“Into The Bloom” courtesy of PopArtMachine

I’m sure you’ve noticed that a lot gets said about productivity – not just here on Pick the Brain, but around the web. We’re always keen to squeeze a little bit more out of our day, fighting against all the interruptions and distractions of modern life.

It’s easy to end up struggling much harder than you need to, though, by trying to be productive in the wrong ways, at the wrong times. Working with your body clock and your natural peaks and troughs of energy lets you maximize your productivity all day long … rather than struggling through several miserable hours by sheer willpower, only to end up too tired and tetchy to carry on working.

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Have you ever started off a project feeling really enthusiastic about it – perhaps even to the point that you were losing sleep? Whether it was a new business direction, or book, or piece of art, or home improvement, or diet … it had you gripped. In the early stages, you found yourself thinking about it in the shower, jotting down ideas in the evening, wondering “what if…”

But somewhere along the way, you simply lost motivation. Perhaps you let your diet slide for a while and just couldn’t get up any enthusiasm to restart. Maybe you stopped writing your novel for months, and stopped caring too. Or you woke up one day and realised you dreaded grinding through any more of the steps in that business plan.

We know what it’s like to be motivated – and we know what it’s like to be unable to sustain that motivation. Here’s how to make sure you stay consistently motivated: so that you don’t burn out or lose interest.

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“Never Wake Up” courtesy of Heiko Muller

I bet you’ve had days when you just want to stay under the duvet. Maybe you slept badly, or perhaps you just can’t face dragging yourself out of bed and facing your to-do list. Yet you know that if you could get up when you want to every day – rather than at the last minute possible – you’d be able to accomplish a lot more of your goals.

Here are nine ways to wake up ready to rock, roughly in order of when you’ll need to do them the day before. Feel free to add your own tips in the comments!

1.    Exercise During the Day

There are plenty of great reasons to exercise, and I won’t rehash them all here. Many people, though, find that exercising helps them to sleep well at night – yet another health-boosting benefit.

If you’re struggling to fit exercise into your day, try looking for ways to get active in your lunch hour or straight after work: if exercise forms a natural part of your routine, you’ll be much more likely to stick with it.

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When you were a child, you often had to wait for permission to do something. Perhaps you needed to be a certain age before you were allowed to use the oven or cross the road by yourself. Maybe you needed to ask mom before you got a snack. Even as a teen, you had to stick to rules: curfew, acceptable music volume, homework…

Once you’re eighteen, you’re free to do what you want (within the bounds of legality). So why do we get stuck waiting for permission?

You’ll know what I mean, even if you’ve never consciously acknowledged it. Maybe:

• You’re waiting for someone to say that you’re good enough before you’ll allow yourself to paint/write/sing/act
• You won’t take that course or qualification until you’re “ready”
• There are some things you’d love to try – but you’re worried what your mom would say
• You’re afraid to be yourself; you always follow the crowd

So often, the only person who needs to say “yes” is … you. Here’s how:

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A lot of people have quite a fatalistic attitude towards self-discipline. They see themselves as essentially undisciplined people who lack the stamina to follow through on their decisions. They might talk about a “procrastination problem” or “no will power”. They blame their lack of self-discipline for their inability to get their business off the ground, or finish college, or successfully quit smoking or diet.

I don’t believe that any of us are lost causes when it comes to self-discipline. I also don’t think that any of us are born with iron wills or great tenacity: it’s something which we learn.

Short-Time Pleasure

A lack of self-discipline is often the result of a focus on short-term pleasure over long-term rewards. You might have experienced this a lot as a teen or in college, prioritising partying or computer games over studying! And, at the time, you might have been quite annoyed by adults who tried to persuade you to knuckle down and get on with your homework. Perhaps you used to blow your allowance money on CDs, only to end up broke and unable to go out with friends.

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Back in November, I went away for a weekend’s retreat, and it was one of the best things I did last year. I have a lot going on in my life, and clearing that space meant juggling some commitments around – but it was well worth it. I felt much happier and more relaxed than I had done in a long time, and I came back from the weekend determined to keep some of that “quiet space” in my regular life.

I expect that you’re similarly busy. You probably find it hard – logistically and emotionally – to find any time for yourself. When you do get a gap in your day, you end up filling it with chores or emails or tasks that have been on your to-do list for months. And when it comes to the evening, you probably don’t have the energy to do much more than turn the television on.

Even when you’re short of time, though, it’s possible to find yourself a quiet space – mentally, if not always physically! Here are a few ideas to get you started.

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Image courtesy of The Huffington Post

You know what it’s like to feel unmotivated. You sit and stare at your to-do list, and nothing on it inspires you at all. It’s just a string of tasks that you wish you didn’t have to do. Simply getting started seems to take an unfathomable amount of effort.

Yet, you don’t always feel that way. You know what motivation feels like, too. You have times when you can’t wait to get started on something – a much-anticipated trip, a big project that you’ve been looking forward to sinking your teeth into, a new course that you’re taking, or a job which is going to be so satisfying when it’s done.

So how can you make sure that you are motivated, whatever the task at hand?

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Have you ever thought about quitting your job and working for yourself? Maybe it’s an idle whim that you have from time to time – or perhaps a much more serious intention. Whether it’s your two-hour commute, your gossiping colleagues, the office politics, the boss, the boring work or the inflexible hours, your job just isn’t much fun. It’s definitely not your true passion.

If “quit the day job” is one of your resolutions for 2010, you’ll find lots of encouragement around the internet. I’m a fan of plenty of freelancing and self-development blogs, and many writers can’t wait to extol the virtues and pleasures of being your own boss and working for yourself.

Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy working for myself; I get to work in the comfort of my home, doing what I love. But I’m going to be brutally honest in this post and offer you six reasons to reconsider working for yourself – before you end up making a move that you might regret.

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At the end of a year, we tend to look back at what we’ve accomplished – and what we want to go on and achieve. I know that in past years, I’ve often wondered where my time went. Do you feel like that, as though you’ve not really managed to do all that much over the past twelve months? Do you feel like you’re constantly busy – but without much to show for it?

We’ve all got twenty-four hours in the day and, like it or not, your time is going somewhere. Here’s how to find out where – and how to make some adjustments to ensure more of your time is being spent on exactly what you want to spend it on.

Time Logging

Known as time logging or time tracking, this is the practice of recording what you do at intervals throughout the day. It might sound like a waste of time – but it’s incredibly good at revealing weaknesses you didn’t know you had. (I know that doesn’t sound terribly enticing!)

There are several ways to do this: find one which is as simple and unobtrusive for you as possible. A couple that work for me are:

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Who’s in charge of your life?

That might sound like a strange question. But bear with me here. How often have you said something like:

• I’d start my own business if only my partner was more supportive.
• It’s my uncle’s fault that I smoke.
• Well, I wouldn’t drink so much if it wasn’t for my friends.
• My boss really stresses me out.
• I can’t quit my job to travel the world … what would people think?
• I have to lose weight so that I can look more attractive.

In each of these cases, there’s a “should” or a “can’t” that’s been dictated by someone other than you. Perhaps it’s a family member, your peer group, or society as a whole. And many of us are prone to ditching responsibility in this way. I know that I, for one, find it much easier to blame my problems on someone else than to admit that they’re down to me!

Here are three ways to wrest back control:

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