3 Keys Thursday: 3 Keys for Finding that Missing Motivation

Photo: Dodgerton Skillhause via Morguefile

Last week's 3 Keys Thursday focused on three habits that chip away at our motivation, making it harder than it needs to be to get things done.

This week, I'd like to focus on the positives. I usually start here, but the truth is, sometimes we need to eliminate the negatives before we can focus on the positives.

Need a motivation boost? Here are three things to try.

Remember your why. Whether your goal is to get organized or do something else entirely, ask yourself why it matters to you. Then, when you catch yourself dragging your feet, go back to this purpose. This can help us connect mundane tasks -- the kind we avoid -- to important outcomes and help us to do that thing we're avoiding.

Set an alarm. I'm not a morning person so I definitely need a nudge to get started. Even once I'm up, if I can get away with it, I start the day slowly. When I'm setting my own schedule, I need to do what I'd do if I had an actual deadline: figure out my desired start time, and work backwards from there, maybe even factoring in that slow start so that my actual start time allows me to tackle my to-do list (or that looming project) in a relaxed manner. I don't have to set the alarm for sunrise (which is a good thing because I'd just turn it off and go back to sleep), but I need to set it for a time that lets me honor the start time that works for me.

Pace yourself. Yesterday, I wrote about investing time in yourself. The upshot? Rest is good -- motivating even. Sometimes, it's that very lack of rest or downtime that interferes with our motivation in the first place. Creating a balance between charging ahead and taking things slowly helps us to keep up a pace that is productive without being debilitating. For me, this also means keeping a balance between days where the schedule is full and days where the schedule is open.

I planned this post last week but, ironically, today is one of those slow start days for me. It's been a nose-to-the-grindstone kind of week, and today I'm feeling it. I know it makes sense to honor my need to slow the pace a bit, but it's hard to do that and I haven't yet figured out how to do it without at least a little guilt.

But I'm getting there.

Today, I at least recognize why I've slowed down and I'm fortunate enough to have the freedom to flex my schedule accordingly. While I can't abandon the things on my to-do list, I can decide where in the day to place them.

Motivation can be an elusive entity, but if we respect the fact that it ebbs and flows instead of trying to guilt ourselves into action, we can make the most of it when it's working in our favor.

3 Keys Thursday: 3 Key Habits That Might be Messing with Your Motivation

Photo: Dodgerton Skillhause via Morguefile

I cannot seem to jolt myself out of vacation mode. This isn’t entirely awful because I still have almost two weeks before the semester starts and I am consistently checking things off my lists, but still, I feel lazy. I am ending my days much too late and therefore starting the days that follow too late as well.

While that last part is not really up for interpretation (I'm in serious night owl mode), much of my other self-evaluations are. Often, we're much too hard on ourselves, wasting the time and energy we could be using to accomplish things. Here are three habits that chip away at our motivation by draining our time and energy.

Shoulding ourselves. Whether it's a gentle reminder, accompanied by a groan or a full-blown lecture delivered to our inert selves, telling ourselves what we should do is rarely helpful. Think about it. How do you feel when someone says, "You know what you should do?" If you're a Jersey girl like me, you might resist the ensuing suggestion for all you're worth (depending on the source and the circumstances). Shoulding ourselves uses up time and energy we could be spending doing the things that matter. If you really should be doing the thing you're shoulding yourself about, do it now, write it down or make a plan to make it happen. Otherwise, let it go.

Not writing it down. Carrying our to-do lists and goals and shopping lists around in our heads is exhausting. Making lists frees us from having to actively remember the things we put on them. The act of writing things down actually helps us remember that we have to do things, while also freeing from doing the hard work of keeping them front and center in our minds. This frees both physical and emotional energy that we can use to actually do the things on the lists.

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Writing it all down. I don't know about you, but for me, too long to-do lists have a tendency to backfire. Master lists are wonderful (see item #2 above), but they need to be broken down into bite-sized pieces. At the start of the day (or the night before, if you prefer), choose the things you most want to accomplish. I choose my big three (I'd suggest no more than five) and write them down, remembering to be realistic about whether or not I can actually accomplish all of those things in one 24-hour period. When I select my big three, I often do so by asking myself what I need to do that day (any deadlines?) and/or which three things would leave me feeling most satisfied if I accomplished them. By listing selectively, most days, I get them all in and some days, I actually do a few extra things as well.

It's hard to get motivated to tackle our lists -- or anything else -- when we're tired and pressed for time. Breaking non-productive habits can buy us back the time and energy we need to do not just the things on our lists, but maybe some fun things, too.

And, hey -- if you want to put the fun things on the list, that sounds like a pretty good idea to me.

Stop back next week for a few more things to keep in mind when it comes to finding the motivation that seems to have gone AWOL.

3 Keys Thursday: 3 Ways to Set Up for Success

Dodgerton Skillhause via Morguefile

In yesterday's post, I wrote about focusing on successes. As I type this post (about twelve hours later than usual), it would be very easy for me to focus on the lateness of the post and to therefore go down the rabbit hole of self-blame. If instead, I choose to focus on the fact that this post is getting written despite the fact I had a very busy day, I'm starting with success. This simple change in thinking (combined with the fact that I don't want to let down readers who know which days new posts appear) motivates me to write the post instead of just giving up and watching reruns of The Big Bang Theory.

Keeping ourselves motivated about organizing often works in a similar fashion. It's so easy to focus on what's not working -- the piles, the clutter, the desk that never seems to stay cleared off for more than fifteen minutes. If instead, we choose to seek out what's working and build from there, we stop the blame game in its tracks. Often, this is the first step to creating a system that works.

Starting with success gives us a chance to celebrate the things we do well, and to use them as a means of developing the confidence we need to work through the process of getting -- and staying -- organized. Here are three ways to start with success.

Celebrate good habits and build on them. Do you make your bed every day? Hang up your coat when you come into the house? Hang your purse in the same spot every time? Toss the junk mail immediately upon bringing it into the house? Good habits form the foundation of our organizational successes. Adding one more step to an existing habit (ditching the junk mail and then sorting the rest of the mail immediately, for example) extends the habit and takes you one step closer to that elusive feeling of organizational success.

Keep the tools that work, scratch the tools that don't. Yes, that file cabinet in your office is a great organizational tool, but if you stack papers on top of it instead of filing them inside, it's not a good tool for you. One size does not fit all. Look around at what's working, and keep it -- better yet, replicate it in other places. Then, get rid of all the other "good stuff" that doesn't work for you (or a family member) and toss out the guilt along with it. Creating style-specific systems allows you to let go of energy-sucking guilt along with the stuff that doesn't work.

mohamed1982eg via Pixabay

Focus on what you've done, and let go of what you haven't. Have you ever gotten to the end of the day and spent what was left of your energy beating yourself up for what you didn't do? Clearly, that sounds silly when we say it out loud, but I'd bet my next paycheck that many of us have done exactly that. If instead, we pause to reflect on what we have accomplished, not only does it feel better, but it can also energize us at a time when we need it most. If the things that remained undone are important, add them to the next day's list, but don't waste energy feeling guilty. If necessary, create a backwards to do list to lay alongside the list of things that remain to be done, and then move forward and enjoy some well-deserved relaxation.

Getting organized is a process -- one that is sometimes a one step forward, two steps backward dance. If we use success as our foundation, we can have a lot more fun at the dance.

Motivational Mishaps

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Last weekend, I discovered one of the drawbacks of the I need to see it personal style. I don't know why it surprised me (but it did), and it got me thinking about the drawbacks that accompany the other styles.

Let me assuage any fears that this is going to be a "beat up on the styles" post. I hope you know by now that's not my, um, style. We're all aware of the drawbacks of our lovely styles when it comes to organization. What occurred to me the other day is that they get in our way from a motivation perspective as well.

As an I need to see it person, I tend to downplay any progress I can't see. I can spend an entire day chipping away at things that need to be done, but if I can't see any difference by the end of the day, I feel as though I've done nothing.

Those with a cram and jam or I know I put it somewhere organizational style can have exactly the opposite problem. They think they're more organized than they actually are. Because things are put away--all in one place for the cram and jammer and without an overall plan for the  I know I put it somewhere organizer--they look organized. Other people (unsuspecting parents, teachers and spouses, for example) might even believe the cram and jammers and I know I put it somewhere organizers are organized--until they look more closely. Then, when they can't find what they need, those with these styles are often blindsided, embarrassed and overwhelmed.

People with an I love stuff personal style may have a similar problem. To them, their collections and piles are organized, and their love of their belongings makes them resistant to any recategorizing of their beloved treasures. Change is hard for the person who has all her stuff just the way she wants it.

Time, or the lack of it, can be a motivation killer for other styles. Drop and run organizers often rely on time as a retrieval cue, as in, "no, it can't be that deep in the pile because these papers are from last week," leading them to struggle to find things that don't adhere to the drop and run schedule hierarchy. Folks with an I love to be busy personal style may never feel fully organized due to time constraints and may constantly feel that they're playing catch-up when it comes to getting their supplies for even one activity organized.

Is it any wonder I prefer a lighthearted approach to organization?

As with anything else, though, knowing these things is the first step to overcoming them. Tomorrow, I'll share three keys to help manage those motivational mishaps.

3 Keys Thursday: 3 Keys for Doing That Thing You've Been Meaning to Do

Dodgerton Skillhause via Morguefile

Despite the fact that I've been retired for four years, my body clock is still set on an elementary school schedule -- globally speaking, that is. Though I've reverted to my natural night owl tendencies when it comes to my 24-hour schedule, I still hit many of the familiar peaks and valleys.

I still crave a break sometime between 2:30 and 4 pm.

And I still view the beginning of the summer as the time to take stock and dig in to projects that have been dormant. This year, I even got an early start when, quite by accident, I kicked off an anti-procrastination project. By the end of May, I'd tackled 15 long overdue projects, ranging from five minute hand-sewing projects to an afternoon-long closet overhaul. I wish I could say I'd planned it this way, but the fact is, it was completely serendipitous.

Are you ready to face some long overdue projects of your own? Here are some keys to making progress with them.

Zoom out, zoom in. Big project? Small project? Detailed project? All of the above! I don't have an actual list--at least not a comprehensive one. Sometimes, I tackle the long overdue thing because I have to (time to put away the boots and pull out the sandals), other times because I'm tired of looking at something (when's the last time that table didn't have stuff on it?) Sometimes, I focus on the details, sometimes the big picture. Mixing it up not only means that more things get accomplished, but finishing the quick projects also motivates me to tackle the big stuff.

Let the spirit move you. Though we can't always wait for the mood to strike, there's nothing like being in the right frame of mind to spark motivation. Sometimes, we can set ourselves up to be ready to tackle something by planning on it; other times, we can just tackle whatever we feel like digging into at that moment. Either way, something gets accomplished.

Don't forget to celebrate your successes....no matter the size of the project. One of the things that turned my accidental accomplishment into a pattern was my decision to keep track of the things I accomplished. I simply grabbed a pen and attached it to my wall calendar. Then, any time I did one of my long overdue items, I jotted it down on the day I did it. That's it. Seeing all I've accomplished nudges me to do more, and seeing blank spaces reminds me there's always something I can improve upon.

Whether you take stock in January, June or both, checking things off your list is a wonderful feeling.