3 Ways to Stay Motivated, and Get The Job Done

Do you ever procrastinate just because you don’t have any motivation to get things done?

I do.

But what’s causing the lack of motivation that then turns into procrastination, wasting time, and coming up with excuses?  There are often several causes, but the three biggest ones for me are:

The Task seems Ginormous

Even though you know what you want to accomplish, and you know how good you will feel when you have successfully completed it, the task just feels ginormous and like you will never get it done anyway.

For example, if  you are trying to lose weight and adopt a more healthy lifestyle, and especially true (like me) if you have a lot of weight to lose.  The task just seems way to big and like I will never get to where I want to be anyway.

Well for right now, I am using the “I’ll start on Monday” excuse.  The problem with that is I’ve been starting on Monday for several years now.  And then when Monday comes there is always some other catastrophe that I have to deal with.  And of course I CAN’T focus on eating right then.

I can come up with all the reasons and excuses that I need to justify (in my own head) the fact that this job seems way to ginormous and scary to even start.  In the situation of eating healthy, for me, it’s simply because the task seems huge, I’m afraid I can’t do it and so I lose all motivation to even try.

My Solution to stay motivated … What I’ve decided to do in this situation is break it down, into smaller more manageable tasks.  Pieces of the puzzles as it were.  Smaller “bite size” (pun intended) chunks.

Also, learning to celebrate along the journey.  Looking back at where I started and seeing the success throughout the journey.  Then telling myself how awesome that is!!  One huge way to stay motivated is to see that you are making progress.

And of course, that will be “starting on Monday” (for reals, see more about that next week.)

I Don’t See Immediate Results

If you don’t see any immediate results in the beginning stages of the task, it’s really hard to keep pushing through, and keep doing it.

One of my goals is to blog a minimum of three times a week.  I want to build up my blog, audience and provide content and value to my readers.  Seems easy enough, right?  IT’S NOT!  It is super easy to lose motivation on this goal because most of the time I feel  like nobody is reading anyway, so why bother.

I even had this discussion with a friend of mine the other day.  I have so many other “money tasks” that need my focus and attention.  She suggested that I put the blogging on the “back burner” for a while because it’s not producing the immediate results.  That’s true, and that would be easy to do.  The problem is that if I do, the blog will lose all momentum that I have started to build with it.  Even though I may not see results, I know that they will come if I just keep pushing.

Plus it is super cool when you guys will give me social signal and share my content (just through the buttons on the left #hint#hint 😉 )  I’m sure at this point a few comments would send me into a happy dance LOL.

It’s really hard when you don’t see immediate results on something to keep going with it.

My Solution to Stay Motivated… In this situation, there are a couple of things that I do to stay motivated to blog three times a week.

• I have a group that holds me accountable.  We meet online twice each week to brainstorm, get ideas, and keep each other moving forward.  I’d say this has been a big factor in making me keep going.  Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither will my blog be.
• I look back and see how far I have come.  Each month my traffic is slowly increasing, my social shares are slowly increasing.  I have actually had engagement from a few people with regards to something they read on my blog (that’s super cool!).  Again seeing any kind of progress is a great motivator to keep moving forward.
• I’ve decided to make blogging FUN.  Racing against a timer to see how fast I can write a post.  Finding fun things about my life to blog about, sharing stories that are about the whole experience and not just “How to ________” kind of posts, but rather sharing real life examples that have happened (or are happening) to me.

It’s Not Something that I Enjoy Doing

So many things I know I should do, I know I need to do, but I just really don’t enjoy doing them.  I am not at all motivated to get them done.

The first example that popped into my head for this one is doing my taxes!!  I know I need to do them.  But wow, first of all it’s a ginormous task, it’s an extremely boring task, it’s takes up way too much time to get it done.

I’m working on getting my taxes done right now (super late, right?)  I’ve actually outsourced my mother on this one and am getting her involved, because I know it is something that I don’t have the time, energy OR motivation to get done.  Even then, together we procrastinate on getting starting on them LOL.

This is a hard one to find a solution for.  Some jobs/tasks you just plain don’t like!  I will never enjoy doing my books, I will never enjoy income statements and balance sheets, and I will never enjoy doing my taxes.  (I find that humorous as I am writing it, because back in college there was “a guy” that almost had me convinced to become a certified accountant LOLOL  So glad I didn’t)

My solution to Stay Motivated…..  Outsource this baby!  lol  There are in fact people that enjoy doing bookwork and taxes.  I am just not one of them.  Many times when you have tasks that are not something you enjoy, you can outsource them for a small price and then keep your focus on the “money making” tasks, or things where you accel.

If you are looking for more ways to stay motivated and achieve success, you can check out what Zig Ziglar had to say on the matter.  Zig was one of the foremost experts in the field of motivation, his ideas and tactics in this area are still incredibly powerful today.

Talk Soon,

P.S. – Get More Tips n Tricks from AHWH sent directly to your inbox, that way you’re sure not to miss anything. 🙂