Motivation (Part 6)

Do it later. At times, it’s effective to save a task for later. For example, writing a résumé can wait until you’ve taken the time to analyze your job skills and map out your career goals. This not a lack of motivation – it’s planning.

When you do choose to do a task later, turn this decision into a promise. Estimate how long the task will take and schedule a specific date and time for it on your calendar.

Heed the message. Sometimes lack of motivation carries a message that’s worth heeding. An example is the student who majors in accounting but seizes every chance to be with children. His chronic reluctance to read accounting textbooks might not be a problem. Instead, it might reveal his desire to major in elementary education. His original career might have come from the belief that “real men don’t teach kindergarten.” In such cases, an apparent lack of motivation signals a deeper wisdom trying to get through.

Motivation (Part 5)

Adopt a model. One strategy for succeeding at any task is to hang around the masters. Find someone you consider successful and spend time with her. Observe this person and use her as a model for your own behaviour. You can “try on” this person’s actions and attitudes. Look for tools that feel right for you. This person can become a mentor for you.  

Compare the payoffs to the costs. Behaviours such as cramming for exams or neglecting exercise have payoffs. Cramming might give us more time that’s free of commitments. Neglecting exercise can give us more time to sleep.

One way to let go of such unwanted behaviours is first to celebrate them – even embrace them. We can openly acknowledge the payoffs.

Celebration can be especially powerful when we follow it up with the next step – determining the costs. For example, skipping a reading assignment can give you time to go to the movies. However, you might be unprepared for class and have twice as much to read the following week.

Maybe there is another way to get the payoff (going to the movies) without paying the cost (skipping the reading assignment). With some thoughtful weekly planning, you might choose to give up a few hours of television and end up with enough time to read the assignment and go to the movies.

Comparing the costs and benefits of any behaviour can fuel our motivation. We can choose new behaviours because they align with what we want most.

Motivation (Part 4)

Turn up the pressure. Sometimes motivation is a luxury. Pretend that the due date for your project has moved up one month, one week, or one day. Raising the stress level slightly can spur you into action. Then the issue of motivation seems beside the point, and meeting the due date moves to the forefront.

Turn down the pressure. The mere thought of starting a huge task can induce anxiety. To get past this feeling, turn down the pressure by taking “baby steps.” Divide a large project into small tasks. In 30 minutes or less you could preview a book, create a rough outline for a paper, or solve two or three math problems. Careful planning can help you discover many such steps to make a big job doable.  

Ask for support. Other people can become your allies in overcoming procrastination. For example, form a support group and declare what you intend to accomplish before each meeting. Then ask members to hold you accountable. If you want to begin exercising regularly, ask another person to walk with you three times weekly. People in support groups ranging from Alcoholics Anonymous to Weight Watchers know the power of strategy.

Motivation (Part 3)

Changing your mind – and your body. You can also get past discomfort by planting new thoughts in your mind or changing your physical stance. For example, instead of slumping in your chair, sit up straight or stand up. You can also get physically active by taking a short walk. Notice what happens to your discomfort.

Work with thoughts, also. Replace “I can’t stand this” with “I’ll feel great when this is done” or “Doing this will help me get something I want.”

Sweeten the task. Sometimes it’s just one aspect of a task that holds us back. We can stop procrastinating merely by changing that aspect. If distaste for our physical environment keeps us from studying, we can change that environment. Reading about social psychology might seem like a yawner when we’re alone in a dark corner of the house. Moving to a cheery, well-lit library can sweeten the task.

Talk about how bad it is. One way to get past negative attitudes is to take to an extreme. When faced with an unpleasant task, launch into a no-holds-barred gripe session. Pull out all the stops: “There’s no way I can start my income taxes now. This is terrible beyond words, as absolute disaster. This is a catastrophe of global proportions!” Griping taken this far can restore perspective. It shows how self-talk can turn inconveniences into crises.

Motivation (Part 2)

Befriend your discomfort. Sometimes keeping your words means doing a task you’d rather put off. The mere thought of doing laundry, reading a chapter in a statistics book, or proofreading a term paper can lead to discomfort. In the face of such discomfort, we can procrastinate. Or we can use this barrier as a means to get the job done.

Begin by investigating the discomfort. Notice the thoughts running through your head and speak them out loud: “I’d rather walk on a bed of coals than do this.” “This is the last thing I want to do right now.”

Also observe what’s happening with your body. For example, are you breathing faster or slower than usual? Is your breathing shallow or deep? Are your shoulders tight? Do you feel any tension in your stomach?

Once you’re in contact with your mind and body, stay with the discomfort a minutes longer. Don’t judge it as good or bad. Accepting the thoughts and body sensations robs them of power. They might still be there, but in time they can stop being a barrier for you.

Discomfort can be a gift – an opportunity to do valuable work on yourself. On the other side of discomfort lies mystery.

Motivation (Part 1)

In large part, this topic is about your motivation to succeed in life. And a First Step is creating motivation is getting some definition straight. The terms self-discipline, willpower, and motivation are often used to describe something missing in ourselves. Time after time we invoke these words to explain another person’s success – or our own shortcomings: “If I were more motivated, I’d get more involved in school.” “Of course she got an A. She is self-discipline.” “If I had more willpower, I’d lose weight.” It seems that certain people are born with lots of motivation, while others miss out on it.

An alternative is to stop assuming that motivation is mysterious, determined at birth, or hard to come by. Perhaps what we call motivation is something that you already possess – the ability to do a task even when you don’t feel like it. This is a habit that you can develop with practice. The following suggestions offer ways to do that.

Promise it. Motivation can come simply from being clear about your goals and acting on them. Say that you want to start a study group. You can commit yourself to inviting people and setting a time and place to meet. Promise your classmates that you will do this, and ask them to hold you accountable. Self-discipline, willpower, motivation – none of these mysterious characteristics needs to get in your way. Just make a promise and keep your word.

Setting and Achieving Goals (Part 4)

Write goals in several areas of life. People who set goals in only one are of life – such as their career – can find that their personal growth becomes one-sided. They could experience success at work while neglecting their health or relationships with family members and friends.

To avoid this outcome, set goals in a variety of categories. Consider what you want to experience in your:

·         Education	·         Social life
·         Career	·         Spiritual life
·         Financial life	·         Level of health
·         Family life	·         Love life

Add goals in other areas as they occur.

Reflect on your goals. Each week, take a few minutes to think about your goals. You can perform the following “spot check”:

·         Check in with your feelings. Think about how the process of setting your goals felt. Consider the satisfaction you’ll gain in attaining your objective. If you don’t feel a significant emotional connection with a written goal, consider letting it go or filing it away to review later.

·         Check for alignment. Look for connections between your goals. Do your short-term goals align with your mid-term goals? Will your mid-term goals help you achieve your long-term goals? Will your mid-term goals help you achieve your long-term goals? Look for a “fit” between all of your goals and your purpose for taking part in higher education, as well as your overall purpose in life.  

·         Check for obstacles. All kind of things can come between you and your goals, such as constraints on time and money. Anticipate obstacles and start looking now for workable solutions.

·         Check for immediate steps. Here’s a way to link goal setting to time management. Decide on a list of setting to time management. Decide on a lift of small, achievable steps you can take right away to accomplish each of your short-term goals. Write these small steps down on a daily to-do list. If you want to accomplish some of them by a certain date, enter them in a calendar that you consult daily. Then, over the coming weeks, review your to-do list and calendar. Take note of your progress and celebrate your successes.

Setting and Achieving Goals (Part 3)

Write goals in several time frames. To get a comprehensive vision of your future write down:

·         Long-term goals. Long-term goals represent major targets in your life. These goals can take five to 20 years to achieve. In some cases, they will take a lifetime. They can include goals in education, careers, personal relationships, travel, financial security – whatever is important to you. Consider the answers to the following questions as you create your long-term goals: what do you want to accomplish in your life? Do you want your life to make a statement? If so, what is that statement?

·         Mid-term goals. Mid-term goals are objectives you can accomplish in one to five years. They include goals such as completing a course of education, paying off a car loan, or achieving a specific career level. These goals usually support your long-term goals.

·         Short-term goals. Short-term goals are the ones you can accomplish in a year or less. These goals are specific achievements, such as completing a particular course or group of course, hiking down the Appalachian Trail, or organizing a family reunion. A financial goal would probably include an exact dollar amount. Whatever your short-term goals are, they will require action now or in the near future.

Setting and Achieving Goals (Part 2)

Write specific goals. In writing, state your goals as observable action or measurable results. Think in detail about how things will be different once your goals are attained. List the changes in what you’d see, feel, touch, taste, hear, be, do, or have.

Suppose that one of your goals is to become a better student by studying harder. You’re headed in a powerful direction; now translate that goal into a concrete action, such as “I will study two hours for every hour I’m in class.” Specific goals make clear what actions are needed or what are expected. Consider these examples:

VAGUE GOAL	SPECIFIC GOAL
Get a good education	Graduate with B.S degree in engineering, with honors by 2015
Enhance my spiritual life.	Meditate for 15 minutes daily.
Improve my appearance.	Lose six pounds during the next six months.

When stated specifically, a goal might look different to you. If you examine it closely, a goal you once thought you wanted might not be something you want after all. Or you might discover that you want to choose a new path to achieve a goal that you are sure you want.

Setting and Achieving Goals (Part 1)

Many of us have vague, idealized notations of what we want out of life. These notions float among the clouds in our heads. They are wonderful, fuzzy, safe thoughts such as “I want to be a good person,” “I want to be financially secure,” or “I want to be happy.”

Such outcomes are great possible goals. Left in generalized form, however, these goals can leave us confused about ways to actually achieve them. If you really want to meet a goal, translate it into specific, concrete behaviour. Find out what that goal looks like. Listen to what it sounds like. Pick it up and feel how heavy that goal is. Inspect the switches, valves, joints, cogs, and fastenings of the goal. Make your goal as real as a chain saw.

There is nothing vague or fuzzy about chain saws. You can see them, feel them, and hear them. They have a clear function. Goals can be every bit as real and useful.

Writing down your goals exponentially increases your chances of meeting them. Writing exposes undefined terms, unrealistic time frame, and other symptoms of fuzzy thinking. If you’ve been reading my blog for Planning, then you you’ve already had experience writing goals. Setting and planning address changes you want to make in your behaviour, your values, your circumstances – or all of these. To keep track of your goals, write each one on a separate 3x5 card or key them all into a word processing file on your computer.

There are many useful methods for setting goals. Following is one of them. This method is based on writing specific goals in several time frames and areas of your life. Experiment with it and modify it as you see fit. You’re also encouraged to reflect regularly on your goals. The key words to remember are specific, time, areas, and reflect. Combine the first letter of each word and you get the acronym STAR. Use this acronym to remember the suggestions that follow.