4 Ways to Help Motivate Yourself

Motivation is hard.

There, I said it! I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks so, right? I have a hard time making myself be productive sometimes. And by sometimes, I mean a lot. My excuses can get quite ridiculous. If they even exist.

For example, I blog on Tuesdays (obviously). I came up with a topic last night. I knew what I wanted to say. But despite the fact that I’ve been up for almost twelve hours, I am only now writing this post. No, I did not have any other things to do. I was sitting on the couch all day on my iPod. I will admit to being lazy. There were multiple points throughout the day where I thought “I should write that blog post and just be done.” Then I would return to whatever mindless activity I was doing.

Another example: I am working on a novel. Well, I should be working on it. I find myself avoiding it for the sole reason that the main character is a complete brat. It’s first person point of view, so I dislike getting inside her head. I know she has redeeming qualities and she gets a lot less bratty, but I don’t like working out of order, so I don’t have any good scenes to write yet.

I will admit that part of the reason I haven’t been productive over the past few days is because I’m on spring break and wanting to relax and spend time with family. So hopefully the rest of my week will be better spent, time-wise.

Unfortunately, there’s really no one-size-fits-all trick to motivate yourself. You have to know what works for you. For the most part, it will simply be the strength of will. But here are some helpful tips:

-Know if you are intrinsically or extrinsically motivated. Do you find satisfaction in meeting your goals or in rewards? This article goes into more depth about the two types.

-Know when to write. Do you work better at certain times of the day? If so, try to work during those times.

– When setting goals, figure out what works best for you. Do you prefer hitting a certain word count every day? Working for a set amount of time? Do you prefer long or short term goals?

-Cut out distractions during writing time. I know it’s hard, but it ups your productivity immensely.

None of these are problem solvers: it’s ultimately up to you to get things done. But they’re steps in the right direction.

How do you motivate yourself?

I should note that, in the process of writing this blog post, I managed to waste about 45 minutes on YouTube. *bows* Practice what you preach, eh Kate?