 pm
Thank you Rod, that’s a very valuable thing to to try.
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Hi Oscar!
“Just get started”. Awesome advice. Sometimes things seem too big to tackle. When we thing about everything required to get from A to Z we lose motivation. Our brains say “oh no, that’s too much work!!” That used to happen to me especially when writing a long paper for school or taking on a huge cleaning project. Even going to a job a didn’t like. But just starting, and focusing on that first step, is all at takes to break the inertia. Forget about being at the gym and getting there, just put on your sneakers. Forget about the 10 pages you need to write on a topic you haven’t researched yet, just start writing. Forget about how much your job stinks in the morning, just get out of bed.
Loved it!
-Miche
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Oscar Reply:
October 4th, 2009 at 8:38 am
Hey Miche, that’s exactly what I mean! Thanks for dropping by.
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Great post Oscar. One step at a time is one of the most powerful ways of moving past areas where I am stuck or procrastinating.
Building on Tristan’s idea about Kaizen… there is a great book called “One small step can change your life”. It’s a quick and easy read, simple principles yet really powerful. And it really builds on the one step at a time idea. There is just no excuse to sit around wasting time doing mindnumbing activities any more!
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Oscar Reply:
October 4th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Hey Jude, thanks for the book suggestion, I put in on my with list
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There’s some interesting research regarding multi-tasking and it’s lack of effectiveness in finishing tasks. Wish I could give you some references (ie. Scientific Mind maybe?). It certainly supports many of your points above.
Mike
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Oscar Reply:
October 4th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Hi Michael, scientific research is always something good. I think I’ve read about it somewhere. Being a programmer I have been exposed to this for a long time. Thanks for dropping by.
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Thanks, Oscar. Once again, you wrote a fantastic post. You are right, i did a lot of multi tasking recently, instead being more effective, i get exhausted. I’ll try your guide.
I have a question about :
Know what you are doing. Before trying to optimize anything, it’s helpful to know what you are already doing. Make a list of what you do during your day. Try to be as precise as possible. Here’s the rule: every time you start to do something (browsing the internet, checking email, filling out a form, going to the bathroom) write it down, along with the current time. At the end of the day you’ll have a list of 2-300 items. You only need to do this for 1-2 days every few months, but don’t skip this step.
Do I need to make this list at the start of month? is this list for a month or two months? I’m confuse about that. Thanks
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Oscar Reply:
October 5th, 2009 at 9:10 am
Hi Kate, sorry for the confusion.
You can make when you want. I do it every few months when I feel I’m doing too much things or where I feel I’m multitasking a lot. I usually do it for 1 or 2 days. Let me know how it goes for you!
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Hi Oscar
Great post, some really useful tips here. The one that really resonated with me is not checking my email first thing. I will have a look at this as the morning is the time I allocate to blogging / emails etc to keep a balance with other things in my life but I enjoy it so much I often end up just doing this and twitter and reading blogs….I think its time to take stock of what I am doing already. I have been thinking about doing something like this, after reading Glen’s 6 week challenge too.
Thanks again
Jen
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Oscar Reply:
October 5th, 2009 at 11:11 am
Hi Jen, thanks for your feedback. Actually I don’t think that checking email is a bad things if it requires less than 10 minutes, but if it goes behind that time it’s only a time consuming task in my opinion.
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I like the first way of gaining motivation as it is less stress and less hassle. Great post by the way.
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Oscar Reply:
October 10th, 2009 at 8:53 am
Hi Patrice, welcome and thanks for your comment
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