a million monkeys typing

Motivation (or, giving the dog a bone)

Posted December 20th, 2004 at 10:39pm

You’ve heard the pop-psychology buzzwords and sayings a hundred times. “Enable your inner spirit.” “Be yourself, and your efforts will follow naturally.” “Release the productive you.” “Dream your goals, and they will happen.” “You should live your time, not time your life.” (gag, cough…). I have a feeling that the only people finding these Polonius-style platitudes to be of any great benefit are the writers of self-help books that often wind up on talk shows amidst depressive housewives, teens gone wild and married first-cousins.

In my mind, no one can follow such warm-and-fuzzy objectives and hope to make them work. Motivation is something that works best coming from an baser or more immediate level, despite our hankerings to fuel our souls or enable our inner truth. After all, how does one enable inner truth, sort of spending a few years in a monastery? On the other hand, a dog –a creature of limited intelligence and short attention span– can be made to perform tricks with the promise of a bone or treat. Maybe there’s the hint of inspiration in that.

Everyone may be different, but I think we all have a few things in common. The need to find motivation, especially in the most stressful of times, is paramount to getting things done. In recent years, I’ve been guilty of stretching myself way too thin, and working so many hours that the threat of mental and physical breakdown was a concern (80-100 hours a week not being unusual). Every now and then someone asks me, how do I keep going? What they really mean, is how do I keep motivated? So I decided to jot down a few things that work for me, and share them here. There’s nothing earth-shattering or particularly incisive in this list; in fact, almost everything is common sense. But sometimes the little rational voice inside our heads wanders off for a nap somewhere, and we need to be reminded of certain things. Hence, my “Top Ten.”

1. Organise your efforts: there is probably no one thing as debilitating as constantly realising all the things you were supposed to do, but didn’t, especially when it’s too late. By jotting down every little thing to do, and when you need to do it, you can relieve a lot of stress. It’s like the “trusted system” that Getting Things Done emphasizes, including the notion of “next actions” (basically, to-do lists) and “hard landscapes” (your calendar). Part of keeping up your levels of motivation means wiping out all those things that de-motivate you. If you know everything that needs to be done, and when it has to be done, you can be far more efficient in how you spend your time, and less likely to fall prone to the debilitating stress of “non-productiveness.”
2. Organise your workspace: This not only includes getting rid of the clutter that accumulates on your desk, but also your “virtual workspace”, your computer. All those little bits and pieces of information, do you know where they are? Can you find them at a moment’s notice? Where will they be next year at this time? It’s easier to be motivated when you’re not confused, or feeling guilty about losing things. Set aside one day per week to “gut” your workspace and organise all those little scraps. Put them all in their correct places, and you will suddenly feel empowered the next time someone asks you a question you can actually answer.
3. Remember: goals, objectives and strategies: Everything we do has a purpose behind it, whether we’re slugging through paperwork, standing in line at the DMV, or playing a game. The trick is to recognise the purpose, and figure out if it’s something we actually want to do. Start with your goals. This the “big picture”. Fill in the blank: five years from now, I will be ___________. Be specific: this is an exercise in visualisation.

   What’s going to take you there? Those are your objectives. Start backwards, if you wish. Figure out where you need to be, and what you need to be doing, five years from now. Then two years. Now try six months. You should come up with a number of milestones you have to reach to get you there, such as projects that need to be done, people you have to meet, or further training or schooling to enhance your knowledge. These milestones should translate into the major objectives in the pursuit of your goals.

   Finally, the strategies are those action lists which we create and implement to take us there. I will accomplish this, by doing that. It’s how you approach the problem, and the end result should be the achieving of an objective. Write down, in vague terms (don’t fence yourself in!) how you intend to reach each of your major objectives.

   Why is this so important to motivation? Well, think about it: you’re lost at sea in a rowboat, you have a pair of oars, but you have no knowledge of the direction in which lies land. Either your rowing is half-hearted, or you’re not going to bother to row at all. Now, if you knew land was fifteen miles to the east, how hard would you row? In life, we don’t attempt difficult tasks unless we know our direction. And these, not luck, get us where we need to be. Motivation is the desire that makes us do such things, that propels us forward. Know your direction.

4. Reward yourself: you’re a dog, and this is your treat. Sit, roll over, speak, fetch. Here you go, Fido. Same concept, same application. We need reasons to do things, and sometimes knowing that we’re moving towards a five-year goal doesn’t do much to make us feel good now. I feel far more motivated to do things if: a) I know this is something immediate, but which takes me closer to where I want to be; and b) I get some sort of reward for doing this. The reward can be many things: a nice cool beer after raking the leaves; an hour of your favourite computer game after finishing the office work; a trip to the mountains after you lose 20 pounds; or a new digital camera after you finish the next contract. Any time you have something difficult to do, set yourself a reward at the end. The type of reward should match the size of the task. A cold beer at the end of a grueling three-month contract is hardly sufficient, while a new laptop for raking your lawn is overkill: keep things in their proper perspective.
5. Take pride: Obviously, this won’t be applicable for everything, no matter how much you try to rationalise things. But think of the old adage, “Anything worth doing is worth doing well.” Don’t just do it and get it out of the way: do it, and do a damn good job. You doing up a report? Make Hemingway jealous. Doing some landscaping? Palais de Versailles, anyone? Cooking a meal for the relatives? Check out all the gourmet recipes available on the Net. Bring it over the top. Then boast a little; you earned it. The next time, top yourself. Nothing gets your blood pumping quite like raising the mundane into an art form.
6. Think of the children!: This only works if you actually have ‘em. It’s somehow easier to draw inspiration and motivation from thoughts of the child(ren) you have to support and nourish. If you forget what they look like, then put a picture of them on your desk. Maybe one with a recorded audio clip of them giggling or saying, “I love you.” If they won’t say it, threaten to take away their allowance. (Of course I’m kidding: taking away music download privileges is much more effective.)
7. Carry your organiser: No matter if you’re toting a paper planner or a PDA, keep it with you at all times. There’s something very empowering about having that intimate and immediate connection with your productive side. Plus, people look at you and think, “My, what a well-organised and highly movitivated individual.” Or maybe they don’t, but you can pretend they do.
8. Use your organiser: This should go without saying. That isn’t a paperweight you’re slinging around just to impress people. Keep track not only of your calendar, contacts and to-do lists, but also your objectives, your brainstorms, your “someday-maybe” items, your reference materials, your wish lists, and anything else that makes you feel productive, imaginative and well-organised. Fostering faith in yourself through this method is sometimes that easy. Why do you think there are so many organisation junkies out there? (On a related note, feel free to check out my free do-it-yourself planner files.)
9. Relax: In this day and age, there’s enough to burn you out 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Consciously set aside a “date” with yourself, say at 9:30 every second night, where you give yourself permission to toss off the shoes, lean back, and watch mindless television, play a DVD, or throw yourself into a computer game. You’ll be much more relaxed, and much more motivated to take on further tasks.
10. Affirmations: I can’t think of that word without thinking of Saturday Night Live and the infamous Stuart Smalley skits. No, I’m not talking about sitting yourself in front of a mirror, ready to burst into tears, and trying to convince yourself that the world actually cares about you. (Assume it doesn’t, and move ahead from there.) What I’m suggesting is to write a one-sentence affirmation of the person you want to be. Sum up the “perfect you” in 50 words or less. Write it on the back of a business card or in the front of your organiser, and carry it around with you. Memorise it. Revise it occasionally. When you have a major life decision in front of you, or if you’re in danger of pursuing unproductive work or play, read the card again. Make sure it syncs. It’s like a compass that tells you what direction to row.

Any other ideas for self-motivation?