May 21, 2004 | View Comments (23) | Category: Our Thoughts
Summary: How do you motivate yourself to get work done?
It's Friday. I have this stigma with Fridays. I don't see it as the beginning of my weekend because Thursday is the beginning of my weekend. So Friday becomes the second day of my weekend and work comes to a halt. At least that is how it seems today. I have so much to do, but nothing is getting done. Hopefully, I am not the only person in the world who has this problem and therefore I think someone has to have a solution for it.
So today's question is how do you motivate yourself to actually get started when you just can't seem to get off the ground. Part of this is because I feel drowsy today and should take a nap, but I have stuff that needs to get done (yet I am not doing it...endless cycle).
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I've always found Joel Spolsky's "Fire and Motion" pretty inspirational when it comes to motivation. I mean, he's a pretty smart guy who started a pretty successful company, so if he can't get it together sometimes ... The gist of the article is "Just get started. Do something - anything - even if you'll have to go back and fix it later. At least it's something, and something's eventually add up." I think sometimes the biggest obstacle is the fear to do badly. If you try to shrug that off a little bit (if only by telling yourself, "It's not like you can't fix it") then I've found it helps immensely.
And there's always Red Bull.
B. Adam (http://www.weeklystandards.com)
Crap. That should be "somethings eventually add up." Stupid English language.
But don't forget, there's always Red Bull.
B. Adam (http://www.weeklystandards.com)
I don't really have a motivation, moreso a tradeoff. I do something I want to do for a certain amount of time, then do something I have to do for another certain amount of time. Like in your example, you could take your nap, then do some work. Then eat something, then do some work. In college these days, I've found that i actually get a good amount of work done with these trade-offs.
Daniel (http://www.blog.adion44.com)
I find it inspirational and motivational just knowing that the "busiest man on the web" sometimes just can't get started.
Thank you Paul, you just made my day!
DarkBlue (http://blog.urbanmainframe.com/)
Your weekend starts on Thursday??
What the hell are you talking about? Your competition doesn't start their weekends on Thursdays - in fact, your competition doesn't believe in weekends!!
You're in business now, son. You've left a good portion of the web development world in on your business plans - are you really deft enough to think that you haven't planted a seed in the mind of someone who smarter and has more business acumen to do it one step better?
C'mon! The only business people who make it in this world are those who hunger and thirst for it.
You're obviously not hungry, if you got time to start your flippin weekend on a Thursday.
------------
How's that for motivation?
Mark (http://www.lightpierce.com/ltshdw)
If I don't know where to start, I follow this plan:
1. Get all other out of my room/area
2. Write down what needs to be done
3. Choose one thing (urgent or interesting doesn't matter)
4. Do it. Right this moment
5. Reward myself a little.(break/eating/beer/surfing whatever)
6. Do the next thing (urgent this time, maybe)
7. Reward myself...
and so on. The trick is to start, even if it is only a small task you accomplish.
Kronn (http://kronn.de)
Sitting here agreeing with everyone, I just have to say that sometimes for me it can be get up, get out, and refocus.
Whether it's a trip to the espresso machine (drink coffee Scrivs!), the dog for a walk, or a run, shower, trip to the gym etc. getting up and doing some sort of nothing gets me out of the rut.
Trying to do something when I don't have the motivation just doesn't cut it for me.
Mike P. (http://www.fiftyfoureleven.com/sandbox/weblog/)
Well, I do exactly what I shouldn't be doing... I stop trying to get things done and take a break... I go watch a movie, go do some erands, or whatever it may be... I seem to think better when I am moving and active... typically the simple act of getting up and getting the hell out of my place is enough to get me to start thinking about the work and what needs to get done... eventually I will have a clear picture of how the final product or task will look when its done and then I am able to start. After all, I am a visual learner and if I can't visualize the final product I might as well not even start trying to design it.
Nick Finck (http://www.digital-web.com)
"I seem to think better when I am moving and active"
Yeah, that's it for me too. Just making a coffee and pacing around a bit on the deck seems to get the ideas and motivation flowing...
Mike P. (http://www.fiftyfoureleven.com/sandbox/weblog/)
I have to make other work for myself: cleaning up and organizing my desk and/or computer (got time to lean, got time to clean).
And in a "me, too": getting away from the computer usually accelerates ideas, desire to get work done.
dotsara (http://soubriquet.net)
When I am not motivated it means I am either bored, or there is something I need to figure out and I don't know what it is. Usually this means I should do a mindless task like washing the dishes.
After an hour or so I usually figure it out and my motivation is back. Sometimes though, even if someone is out there competing with me (:P) I just have to stop. I am in life for the long haul, so short wins and losses don't really phase me. I know what I value, and I will pass on quick wins if it will take energy away from my overall goals.
Matthew Oliphant (http://businesslogs.com)
Nice stuff so far. I just needed to take a nap :-). Back to work.
Scrivs (http://businesslogs.com)
This sounds sad, but to get myself motivated enough to where I get some serious work done, I usually need to lie to myself. If I tell myself something like, "Ryan, if you don't get this done, you can't have any alcohol for a week," it usually ends up working.
In my mind I know that I am lying to myself, becasue even if I was being serious, I don't think I could enforce that rule.
Oh yeah, and money. Whenever money is involved stuff gets completed a lot quicker.
Ryan (http://www.destroyhope.org)
I have a hard time getting motivated too sometimes. Usually just sitting down and starting is enough to get me going, if it's coding I'm trying to get motivated for. Other stuff... mostly requires some form of self bribery. heh.
JC (http://thelionsweb.com/weblog)
I usually go outside and do something in the garden or with the animals. I also like to wrap my brain around something that I know I can accomplish, like applying a new blog style or something like that. It's sort of mental gymnastics that helps to get things going. Naps work also ;)
Debby (http://www.collegeteacher.org)
"I seem to think better when I am moving and active"
That's it for me too. I used to be an anti-sports person because I always felt that I had more important things to do. But then I discovered that after two hours of being stuck for ideas at the desk they kept rolling in five minutes I was out the door and walking or jogging. So for me it actually does gets the work going when I get away from the desk.
Another strategy I've learned is starting to do anything. Feeling that I've already accomplished something usually gives me enough motivation to do the rest. I don't necessarily start with waht is most important but with what is done easiest or fastest.
andreas (http://www.andreas-kalt.de/blog/)
i get so much more done when i actually roll out of bed
its hard though
mixin visuals (http://www.mixinvisuals.com)
I find myself in the same situation time and time again. To tell you the truth, I have never found a way to motivate myself to pull up my laptop and start working... that is the hardest part.
Once I get rolling with working though, it suddenly becomes fun again and next thing I know the day is gone and all of my work is finished.
So, my advice is just force yourself to boot up and get to work; you may find it isn't as hard as you thought it would be.
Mike (http://mike.ourshay.org)
Positive Reinforcement (yes, just like kids!) :P
I do what #7 does at work... mostly on mondays and fridays - those are lazy days for me.
Kev
When I can't get started (especially considering last Friday was between a holiday Thursday and a weekend here in France) I just start my Mozilla and go into technical watch mode. 60 articles in the day, inspiration for a whole week.
Then I went back home and decided it was time to do/write something, and it was then that my girlfriend remined me of a few real-life concerns, and I ended up doing nothing webwise.
Not that I'm grouching, by the way.
Change of air is all you need, sometimes.
s t e f (http://www.nota-bene.org/)
I always seem to work from 8am till 10pm... I really do need some form of motivation these days, but I honestly won't have any till my fiancee and I finally get our new apartment together.
I'm so shattered, so maybe i'll try taking a nap too.. after making pizza.
Robert Lofthouse
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#1
This might sound a little daft but it is often when my Wife says something along the lines of "If you actually get something done I might be persuaded to take you down to the bar for a beer or three!"
Adrian Rinehart-Balfe (http://www.boogenstein.com/)