Your "Get Up and Go"
“Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.”
We all have chores and tasks we avoid until they’re absolutely necessary. These are usually either the ones we’re not good at, or the ones that for whatever reason are just the least fun to tackle. It can be agonizing to try to scrape together the motivation to confront them head on, and I was staring down the barrel of one of these recently, so I thought I’d share a few ideas for handling such things. Here are my suggestions:
· Remind yourself of why you’re going to do this task. How will you and others benefit from the results of it?
· Remember where it fits into the big picture of your larger goals. Will it make other tasks easier, or even make new things possible?
· Imagine having the results now. How will that feel? Will you be relieved? Excited about what comes next? Grateful to yourself for getting it done? Proud of yourself for your achievement and contribution? Euphoric that you don’t have to dread it anymore?
· Here’s a little secret for you: One of the most effective ways to motivate yourself is to learn to enjoy results before you’ve actually created them. This may seem impractical, but it’s actually just the opposite; indulging in this creates happy, enthusiastic feelings that you can use to go about your daily tasks with a better attitude, more enjoyment, and less resistance. It’s an invaluable skill that you will understand better the more you practice it
· Take note of which result, of the ones you imagined, most motivates you. Is it that your task will make things better for someone else? Is it your own future relief that makes you feel the best? Is it having others see and acknowledge your success that excites you? Knowing what tends to motivate you most reliably is truly empowering, because once you know, you can automatically prime yourself for action by imagining how great it will be to have that result whenever it's time to take action
· When you know you’ll be taking on something you resist, promise yourself a reward of some sort, if that helps you. It can be something as simple as allowing yourself some guilt-free time to enjoy what might normally be a guilty pleasure, like an embarrassingly terrible T.V. show. How about a nice long catch-up with a friend who you haven’t found time for lately? Whatever you can look forward to so that you keep your task moving ahead will fit the bill
Re-engaging your sense of purpose regarding your task is a powerful beginning. You deserve to have those happy results, so take a few minutes to connect with what’s important about getting this done. It’s so much more helpful to motivate yourself through anticipation than through attempting to guilt or bully yourself into action. Give it a try and see how it goes. You may have to repeat this a few times in order to really get yourself on board for something really difficult, but making this a daily habit is a good thing. I think you’ll find that the minutes you spend here will buoy your willingness to take on those more dreaded tasks in surprising and enjoyable ways.