Staying Motivated: Tips from a Procrastinator
How do you stay motivated?
That’s what I hear constantly and the honest answer is: I don’t. I struggle with motivation every week and most days.
I really love to help people and businesses grow. So when I am overwhelmed by personal tasks or not excited to work, I reintroduce myself with the “Why”.
Why did I start this business?
Why does this client need my expertise?
Why don’t I just sit down and do the work so I don’t stress later?
That’s my secret tip for when everything else fails. But here are my very practical tips for staying motivated, even if you don’t want to do the work today:
Create a routine.
Go to your office at the same time every day. Eat lunch at the same time every day. Work the same days of the week every week. Routine will make it easy to stay on track. When I get too flexible with my schedule, I often get overwhelmed, lazy and sloppy.
Build positive habits.
To be clear, they have to be POSITIVE habits. Habits can be both beneficial and damaging - so stick to the beneficial ones. And specifically, I mean work habits. Do social engagement with the same tools at the same times. Send emails to clients when the deliverable is complete. Schedule weekly meetings with clients that really stretch you. Keep your workspace bright, organized, and singularly focused on your task. All of these things will keep you on track.
Take breaks.
When I’m really struggling to focus and stay motivated, I build in breaks as rewards. “Ronni, you are going to sit down and write that blog post. When it’s done you can go put away the laundry that’s stressing you out.” (Don’t judge my type of reward; I get overwhelmed by mundane tasks.) To be useful, I have found the reward has to be away from my desk and away from work but has to be under 15 minutes (or else you’re just going to get sucked into something not focused on work).
Give in sometimes.
We all want to be motivated all the time, but we can’t live Proverbs 31 all the time. Well, maybe some can, but I sure can’t. You became a business owner and entrepreneur for a reason - mine was flexibility. So, I use it, but sparingly. You have to be ready for what that flexibility can mean the next time you sit down at your desk.
Time box it
When I really just don’t want to do a task, I give myself a time box for it. I choose either 10 or 15 minutes and set a timer. I work on it for that long and then take a break. Most of the time, I find that I’m so deep into the task or project by the end of my forced time box, I just keep going! Or if the task is so short, I shake my head because of how silly that procrastination really was.