Motivation
Today’s Word of the Week, “motivation”, brings to mind an interesting anecdote from a few years back.
A friend of mine commented on how hard it would be for them to be self-employed because they had no motivation. They went on the say that they believed that I was very motivated and asked how did I stay so motivated.
Truth be told, I believe that I am the least motivated person on the face of the Earth! I hate being on a time schedule and deadlines are like the plague to my ears. Working for oneself can be a chore unto itself. You don’t have a boss breathing down your neck. You are your own boss, which in theory sounds lovely. However, in practice this is a bit of pain as well.
So how do you stay motivated when there’s no one tapping you in the shoulder and no one there to kick-start your projects? I’ve found that breaking down your more mundane tasks into shorter working time blocks helps. By taking small five-minute breaks, you can return to the task slightly refreshed and re-focused to continue. I also believe that rewarding your self with little media “treats” can be helpful as well. For example, I love to play scrabble online, so after I reach a milestone in my project I might play a quick ten-minute game. But one could also read an article or a few pages from your favorite book, if that’s your healthy “vice”.
All in all, it’s very hard staying motivated and there are a million books and videos out there claiming to have key. What it comes down to is basically, loving what you do. Because that’s the ultimate answer to the motivation conundrum.
Anecdote Categories: Word of the Week
