How to Motivate Yourself to Change Your Behavior
How I motivate myself to do more and to put ideas into motion. This is such an important topic and I thought I’d spend some time on motivation today. If I want something and it’s important to me I will be motivated.
The struggle comes when I need to do something that I don’t really want to do and then trying to figure out how I motivate myself to get more done. Figuring out the best way to do things and getting myself to do what needs to be done.
So I thought I would share some of my little tips that get me to do things I don’t want to do and how I am able to find motivation when I don’t feel like it . There are plenty of days I just want to do nothing and on those days I have to push myself a little harder.
When I originally wrote this post my focus was mainly on motivating myself around the house but so many of these tips apply to running my blog as well. So I updated the post on how I use these tips for work as well as for around the house.
1. Switch off the tasks with someone:
If I really don’t want to do something then I try to find something my husband needs to do and doesn’t want to and see if we can trade. That way things still get done. When I get to the point where I’m ready to take on help in my business, maybe you already do have help. Make sure they are doing the tasks you find least pleasing. That way your time and energy are spent on things you enjoy doing.
2. Break things down into time chunks.
For me, this is the best way to get myself motivated to do big tasks around the house. I will do it for 20 minutes then I get a break and then another 20 minutes and so on. During the breaks, I do something fun like read or go online to relax and then get back to it. Most things don’t seem so bad if I break it up like that. Even things I dread like cleaning Bella’s room or putting away laundry.
3. Get what’s most important done first.
Not everything is going to be accomplished in my home but not everything is a top priority for me either. I focus on what is and that takes some of the pressure off which motivates me to get things done. There are some things that are musts and I focus on those items first. That way I get the most important tasks out of the way and they are finished. Then if I have more time I can start working on something else.
4. Make a list.
I use to write them before my hand stopped working after my stroke. Luckily we have technology that works and now I keep my to-do lists on my blog and in Evernote which I can use on my iPad and phone. It’s great motivation to mark stuff done.
I think that making lists is one of the best ways to increase your productivity which is why I make weekly to do lists.
5. Going public about projects as well as lists.
If I tell someone that I’m going to do something that is great motivation to actually get it done. I know I will get asked about it either online or by people in my real life. So I want to make sure to work on stuff so I can say what I’ve been working on.
It’s very important to me to share my weekly and monthly goals on my blog for two reasons. First, it forces me to actually stop and think about what my goals are which is important to do. The research on goals says that the clearer you are on your goals the more likely you are to achieve them. So posting them weekly keeps my goals in my mind. Second I make myself honestly share how I did on my goals each week. Even if I didn’t achieve much. Doing that helps me to check in on my goals and how I motivate myself to get more things done from my list each week.
