The Key to Motivation

Motivation can be incredibly difficult sometimes and many of us have found ourselves in a spiral of procrastination. However, there are some small things you can do to motivate yourself even when you don’t feel like it. 

Create habits

This is a great way to maintain long-term motivation. Some people refer to this as a ‘ritual’, but all it is is doing something repetitively for a long time so that it becomes a habit. Having a consistent schedule is so important as after a while, the task you were struggling to do becomes second-nature. Many people make use of this technique; Maya Angelou rented a hotel room everyday that she would write in from 6:30 to 14:00. Your ritual could be as simple as waking up at a certain time or going to a certain place everyday at the same time. This is a simple and effective tactic, but it is more long-term. Below are some methods you can use for more short-term boosts of motivation.

Split tasks up

If you are struggling to start a big task, split it up into smaller tasks, and work through each of them. They could be as small as five minutes long, but the satisfaction of finishing a task, however small, will fuel you to start the next one. It also makes the entire task seem a lot less intimidating to start, and the hardest part is getting started! 

The Goldilocks Rule 

The task also needs to be the right amount of challenging - a task that is too easy will become boring, and a task that is too hard is simply unattainable. It has been proven that peak motivation happens when a task is just challenging enough to captivate you, and this state is sometimes referred to as ‘the flow’ or ‘getting into the flow’. This phenomenon is called ‘The Goldilocks Rule’, and regularly finding tasks that are the best for your abilities is key to maintaining long-term motivation

Find a friend

Doing tasks with a friend or a group is much easier - you will motivate each other to do it, and tasks seem a lot less intimidating when you aren’t alone in doing them. Some friendly competition can also be great for pushing you to the best of your abilities, but remember, too much can simply demotivate you, especially if you are not a competitive person by nature. 

Positivity

Finally, remain positive! This is perhaps one of the most important things you can do. Changing your mindset about a task can have such a huge impact on how willing you are to complete that task. This is undoubtedly easier said than done, but you can try simple things like using more positive vocabulary, remembering the good parts instead of the bad and rewarding yourself for completing tasks. All of these help condition your brain into eventually loving it!