Photo by Qstone. dreamstime.com
How do you motivate yourself to take action?
What makes the difference between not doing something and then, in an instant, doing it? What changed in that moment? Maybe something changed in your external world, but more likely, something changed in your internal world.
Like climbing the mountains of Tibet to learn the secret of life from a Buddhist Master, climbing into our heads to figure out the secret to motivation, can be a long journey. Thankfully, the scenery along the way is breathtaking – but I digress.
My clients deal with this daily. Something is not getting done even though my client wants and needs it to be done already. It feels like struggle. It’s hard. It may not be clear how to do it or why.
And then, the next time we speak, it got done. I always ask; “what changed? What was the thought or decision that motivated you?” Sometimes this is identifiable and when it is, I say “Write it down. You’ll need that next time.”
I have identified a few things that work for me. I can sometimes motivate myself with a deadline – even a false one. Sometimes, I can motivate myself by promising a reward – like a nice long nap – if I get all my work done. Sometimes I am motivated by making someone else happy or completing a project.
I have a client who is motivated by avoiding guilt. She feels guilty if she doesn’t do what she says she will do. (She’s working on replacing this method with something that feels a little better.)
So what are your motivations? What are the incentives? Are there any you could create for yourself right now?
ACTION STEP:
Taking the action is often the easy part – getting started is where we get stuck.
Identify a time that you were able to motivate yourself.
What tool did you use? Maybe you thought about the outcome or the value you were creating?
Can you recreate that now?
Jamee