The Ultimate Motivation Hack
Image courtesy of Hacksomia
Ahh, motivation hacks!
If you’re anything like me, you have tried dozens of motivation hacks in your life, with varying degrees of success. (Ever tried the one of spinning a dead cat around your head thirteen times in a graveyard at midnight during full moon? No? Weird, I thought everybody knew that one…)
Thankfully, your search is now over! You have reached Vlad’s Ultimate Motivation Hack Formula! (I was going to throw in a few other fancy words, like “passion” and “synergy”, but if I ever decided to trademark it, the paperwork would kill me.)
I’m not just going to throw a simple technique at you. Oh no. We’re going to dig deeper into the STRATEGY of motivation. And from there, I will help you build the ultimate Motivation Hack that works for YOU personally!
Okay, ready?
Why do you need a motivation hack anyway?
Let’s face it. If you’re looking for a motivation hack, that means there’s something you feel you HAVE TO do, or SHOULD DO, but you don’t feel like doing it.
Pause for a moment and think about it. It’s so obvious you probably never even considered it. And yet it holds the key to motivation.
When I was a kid I used to jump out of bed at 6 am on the weekend, all excited. Why? Because the morning cartoons were on! And yet during weekdays, I would be hard pressed to drag myself out of bed by 7:30.
Notice something? During the week, I HAD TO get up. On the weekend, I WANTED TO get up!
So if you’re looking for a motivation hack, that means you don’t really WANT TO do something. You logically know you SHOULD be doing it, but your emotions tell you otherwise. You associate pain with doing it.
In a moment, I will share the Ultimate Motivation Hack with you. But first, there’s one more thing you need to understand. It might even shatter your model of reality. I’m going to show you why bribing yourself is directly COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE as far as motivation goes!
Why bribing yourself doesn’t work:
Let’s say you have some writing that you want to get finished. But you don’t feel like doing it. So what would most people immediately do? Bribe themselves! They decide to stick it out, and then reward themselves with a cold beer or a chocolate bar or any other kind of reward.
Nooooo! That absolutely KILLS motivation in the long term!
“But it works!” I hear you say.
Well, yes and no. Bribing yourself might get the task done this time. But it also associates even more pain to doing the task, because you now see it as this annoying painful thing you need to get through to get your reward. The next time you want to do the same task, it will be even harder to get motivated.
Through bribing, you don’t get yourself to the point where you WANT to do something. You only reinforce the notion that it’s something you HAVE TO suffer through to get a reward.
Remember when I told you it’s all about what you WANT TO do vs. what you HAVE TO do? It’s a deep principle. Remember it every time you struggle with motivation.
Okay, now let’s move on to the grand finale! How to build your own motivation hack for every situation!
The Ultimate Motivation Hack
Hold this in mind – you want to get to the point where you WANT TO do the task.
The best way I found was… to make the task itself FUN!
Like this one time, I had to sweep the living room floor. I spent hours procrastinating and thinking up excuses for not doing it. Then I stopped myself! I realized I was procrastinating because sweeping the floor was bloody boring! (i.e. painful). So I thought about how to make it fun for myself, and I came up with a solution! I decided to make it more challenging!
I stood on one leg, lifted the other one up while bending my body forward (forming a T-shape) and swept the floor like that, hopping around on one leg! (I also started talking in weird voices and eventually fell over from laughing at myself.)
Don’t take yourself too seriously 
. In fact, making a fool of yourself is a great way to start enjoying the task again.
A couple of months back, I started really strugging with writing. It became a painful chore, and I even thought of quitting blogging. But when I stopped myself and thought deeply about the problem, I realized I simply started taking myself too seriously! I had built up a readership, and I started caring about what they thought. (As in, “What would they think of me if I wrote this silly stuff?”)
Then I realized it doesn’t matter. If somebody doesn’t like my writing style, they’re free to stop reading. Being myself is more important than impressing strangers. And once I realized that, and stop censoring myself, the floodgates opened! Writing became easy again, because I was having FUN while doing it! (Plus, I got a lot more positive responses from readers!)
So if you want to build a motivation hack for yourself, just remember: It’s about making the task FUN.
You can make it more challenging, or more silly, or more ridiculous (I had a friend in high school who hated how formal the essays had to be. One day he decided to instead make it AS FORMAL AS POSSIBLE, using incredibly long convoluted sentences and fancy words, to see if the teacher caught on to the irony. She never did…)
I’m not going to give you “the one hack”. Because no one technique works for every person in every situation.
Instead, I will let YOU create hacks that work for YOU in each particular situation! Based on the principles I shared in this post, you can create your own motivation hack for every situation. And THAT is the Ultimate Motivation Hack.
Vlad Dolezal is a guest blogger for PickTheBrain. Check out Vlad’s blog Fun Life Development for more fun and exciting personal development tips. He’s even got a few posts waiting there especially for you!
The One and Only Motivator for Success
How many times have you had these thoughts: “I need to go out there and do it” or “I should go to the gym more than once a week” or “I ought to wake up thirty minutes earlier to revise my presentation” or any other ‘could’ve’, ‘would’ve’, should’ve’?
If you’re like me, you’ve probably had many of these thoughts. But how many of them did you actually commit yourself to in the long term?
More than likely, not enough!
You know you should go for this, you ought to do that, or you would like to do the other. But the ‘knowing’, the ‘ought to’ and the ‘would like to’ are not going to make things happen.
Why haven’t things changed the way you wanted them to? Why haven’t you committed to going to the gym more than once a week, or why haven’t you gotten up thirty minutes earlier to revise your presentation?
The answer lies in motivation: The skill of getting yourself to take action to achieve your goals, no matter what.
The great thing about life is that you can learn, develop and master the skill of getting and staying motivated, so you can accomplish the things that you have always wanted.
Feeling more motivated, you will become more energetic, more willing and capable, stronger to face any of life’s challenges and hurdles. With enthusiasm and motivation you will take on everything and anything and you will continue moving ahead until you have accomplished what you set out to do; where you will happily and eagerly look forward to your next gym visit, or getting up early to revise your presentation.
No more excuses!
And what is the power, the motivating power that can keep you going on and on until you’ve fulfilled your true potential?
In one word, it is passion.
I am not talking about a mere wish, a simple want or a plain request. I am talking about a resolute and tenacious desire, a true passion, where you do whatever it takes for you to achieve what it is that you seek.
The more you are passionate about what it is that you want – your resolute desire – the stronger your motivation is, and inevitably the more successful you will be.
Once you have found your passion, motivation is effortless.
Your intense desire, your fervent passion is what fuels your core and inner motivation. This motivation will bring about inspired action to make things happen.
Motivation and intense desire go hand in hand. This desire, your compelling goal or passion, is your journey and motivation is the fuel that will get you there.
Turn that desire into a firm goal and allow motivation to get you there, one step at a time. One step today, one step tomorrow, the day after, every day, every week and every month until you achieve your goal.
More often than not, it is the first step that is the hardest. And it is only after you have made a series of steps, even a series of small steps that it gets easier.
Here are three potent ways to put a fire under your motivation:
1. Know your desire. Your first step is to measure the strength of your passion. Is it a solid desire that you really want? Is it something that you excites you? This means looking at yourself through a clear lens and finding out who you really are. What makes you tick? What makes you happy and fulfilled? Often we are bombarded by many external factors telling us what should make us happy, what should define us as successful. The fact of the matter is only you can know what makes you happy. Take the time to honestly strip away all of the societal layers and pressures and really see who you are. The world doesn’t define you, you are the creator of your own world. You are responsible for your own happiness and productivity. You will not find this happiness, productivity, motivation or inspiration if you are trying to achieve things based on others’ standards.
Once your passion is clear-cut and compelling, deep-seated in your thoughts, it becomes very easy for you to keep it at the forefront of your mind. Given that this passion is so important to you, it will be effortless for you to keep a clear image of your desire, passion or goal.
2. Know your benefits. Your second easy step is to ignite that passion even more. Get yourself a journal and make a list of the benefits that you will attain on the journey as you pursue your passion and the benefits that you will get when you achieve each passion or goal.
At this point, it is important that you involve your four senses as best you can. When you write a benefit, close your eyes and measure the strength of it. If it does not excite you, it is not powerful enough. Rewrite each benefit until it electrifies you.
It is essential that you involve your senses. See the benefits, hear the benefits, smell the benefits and touch the benefits.
3. Know your action steps. This last step will be remarkably easy for you. Why? The sheer power of your passion and the mighty energy you feel from seeing, hearing, smelling and touching the benefits will have incredible and stimulating clout that will motivate you into action.
When you are so passionate about your goal, when your desire has great influence over you, you will inevitably take action to make that passion a reality, even when you are not in the mood, tired or it’s late at night.
There will be no excuses! Your motivation will incite action. It will automatically spur you on.
Keep seeing, hearing, smelling and touching your passion to maintain your motivation level at a height you never thought possible.
Rekindle the fire under your motivation by reviewing your desire, your passion and goal, and you will be able to go ahead and achieve with very little effort.
Learn how to eliminate the limiting beliefs that keep you stuck where you are. Download the free book Establish Powerful Self-Enhancing Belief and start achieving today.
Hani Al-Qasem is a published author and personal growth specialist. He co-authored Self-Confidence Building in 7 Steps and Establish Powerful Self-Enhancing Beliefs.
Surviving Your First Day at a New Job
Image courtesy of: Clarity25
You dusted off your resume. Polished it up. Killed it in the interview. And Congratulations, you were hired!
Initially you are excited, relieved and proud – (as you should be!) – but as the starting date of your new position looms ever closer, often these first feelings are overshadowed by a growing sense of nervousness and anxiety, climaxing five minutes before you walk in that front door for the first time. Natural insecurities and doubts prevail: Why did they hire me? What if I don’t know what I’m doing? What if I don’t fit in?
Before you let these nerves get to you, it is important to know that if you care about this job even remotely these feelings are far more common than not, and it is a fact that everyone at the office you’re about to walk into had a first day there at some time or another. Having said that, though the first day on a new job won’t define your entire existence there (cumulative hard work and results will), it sets a tone that will either work for or against you, depending on how you play it. And like most things in life, a little upfront planning will go a long way to ensuring your ultimate success.
Getting There: “Nobody plans to fail, they fail to plan.”
Plan your route: Nothing is more important on that ominous first day than simply making it on time. Seems easy enough. But though you can count on your own punctuality, often times it seems like every other car on the road is conspiring against you. Plan for that. Plan for the broken down Civic in the middle of the intersection. Plan for the grandmother with Cataracts oblivious she is driving in the fast lane. Make sure you leave with ample time to get there and plan your route in advance. This is valuable time that can be used to get calm and focused, instead of weaving through traffic at break-neck speeds, cursing out everybody in you’re way because you’re now late.
Dress right: When you’re looking good, you’re feeling good. Plan what you’re going to wear, being conscious of your new environment, the night before so you don’t have to make frenzied and hurried decisions in the morning. Putting on something that feels and looks good has a tremendous positive effect on our psyche and confidence, and is essential to a first impression. Conversely, wearing something ill planned or inappropriate can leave you feeling awkward and out of place all day.
Do your homework: Learn as much as you can about your new employer/company before you start – partners, managers, clients, any press on the company. This will allow you to get a sense of how the company works before you ever step in it. (This is also good advice for all jobs you’re interviewing for, so you can prioritize your choices should you start getting offers. Some companies will be a far better personal fit for you than others.)
Making a Connection:
The routine: Be vigilant of your new office culture – there are often very obvious hierarchies if you take the time to check it out. Every office has its little eccentricities and specific ways of doing things, the quicker you spot them the quicker you’ll be welcomed in. And remember to be flexible. Just because you did something a certain way in your past situation, doesn’t mean it’s going to fly here. New environment, new protocol.
Introductions: Make a concerted effort to get to know your colleagues. Often co-workers will go out of their way to be welcoming on your first day. Be open to this. A warm smile and a firm handshake will go a long way. As well, if there are people that you haven’t formally met, introduce yourself. It is important to get to know people at all levels. Though you would never want to forget your superior’s names, it is just as advantageous to get to know the assistants, temps and interns, as more often than not they’re actually the ones getting things done and a sincere introduction by you will be noticed and appreciated.
Information: On day one remember you are student not a teacher. Know you know enough to be there (you were hired after all!) but also know enough to know you can always know more. Don’t regale your mentor with stories of the way you used to work, you’re in a new environment and that comes along with a whole new set of work practices. Inevitably as you’re being whisked around for a tour many names and information will be thrown out to you: You’re not expected to remember everything on day one, so be inquisitive and ask questions – be a good student.
The water cooler: Positivity breads positivity. Often in an attempt to make you part of the group, some employees will try and bring you up to speed on all the office gossip. While this can be funny and entertaining, try not to engage in this. Often conversations like this come back to haunt you down the line. Remember they’re not your friends, they’re your co-workers – be professional. Conversely, if asked about your old job, even if you had a really bad experience, pull from the positive – it puts you in a better light and generates far more long-term respect.
First Day Work Ethic: The first day at a new job is often like the first day back at school. There will be a lot of action, a lot of information, but you will probably be expected to get very little actual ‘work’ done, as you’re getting the lay of the land. This does not mean however that you should leave right at 5pm sharp. Symbolic actions like putting in that little bit of extra time, even if you’re not swamped right off the bat, are often noticed and appreciated. Slipping out 5 minutes early because you don’t have much to do will undoubtedly have the opposite effect.
Making Connections Last:
Ultimately you will be judged on your job performance and productivity. Work not only hard, but smart. Creating a comfortable, flowing work atmosphere is often imperative to maximum efficiency. Though you may have first day jitters, setting the correct tone – professional and engaging – from day one, will go a long way to helping create the best environment for you.
Finally, a special thanks to everyone at PickTheBrain that made my first day at work truly joyous!
Don’t Try to Do It All Yourself
When you’re trying to live a full, productive and effective life, it’s easy to fall into the trap of trying to do it all yourself. Whether this means micro-managing at work, or dealing with every little thing at home, it can initially seem like a way to make sure things are done properly.
Before long, of course, you end up feeling frazzled. You’re spending a lot of time on low-level tasks, you’re overworked, and you don’t ever seem to get a chance to pursue activities that really excite you.
If you’re someone whose mantra is “if you want a job done well, do it yourself,” there are two crucial ways to reduce the burden: you need to eliminate and delegate.
Eliminate
The first, easiest, way to get rid of stuff that’s filling up your life is to eliminate it. If you start on your to-do list before breakfast and still have loads to do at bedtime, you’re trying to pack too much in.
Here are some good questions to ask yourself when considering what to eliminate. Work through the questions in order for each big commitment you have in your life; if you hit a “no” answer, stop reading and start thinking about whether you can eliminate it.
• Do I want to do this? If not, why am I doing it? Is it because I feel obliged? Can I remove or at least reduce my commitment?
• Does this need to be done? If not, why do I have it on my to-do list? Is it because someone has told me I should do it? (E.g. parent, society at large.)
• Am I learning anything from doing this? If I used to learn from this, and no longer do, is it time to move on?
• Would I feel at all sorry to give this up?
Many of us have great trouble saying “no” to people. If you’re asked to take on something that you don’t want to do, or don’t have time to do well, then learn to say “I’m sorry, I can’t commit to that at the moment.” If you’re pushed, simply repeat yourself, and add that “I won’t take on something where I know I don’t have the time to do a good job.”
If you really can’t think what you might eliminate, ask “what’s the worst that could happen if I gave this up?”
Delegate
Some jobs do need to be done, however boring or tiresome they are. Perhaps you hate doing the dishes, or doing your taxes. Whether it’s a personal or work task, look for ways to delegate:
• Pass on low-level work tasks to junior colleagues (invest some initial time in teaching them how to do the job well – don’t just dump a task on them and expect them to figure it out).
• Teach your kids how to perform basic chores. You might consider offering a small amount of extra pocket money in exchange.
• Hire someone to clean your home once a week.
• Let your spouse or older kids take a turn at cooking. It may not be up to your gourmet/macrobiotic/frugal standards, but praise the results and the effort that went in.
• Pay an accountant to do your taxes for you (a good accountant will save you more than his/her fee).
• Outsource very simple and routine tasks, like data entry, to a virtual assistant firm or individual – R3R has a number of reviews of virtual assistant firms and sites.
If you manage a group of volunteers (eg. in a church or community setting), this is another good opportunity to delegate – especially as it’s likely that the group will consist of people with a number of very different skills. Get people to list what their areas of expertise are, and play to those strengths: for example, you might find that someone who’s worked in events management can organize the annual gala, whereas an English major might be just the person for writing the monthly newsletter.
Do you have any tips on how to effectively eliminate or delegate tasks? Are you someone who needs to “do it all”, or are you realistic about how much you can take on?
Related Articles:
Knowing When to Cut Your Losses and Call It Quits
Do It First Thing, Everyday: How To Tackle Any Project
Letter From The Editor
Dear Pick The Brain Readers:
I’d like to thank all of our loyal readers and writers for sticking with us as the site has gone through a slightly inactive period. Being an avid reader of PTB for some time, when the opportunity arose to revitalize the blog, it was with great pleasure that I accepted the position of Editorial Director. PickTheBrain.com is one of the highest quality, most respected Self-Improvement sites on the web, due in equal parts to it’s valuable, practical and inspiring content and the incredible community of users that continue to support it so enthusiastically!
Now more than ever, in these chaotic, uncertain and challenging times, it is both difficult and important to stay focused and motivated. There definitely are opportunities out there to turn the corner and reignite your path to success (yes, I’m a glass half-full girl!); they’re just a little harder to find. My commitment to you is to continue to make Pick The Brain a trusted resource to help you discover the best ways to lead an ever-more productive, fulfilled and motivated life!
Starting NOW, I will be publishing new articles from some of your favorite, as well as new writers on an almost daily basis, and we’ll soon be reaching out to our readers on Twitter, Facebook and in other outlets (you can start following us on twitter.com/pickthebrain). Your comments and suggestions are always welcome and encouraged. Please feel free to email me directly at erin@pickthebrain.com with topics you would like to see covered…or anything else on your mind.
Be well and happy achieving!
Erin
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