Discussion Forum > Zero motivation!
Hi, Jason
I'll just make another cup of tea before I answer your posting...
Ok, where was I?
Motivation is a funny thing. What I find myself is that the best way to keep myself motivated is to be on top of things. Even things which I was feeling pretty negative about change their aspect once I've overcome my resistance and have got them sorted.
I suggest you go on what I call a "black cloud" hunt. Things we haven't done tend to hang over our heads in an undifferentiated black cloud of tension. This is very draining.
The secret is to examine the black cloud and what is in it. Usually you will find that one or two items form a large proportion of it. Take the largest item, the thing you are most resisting, and hit it with all you've got. Don't stop untill you have completely cleared it.
The effect of this can be dramatic. If you keep on hitting each item in the black cloud in order of "blackness" you should see a dramatic improvement in energy level and motivation.
The best technique I know for hitting something major which you are resisting is timed bursts. Set a timer for 5 minutes. Work on the task until the timer goes off, then take a 5 minute break in which you can do anything you like except work on the item. Then set the timer for 10 minutes, followed by another 5 minute break. Increase the length of the bursts by 5 minutes each time. By the time you have completed a 40 minute burst you will have worked in a concentrated manner on the subject for a total of 3 hours.
I'll just make another cup of tea before I answer your posting...
Ok, where was I?
Motivation is a funny thing. What I find myself is that the best way to keep myself motivated is to be on top of things. Even things which I was feeling pretty negative about change their aspect once I've overcome my resistance and have got them sorted.
I suggest you go on what I call a "black cloud" hunt. Things we haven't done tend to hang over our heads in an undifferentiated black cloud of tension. This is very draining.
The secret is to examine the black cloud and what is in it. Usually you will find that one or two items form a large proportion of it. Take the largest item, the thing you are most resisting, and hit it with all you've got. Don't stop untill you have completely cleared it.
The effect of this can be dramatic. If you keep on hitting each item in the black cloud in order of "blackness" you should see a dramatic improvement in energy level and motivation.
The best technique I know for hitting something major which you are resisting is timed bursts. Set a timer for 5 minutes. Work on the task until the timer goes off, then take a 5 minute break in which you can do anything you like except work on the item. Then set the timer for 10 minutes, followed by another 5 minute break. Increase the length of the bursts by 5 minutes each time. By the time you have completed a 40 minute burst you will have worked in a concentrated manner on the subject for a total of 3 hours.
October 14, 2008 at 15:14 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply Mark, I really appreciate it.
What you have said makes perfect sense... I suppose the more work I have in the corner of my office, the "blacker" the cloud is!
I have no doubt that when I do start to tackle it, the "blackness" should start to ease.
Funnily enough, I was very intrigued in DIT about the timer idea... so, now you have reinforced it, I shall go out to get one!
Thank you once again Mark.
Jason
What you have said makes perfect sense... I suppose the more work I have in the corner of my office, the "blacker" the cloud is!
I have no doubt that when I do start to tackle it, the "blackness" should start to ease.
Funnily enough, I was very intrigued in DIT about the timer idea... so, now you have reinforced it, I shall go out to get one!
Thank you once again Mark.
Jason
October 14, 2008 at 15:23 |
Jason
Jason
Hi Jason
Something I've just started trying and which so far seems to be going well is to find a focus for each week. I'm sure that our circumstances will differ, especially as you only have 2 days working from home whereas sometimes all my days are working from home (I'm a self employed gardener and part time artist), but you may find something of value here that you can adapt?
Each week I figure out a project to focus on and then each day that I'm home I list tasks based on that focus (some of my recent ones have been deep cleaning my bathroom which had developed a condensation problem, reorganising my studio from scratch, and reorganising a couple of other areas of the house in preparation for the studio reorganisation to have space to teporarily store stuff). I have found that this helps when on any one day things don't go entirely to plan. Before if I didn't achieve what I'd planned for a particular day I would often lose motivation over the next few days and find myself sliding backwards. Now if a day doesn't go well I know I've got other days to work with and I feel more motivated to get done what I have planned in the remaining time.
I'm not sure what Mark would feel about this but I have found it very helpful as a way to keep motivated over the course of a week even when things don't go to plan - when do they ever?! - I have used a type of closed list to work on the task level and carry over to the next day anything that remains undone. Also by focusing a week at a time it encourages an automatic audit every few days to review progress and plan the next week. Obviously you may have to modify the idea - perhaps choosing a focus for 2 weeks of Tuesdays & Thursdays so that you have enough time/space to benefit from this sort of method? I have found that having the slightly larger time scale of a week as opposed to a day very beneficial as it allows more flexibility while also creating more motivation as I don't feel the all or nothing that I did when I only focused one day at a time.
Good luck in finding your way
Regards
Hannah
Something I've just started trying and which so far seems to be going well is to find a focus for each week. I'm sure that our circumstances will differ, especially as you only have 2 days working from home whereas sometimes all my days are working from home (I'm a self employed gardener and part time artist), but you may find something of value here that you can adapt?
Each week I figure out a project to focus on and then each day that I'm home I list tasks based on that focus (some of my recent ones have been deep cleaning my bathroom which had developed a condensation problem, reorganising my studio from scratch, and reorganising a couple of other areas of the house in preparation for the studio reorganisation to have space to teporarily store stuff). I have found that this helps when on any one day things don't go entirely to plan. Before if I didn't achieve what I'd planned for a particular day I would often lose motivation over the next few days and find myself sliding backwards. Now if a day doesn't go well I know I've got other days to work with and I feel more motivated to get done what I have planned in the remaining time.
I'm not sure what Mark would feel about this but I have found it very helpful as a way to keep motivated over the course of a week even when things don't go to plan - when do they ever?! - I have used a type of closed list to work on the task level and carry over to the next day anything that remains undone. Also by focusing a week at a time it encourages an automatic audit every few days to review progress and plan the next week. Obviously you may have to modify the idea - perhaps choosing a focus for 2 weeks of Tuesdays & Thursdays so that you have enough time/space to benefit from this sort of method? I have found that having the slightly larger time scale of a week as opposed to a day very beneficial as it allows more flexibility while also creating more motivation as I don't feel the all or nothing that I did when I only focused one day at a time.
Good luck in finding your way
Regards
Hannah
October 14, 2008 at 20:27 |
Hannah
Hannah
PS
I realise that my 'focus for the week' idea may not exactly fit with the ones day's input is the next day's output but I think that there are some cases when this will vary by the nature of how one's work comes in.
As my gardening work is a mixture of regular work (e.g. a mowing round) and more occasional/seasonal tasks (hedgecutting, putting gardens to bed for the winter, etc.) then the work does not come in on a regular, daily basis. Added to this is the almost random nature of my painting - I work on whatever I happen to have chosen at the time - then my work will never be coming in in the same way as some businesses that are perhaps more office based. Hence my need to find a varient on the DIT method that suited my work as well as home projects.
The reason I mentioned my method in Jason's post is that I suspect that his work also doesn't come in in such a regular way and so he too will possibly need to adapt DIT to the way his work is generated and thus make his projects fit both his task diary and the days when he is in his office.
Oh and I've just noticed the typo in my previous post - I meant 'temporarily store stuff' not 'teporarily'!
I realise that my 'focus for the week' idea may not exactly fit with the ones day's input is the next day's output but I think that there are some cases when this will vary by the nature of how one's work comes in.
As my gardening work is a mixture of regular work (e.g. a mowing round) and more occasional/seasonal tasks (hedgecutting, putting gardens to bed for the winter, etc.) then the work does not come in on a regular, daily basis. Added to this is the almost random nature of my painting - I work on whatever I happen to have chosen at the time - then my work will never be coming in in the same way as some businesses that are perhaps more office based. Hence my need to find a varient on the DIT method that suited my work as well as home projects.
The reason I mentioned my method in Jason's post is that I suspect that his work also doesn't come in in such a regular way and so he too will possibly need to adapt DIT to the way his work is generated and thus make his projects fit both his task diary and the days when he is in his office.
Oh and I've just noticed the typo in my previous post - I meant 'temporarily store stuff' not 'teporarily'!
October 14, 2008 at 20:43 |
Hannah
Hannah
Hi Hannah,
Thank you very much for that... that is actually quite a different way of looking at things... my work certainly is random that's for sure... because some of my projects are tiny and some are huge, it's always difficult to work out what a "day's work" is... maybe working by week would be much simpler!
I may well give that a go... thank you again!
Jason
Thank you very much for that... that is actually quite a different way of looking at things... my work certainly is random that's for sure... because some of my projects are tiny and some are huge, it's always difficult to work out what a "day's work" is... maybe working by week would be much simpler!
I may well give that a go... thank you again!
Jason
October 14, 2008 at 21:14 |
Jason
Jason
Hannah:
What you are suggesting doesn't sound in fact too different from "orthodox" DIT. The focus on one project for the week is basically what the Current Initiative is supposed to be about. And DIT allows a "slippage" of around 4 days to allow for irregular work coming in, with an audit if you haven't caught up.
What you are suggesting doesn't sound in fact too different from "orthodox" DIT. The focus on one project for the week is basically what the Current Initiative is supposed to be about. And DIT allows a "slippage" of around 4 days to allow for irregular work coming in, with an audit if you haven't caught up.
October 15, 2008 at 10:53 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
Hi Jason
Well, I hope it helps you as it has me. The main change I have seen is that having the defined focus I give each week means that all sorts of projects can be tackled in turn (one task at a time) and I feel much more motivated knowing that the tasks I've chosen are working towards that focus.
I'd be interested to hear Mark's thoughts on this.
I think that for those of us who do have a very mixed way that work comes in it may help to keep up momentum. I have found that there is some carry over from one week to another especially when I have to wait for others to come back to me on some of the tasks. But providing I keep the automatic auditing that is created by the review I do every few days I am finding it is working quite well.
I'm still using many of Mark's ideas from DIT i.e. I check each item that comes in throughout the day for how quickly it needs actioning (immediate/same day/another day/week) and I create a task list each evening in preparation for the next day. Although in a way I am still working on one main project at a time (the week's focus) I am also able to slot in tasks from other projects from previous weeks that have carried over. It is almost like having different threads going on simultaneously and while I have the main one each week I can pick up and put down others as appropriate. As long as I keep to a maximum of say 3 projects this doesn't get muddled and I find that I come back to say week 1's focus in week 4 say and make it the main focus again so that my parallel projects are never left alone for long.
It's early days yet but inspired by Mark's example of continual experimentation I think I might have come up with something which has really helped with the motivation I was unable to sustain when working only day to day.
Well, I hope it helps you as it has me. The main change I have seen is that having the defined focus I give each week means that all sorts of projects can be tackled in turn (one task at a time) and I feel much more motivated knowing that the tasks I've chosen are working towards that focus.
I'd be interested to hear Mark's thoughts on this.
I think that for those of us who do have a very mixed way that work comes in it may help to keep up momentum. I have found that there is some carry over from one week to another especially when I have to wait for others to come back to me on some of the tasks. But providing I keep the automatic auditing that is created by the review I do every few days I am finding it is working quite well.
I'm still using many of Mark's ideas from DIT i.e. I check each item that comes in throughout the day for how quickly it needs actioning (immediate/same day/another day/week) and I create a task list each evening in preparation for the next day. Although in a way I am still working on one main project at a time (the week's focus) I am also able to slot in tasks from other projects from previous weeks that have carried over. It is almost like having different threads going on simultaneously and while I have the main one each week I can pick up and put down others as appropriate. As long as I keep to a maximum of say 3 projects this doesn't get muddled and I find that I come back to say week 1's focus in week 4 say and make it the main focus again so that my parallel projects are never left alone for long.
It's early days yet but inspired by Mark's example of continual experimentation I think I might have come up with something which has really helped with the motivation I was unable to sustain when working only day to day.
October 15, 2008 at 11:08 |
Hannah
Hannah
I have just realised that although I said I'm still working one project at a time (the week's focus) that isn't exactly true.
Taking the definition of a project as anything that needs more than one task to complete it I am actually working on many projects at a time each week but all those projects are related and covered by the 'umbrella' of the focus I've chosen for the week.
So a focus for me could be financial - getting my accounts and tax returns completed - domestic - reorganising a room from scratch - or work - getting a certain number of customers' gardens tidied for the winter. Within those areas there will be a number of projects ranging from very small (checking the diary and arranging a date with one customer to do their garden) to much larger (removing most of the contents of a room to reorganise the storage for that room). What works for me is that like the tasks in the task diary, it doesn't always matter which project I choose to do first (although obviously some have to be done before others can be started) as long as they are all fulfilling the focus of the week then it is still constructive. I've found this change to be fundamental to increasing my motivation since if I have an unproductive day it doesn't muck up my whole week but instead makes me more determined to use the rest of the week to make up for lost time. As long as I stay flexible and keep reviewing/auditing the situation I am finding it much easier to make great strides with many areas of my life.
Taking the definition of a project as anything that needs more than one task to complete it I am actually working on many projects at a time each week but all those projects are related and covered by the 'umbrella' of the focus I've chosen for the week.
So a focus for me could be financial - getting my accounts and tax returns completed - domestic - reorganising a room from scratch - or work - getting a certain number of customers' gardens tidied for the winter. Within those areas there will be a number of projects ranging from very small (checking the diary and arranging a date with one customer to do their garden) to much larger (removing most of the contents of a room to reorganise the storage for that room). What works for me is that like the tasks in the task diary, it doesn't always matter which project I choose to do first (although obviously some have to be done before others can be started) as long as they are all fulfilling the focus of the week then it is still constructive. I've found this change to be fundamental to increasing my motivation since if I have an unproductive day it doesn't muck up my whole week but instead makes me more determined to use the rest of the week to make up for lost time. As long as I stay flexible and keep reviewing/auditing the situation I am finding it much easier to make great strides with many areas of my life.
October 15, 2008 at 11:21 |
Hannah
Hannah
Thanks for the reply Mark. Somehow I think it overlapped with my last couple of posts and I've only just seen it.
Yes, I think that the 'Focus for the Week' is indeed similar to the Current Initiative however, as I explain in my last post I realised that actually it isn't a single project that makes up my Current Initiative/Focus but a collection of projects.
The other thing is that I now no longer worry about is sticking to one C.I./Focus until it's finished but instead I change my focus week to week (with a little overlap on some tasks) in order to keep making progress on more than one area.
Yes, I think that the 'Focus for the Week' is indeed similar to the Current Initiative however, as I explain in my last post I realised that actually it isn't a single project that makes up my Current Initiative/Focus but a collection of projects.
The other thing is that I now no longer worry about is sticking to one C.I./Focus until it's finished but instead I change my focus week to week (with a little overlap on some tasks) in order to keep making progress on more than one area.
October 15, 2008 at 11:28 |
Hannah
Hannah
Hannah,
Everything you say about your system is a good example of making adjustments to suit your circumstances while adhering to the basic principles. So thanks for the input - it's very useful.
Everything you say about your system is a good example of making adjustments to suit your circumstances while adhering to the basic principles. So thanks for the input - it's very useful.
October 15, 2008 at 11:36 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
I guess this follows on from my last post about all my "urgent" tasks!
It seems to me that, the more work I have to do, the more demotivated I get with it all. My situation is that I am a self-employed accountant working from home (in Sussex) on a Tuesday & Thursday, and I travel up to Portsmouth to see clients on a Monday, Wednesday & Friday. So the only time I can sit down to do "real" work is on a Tuesday, Thursday or at the weekend.
Being at home though also creates severe distractions. I go and make a cup of coffee, unload the dishwasher, pop out to the local shop, all the things you do when you work for yourself from home!
I still have a huge pile of work in the corner of my office but I just can't seem to find the motivation to get down and do it! I suppose I am saying that procrastination is my biggest problem... does increased procrastination eventually to a loss in motivation completely?
I thought maybe one idea on my "work at home" days would be to go somewhere else and take one of my many projects with me, maybe sit in the local library for a few hours, where there are no home comforts to tempt me!
I would be interested in anybody's comments on my post.
Jason