Get Motivated and Take Control

I’ve been thinking what kind of posts I should be making in this thread and I came to the conclusion that instead of limiting this blog to site updates and working stages, I should start sharing more of my life lessons and motivational texts. This one in particular is based on an article I wrote for fellow students back when I was at university and comprises a series of techniques that helped me to stop procrastinating and get down to work.

 

Get Motivated and Take Control

Discipline is what separates a great person from an average person and a successful person from a failure. In short, anyone who is willing to put their mind to something and push themselves to achieve it, will excel above the rest.

Bill Gates, Bruce Lee, Stephen Hawking, Sylvester Stallone…none of these modern day successes were born any better than the average person. In fact, some of them had/have handicaps that many of us don’t, from dysfunctional families to speech impediments to being paralysed by Motor Neurone Disease. They weren’t born with exceptional genetics; they weren’t blessed with good luck or the miracles of God. Their great achievements have all been the result of their own hard work and their phenomenal discipline.

This is a capability we all have within us. The only thing stopping you from being successful and achieving your goals is yourself!

Unfortunately many men and women would much prefer to seek short-term fun and comfort than long term achievement. Instead of living to their potential, they do the opposite and allow themselves to deteriorate. Slobs, nerds and geeks, wimps, layabouts, failures and losers, fat people, drug addicts, smokers, heavy drinkers, even many depressives…they can all transform themselves and realise their potential simply by breaking their poor habits and exercising some discipline. It begins by taking control.

Excuses

"I'll do it tomorrow"
"I'm too tired/too cold/too hot/too scared…"
"I’m too old/young/tall/short…"
“I’m not cut out for this.”
“Other people make it difficult for me.”
"Just a few beers/cigarettes/spliffs/cakes won't hurt."
"I've had a tough week, I'll just relax today and start that task tomorrow."

These are all phrases that precede procrastination and idleness. Next time you find yourself wanting to be lazy, pay attention to what you tell yourself. Or, alternatively, pay attention to other people’s excuses and see how they attempt to justify it. Laziness doesn't come naturally and people feel they must talk themselves into it and make excuses to overcome feelings of guilt and uneasiness.

However, that guilt and uneasiness is there for a reason. The human mind and body are there to be used, and every able-bodied, able-minded man and woman not even trying to reach their potential should feel ashamed…especially when there are people with severe disabilities and afflictions living full and happy lives and achieving so many great things.

Next time you catch yourself looking for excuses, blaming other people or external conditions, stop and think about what you are saying and why. What you are really saying is “I’m too lazy”.


Laziness is a habit!

Humans are very adaptable to environments and lifestyles. If your mind and your body get accustomed to relaxing, they become less equipped to deal with tasks. When you don't use your brain, your braincells die. When you don't use your muscles, they become flaccid and weak. The more you stagnate, the more you deteriorate. Some studies have even shown that the human body can literally close down certain faculties and organs if they stop being used for long periods.

However, just as some people can't move from the sofa, there are some people who can’t sit down and take a break. These people are in the habit of working hard, pushing themselves and keeping active. Being lazy defies their nature. They don’t collapse from exhaustion or moan about aches and fatigue, because their mind and body has adapted to their active lifestyles. In fact, they usually sleep better at night and wake more refreshed than lazy people.

Laziness is a learned state. It can be unlearned, and I’m going to explain some ways you can do just that.



Breaking lazy habits

Discipline is not something you are born with; it comes with practice. The more you practice an artform, the better you get. The more you exercise, the fitter you get. The more you study, the smarter you get.

The key to overcoming laziness is to take action. No one is asking you to go parachuting, run a marathon and write a novel by the end of the week, but maybe you could start by tidying your room, taking a short walk or making a start on a project you’ve been putting off. It won’t yield any staggering results, but it’s the first step in breaking old habits and forming new ones. You just need a little jump start.

Once you finish a small task (i.e. tidying up), pay close attention to that feeling you get afterwards. Unlike that guilty, dejected and lethargic feeling you get after playing computer games or watching TV all day, you should feel a slight sense of achievement and self-control. You may even feel more alert and active than usual. It’s a good feeling that just gets better the more you do.

I am assuming that you, like most people, have a bedtime routine in which you wash your face, brush your teeth and change into your bed clothes. Not many people see it as a duty or feel that it infringes on their time. That’s because it is a learned habit. With practice, you can feel the same way about completing important tasks, self-improvement and working towards your goals.

The Checklist

Now it’s time to be more specific with your activities. If you use a computer regularly, you can do this in a text file or Word document. If not, then buy yourself a small notebook or diary. This is going to be your “to do list” and is going to be one of the most useful things you can do to overcome laziness and get yourself motivated.

Every night, before going to bed, write a list of tasks you aim to complete the following day and label them in order of importance. You can start adding bigger and more tasks once you feel you can handle them, but for now, just stick to a handful of small tasks.

An example list would look something like this:

Tuesday

1. Pay credit card bill
2. Work out at the gym – shoulders and back
3. Grocery shopping
4. Read Chapter 1 and 2 of “bookofchoice”
5. Get hair cut


The following day you must attempt to complete all of these tasks, giving priority to those at the top. If you find that you cannot complete task 4 & 5, for example, you can carry those over to Wednesday, but you must try your hardest to complete your top 3 at the very least. Sometimes you can combine two or more tasks at once. For instance, on the way to the bank to pay your credit card you could get your hair cut and then stop off at the supermarket and do your grocery shopping on the way home.

Every time you complete a task, cross it out or place a tick next to it in your log book.

There is nothing to stop you relaxing and watching TV or whatever, but limit yourself to an hour between tasks or wait until all tasks are complete. This acts as an incentive to complete tasks, and instead of putting off important duties, you are fitting your relaxation time around your duties and thus forming positive and productive habits. Furthemore, once these tasks are complete you can enjoy your leisure time stress free. You will also find that by actively completing tasks on a daily basis you will gain momentum, so they get quicker and easier to deal with.


Monthly Goals

Aside from your daily tasks, write down a list of tasks you aim to complete before the end of the month. As a student, I usually put tasks such as essays and a book list in this category. This helps to keep me within a time frame and makes sure the following month is free for any additional tasks.

This list is also very handy as a reminder for birthdays, paying bills, attending interviews and so on, that must be done within that month.

Once you get into the hang of this, you may find that you complete all your monthly tasks early. This would be a good opportunity to add some educational reading, creativity, writing, DIY or something generally productive to your list.

Resident Tasks

Resident tasks are those tasks you do every week or month, and become permanent entries on your lists. On my monthly list, I have “tidy, polish and vacuum” and “pay bills”. This serves as a reminder and helps integrate certain trivial tasks into your routine. I know some people who haven’t vacuumed their house for a year, or changed their bedding for 6 months. I know other people who keep forgetting to pay their bills and get fined for late payments, all because they get sidetracked by other things. Keeping these tasks written down in your journal, waiting to be crossed off, will stop them from being neglected.



Stress Relief

Many people suffer from stress on a daily basis and worry about looming problems, tasks they need to complete, deadlines they must meet etc. As a result, the stress weighs heavily upon them, distracts from everything good in their life, makes them irritable and drives loved ones away, and even damages their health. These people pay extortionate prices for stress relief programs, drugs, hypnotherapy, herbs and new age gimmickry.

Completing tasks and facing up to your problems as suggested previously is possibly the best form of stress relief available as it removes the root causes. Afterall, if you complete an important task today, you don’t have to worry about it next week or the week after, and have just saved yourself a week, month or more of stress. Meanwhile, you will be able to concentrate better, your health and mental state will improve, so will your mood and relationships with others, and of course, you will begin to appreciate your free time a lot more, without stress, distraction or guilt.

Long term Goals

It is essential that you establish what long term goals you are aiming to achieve in as much detail as possible by breaking them down into individual actions. Being disciplined and motivated isn’t going to help you if you don’t know where you are going or what you need to do. Work out what you want to achieve and write down what you would need to do in order to achieve this. It’s no use being vague and writing “I want to be rich” or “I want to be in shape”. You need to work out what actions you can take and break your goal down into smaller tasks.

You might, for example, break “getting in shape” down to the following tasks or lifestyle changes in a pyramid form. The idea is to start at the bottom and work your way up the pyramid…

 Getting in shape 

/                       \
Avoid high calorie foods           Workout 3-4 days per week.
/                                                     \
Write a productive diet                         Join gym/buy equipment or workout video
/                                    \                              \
Research good/bad foods         Research supplements   Write a productive workout routine
                                                       \
                                                                               Research workout routine

All longterm goals should begin with research and a plan of action, so in this case you would begin by reading books, trusted websites, getting on forums and asking questions. Once you are educated and know how to continue, you need to write your plan and stick to it.

 
This same strategy can be used for financial success, education, career goals and basically anything. As long as you know where you are going and you are willing to strive towards it, there is little to stop you from achieving your goal. Most people start out full steam ahead, ready to take on the world, but then the motivation tapers off or they find it too difficult to handle in the long term. Remember, the purpose here is to create positive habits and the way to do that is to introduce changes at a comfortable pace.

If you find your task overwhelming, you should break it down even further until you are comfortable. For example, you might break your diet into sub-goals and work gradually upwards:

Avoid high calorie foods
/                 \
Give up fried food                Give up chocolate
/                                  \
               Give up chips                                Give up sugar in coffeee

Life without chips and chocolate is sure to be less of a shock than cutting out all high fat and high calorie foods and therefore a lot easier to achieve…and yet you are still moving forward, towards your goal. As I said previously, if you feel you need to take things slowly, do so. Just make sure you are taking action.

You can also break short term goals into a basic ladder and climb one step at a time. Let’s look at a summary of a painting…

Step 10: Finish latest masterpiece

Step 9: Make final refinements

Step 8: Add details

Step 7: Apply colour

Step 6: Start painting your values

Step 5: Block in the shapes

Step 4: Start sketching outline

Step 3: Take photos/Find appropriate stock photos

Step 2: Make thumbnail sketches

Step 1: Research ideas and inspiration

Incentives

You can help yourself achieve your goals by offering incentives and rewards along the way. Obviously, achieving your goal is going to be the big payoff, but it is motivating to have a few treats along the way.

As a university student, I like to reward myself after every essay with a new shirt or pair of jeans, for example. For some of the bigger tasks, such as projects, completing my semester or my dissertation, I will treat myself to an upgrade or peripheral for my PC, such as more memory or a new graphics card. When I finish my degree, I have promised myself a whole new upgraded PC.

You might treat yourself to a new game, DVD, clothing, a trip to a theme park or a weekend break or whatever you can afford. The important thing here is not to allow yourself this reward until after you have completed a specific task. Believe me, when you get it, you will appreciate it much more knowing that you earned it.

Overcoming phobias

The same systems mentioned above can also work towards overcoming phobias. Add a task that frightens you to your long term goals. Personally, I have a phobia of injections. I knew I must overcome it some day, but I kept putting it off and avoiding vaccinations that could benefit my health or even save my life.

I decided to add to my long term list of goals “get overdue tetanus vaccination”.

I had been considering buying a new winter coat, but the coat I had in mind was expensive. I wouldn’t have bought it ordinarily, but I decided to make it my incentive to get the injection. I added it to my monthly list of tasks and as the days of October elapsed, I ticked off all my monthly goals, until this was the only one left. I figured now was as good a time as any, it wouldn’t get any easier the longer I left it, so I did what I had to do.

It’s not easy facing a phobia and I did feel scared, but the idea of facing a challenge and buying the coat I wanted really helped to empower me and distract from any fear I felt. It turned out that the injection was nothing worth worrying about afterall. It didn’t hurt at all. So, not only did I get to buy the coat I wanted and tick off a long term goal, but I had managed to face upto one of my biggest phobias, which left me with a great sense of achievement.


Affirmations and positivity

When you attempt to complete a task, you will achieve it a lot quicker and easier if you can face it with a positive state of mind. It is important, therefore, to change your mental state from thinking of your tasks as chores or obligations. Instead, try to reframe them as challenges or steps towards a greater goal.

Use affirmations to inspire you. You might tell yourself “I enjoy the challenge of this task and will do it to my best ability”, “I look forward to getting started” or “this is easy!”

Another motivational technique you can use is to envision the completed task. Sit silently with your eyes closed and picture yourself sitting in a clean and tidy room. Picture your desk neatly organised and smell the scent of polish in the air. Think about the feeling of crossing that task off your to do list. Now keep that vision in your mind for a while longer and you’ll find yourself eager to get started. Hold back just a little longer until you really can’t wait to go and tidy your room.

This method can be used for a whole variety of tasks and works effectively because instead of thinking of the work involved, you’re focusing on the positive end result.


Diet and stimulants

Do you find yourself being hyperactive at one moment, then overcome with lethargy the next? Do you find it hard to concentrate? Do you have trouble sleeping?

A lot of these problems can be caused by your diet and/or use of stimulants. Coffee, nicotine, sugar and simple carbs give us a temporary boost of energy, but then cause us to sink into lethargy and low moods once the high wears off.

Stodgy foods such as white bread, pastry and pasta tend to cause a loss of concentration and clarity of mind. The reason is that they take the body a long time to digest and uses excess blood and oxygen to complete the process, thus depriving the brain and impeding clarity.

Generally, a lean and healthy diet comprising 5-6 small meals per day will improve your energy levels, motivation and ability to complete tasks.



One small step…

Think of procrastination as standing on a diving board. It looks a long way down to the pool, and it is natural to feel apprehensive. As you stand there, you begin to feel cold and uncomfortable. The more you think about jumping, the scarier it feels. Time is ticking away. You could be swimming, splashing around and having fun, but instead, you are standing on the edge of this diving board, worrying about jumping.

Alternatively, you could take that small step and jump. Just one small step is all it takes and you are on your way down to the pool below. When it’s over, you will feel a sense of accomplishment and pride, and you can now enjoy your time in the pool without a care in the world.

This goes for all your tasks and goals too. It takes a push, but once you take that first small step, you are on your way to completing your tasks. One jump will inspire another and then another as you gain momentum and change your habits.

So, set yourself a little task and go do it…NOW!