That's not to say I haven't gotten anything done mind you, but sometimes just keeping every day life running along smoothly without anything blowing up is a minor miracle. Or a major one, depending on how you look at it.
My lack of motivation has gotten me thinking about what helps me to be productive, and what doesn't help at all, no matter how much I want it to.
Productivity Fail...
- No matter how much I would like it to, simply telling myself to get things done doesn't work. It never has.
- Do you know what works even less than the above? Other people telling me to get stuff done. It just irks me. I become obstinate. It's a fault, I know. Work in progress...
- I simply cannot be motivated to do something I don't believe in. I'm not saying I won't get it done, but... it's definitely low on the priority list. This is why I don't dust.
Productivity for the win!
- Feeling like what I'm doing matters or is positively impacting someone is a big motivator for me.
- I love the feeling of accomplishment I get when I check something off a to-do list, which is probably why to-do lists or apps like Evernote make me feel so organized, and therefore, more likely to get things done. I can't help it, I LOVE checking things off!
- While I'm not crazy competitive, I'll admit that sometimes what motivates me is wanting to do better than my competitors. Simple, yet effective. Certainly that has been the case in my own business, and at various day jobs throughout the years. I try to keep my competitiveness to a healthy minimum though. I don't want anyone to think I'm out there giving other photographer's the People's Elbow or anything.
- I find I'm really more apt to get stuff done if I break it down into smaller actionable items. I am a person who tends to get VERY overwhelmed if I look at an entire project, or a month's worth of goals, and so I have to break it down by minute, by hour, or by day. Otherwise I totally panic. As in, "Oh my god, how will I ever get this all done?! I'm just going to hide under the covers and lock my door and hope no one finds me..." Breaking things into little to-do lists keeps me from becoming immobilized by panic and never leaving my bed again.
- Sometimes I totally play mind games with myself. When I'm running for instance, I'll tell myself that I can stop after XYZ number of miles if I want to, even though I know I really want to do twice that. Once I get to that point, I'll keep telling myself that if I can do just .25 more miles, I can stop. I have no idea why this works, but, for some reason, it does.
- This song: Wait So Long - Trampled by Turtles
- This kid right here. His determination is inspiring!
Now since I'm feeling lazy this evening, it's your turn! Tell me what gets you motivated? Do you have a special routine or ritual that gets you into the headspace for kicking butt? Do you have a poster or picture you look at, a song you listen to? Leave a comment!
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