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.