“I don’t have enough time.” “I’m too busy.” “There aren’t enough hours in the day.”
On average, I hear at least one of these expressions twice a day. And quite frankly, I’m a bit tired of it. So I decided to make it my personal mission to rid the world of these phrases. r
Have you ever tried a productivity system like creating massive to-do lists, not-to-do lists, GTD, the 4-Hour Workweek …only to find out this doesn’t quite work for you?
Worst of all, do you have a sense of overwhelm and anxiety when you think of your priorities for the day? r
As a child, sitting around and thinking about things never appealed to me — it frustrated me beyond belief. In college, I was always the one sleeping twelve hours a night during finals — because I had finished all of my papers and studying days in advance. As an adult, I often receive comments like, “How do you get so much done in one day?” r
I think there are two ways of motivating yourself.
One is “internalised external authority”.
You create an authority figure in your head. It tells you what to do. It tells you when you’re good enough. And it tells you when you’ve screwed up.
To motivate yourself using your internalised external authority, just embody that voice for a moment. Work out some nice juicy judgements about yourself, as in: “You haven’t been working enough! You need to do this better! Get a better grade! Get a better promotion!”
Then, return to your main self and start working. If you slack off, use your internalised external authority to whip yourself into further action. r
When it comes to goal setting and motivation, there are a couple of schools of thought:
You should set big, ambitious, audacious goals … ones that challenge you and inspire you
You should set small, easy, minimum targets … ones that you can do without fail every single day
Who’s right? I think that both can be. A big goal (like writing a book, or losing 50lbs) can be really inspiring, but it can also be daunting. Small targets aren’t so inspiring or exciting … but they are reassuringly do-able.
Here’s how to combine both for maximum effect. r
The “40-hour week” has been getting longer for years. The average American works 47.5 hours per week – and that’s not even counting another 4.5 hours they spend catching up on extra work at home. These numbers are according to a study done by the National Sleep Foundation. No wonder, then, that we turn to things like multitasking in order to cheat the amount of time we have to spend at the office (or home office). r
© Copyright 2013 PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement
