Motivation

Motivation is a powerful but deceptive beast. Sometimes it is easy to be motivated, and you will be caught in a whirlwind of excitement. Sometimes it is almost impossible to figure out how to motivate yourself, and you will be caught in a spiral of procrastination. This page collects the best ideas and most useful research to help you gain and stay motivated.

What is Motivation- The author Stephen Pressfield (Stephen Pressfield) has a great sentence in his book "Art Wars". I think this is the point of motivation. To paraphrase Pressfield's words: "At some point, the pain of not doing so will be greater than the pain of doing so."

In other words, it is easier to change at certain times than to stay unchanged. It is easier to bargain and feel insecure in the gym than to hate yourself on the couch. During the promotion period, you are frustrated that your bank account has shrunk.

I think this is the nature of motivation. Every decision has its price, but when we are motivated, it is easier to endure the inconvenience of behavior than to keep the pain unchanged. Somehow, we usually cross the psychological threshold after a few weeks. Delays and upcoming deadlines, not doing work is more painful than actually doing it.

Misunderstandings About Motivation - One of the most surprising characteristics of motivation is that it often happens after the new behavior begins, rather than before. We have a misunderstanding that motivation comes from passively watching inspirational videos or reading inspirational books. , Positive inspiration can become a stronger motivation.

Motivation is usually the result of the action, not the cause of the action. In the beginning, no matter how small, it is a positive inspiration and will naturally generate motivation. I like to call this effect the physics of productivity because it is essentially the first law of Newtonian habits: moving objects tend to keep moving. Once the task starts, it is easier to move on.

If a behavior has already started, you don’t need too much motivation. Most of the friction in the task was created from the beginning. After the start, progress is more natural. In other words, it is usually easier to complete the work than to start over.

Therefore, one of the keys to motivation is to make getting started easy.

Before we discuss the first step, let’s pause. If you like this article on motivation, you may find my other work on human skills and behavior helpful. Every week I share research-based self-improvement techniques through my free email newsletter.

Schedule your Motivation- When she talked about writing, my friend Sarah Parker looked at me and said, “Many people never write because they always want to know when they will write next time.” The same applies to exercise and entrepreneurship. Creativity and forming most habits.

If you don’t exercise regularly, you wake up every day and think, “I hope I have the motivation to exercise today.”

If you don’t exercise regularly, you wake up every day and think, “I hope I have the motivation to exercise today.”

If you don’t have a weekly writing schedule, you will find yourself saying something like, “I just need to find the willpower to do this.”

An article in The Guardian summarized this situation as follows: “If you waste resources deciding when and where to work, it will affect your ability to complete the work.”

It may seem easy to make a schedule for yourself, but it allows you to make decisions about autopilot, give your goals time and space to achieve, and regardless of your motivation, you are more likely to stick to them. And there is a lot of research going on. Regarding the willpower and motivation to support this statement.

Stop waiting to be overwhelmed by motivation or inspiration and record your habits. This is the difference between professional and amateur. Professionals set a schedule and stick to it. Fans will wait until they feel inspired or motivated.

How To Get Motivated- Twyla Tharp is considered one of the greatest dancers and choreographers of our time. In his best-selling book The Creative Habit (audiobook), Tharp discusses the effect of pre-match rituals or routines on his success:

I started with the rituals of every day of my life; I woke up at 5:30 in the morning, put on my sportswear, leggings, sweatshirt, and hat, left my house in Manhattan, took a taxi, and asked the driver Take me to Pumping Iron Gym at 91 Allee. …I trained there for two hours. The ritual is not the stretching and weight training I do in the gym every morning; the ritual is a taxi. When I told the driver where to go, I ended the ceremony.

This is a simple action, but if I do it the same way every morning, I will get used to it and make it repeatable and easy, so I may not skip it or do it differently. It is one more item in my arsenal of routines, and one less thing to think about.

Many other famous creators also have their own rituals. In his best-selling book “The Daily Ritual: How Artists Work”, author Mason Curry pointed out that many great artists in the world follow a consistent schedule.

Maya Angelou rented a room in a local hotel and went there to write. He arrived at 6:30 in the morning. M., write before 2 pm M. Then he goes home to make some changes. He has never slept in a hotel.

Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Chabon writes five nights a week starting at 10 pm. 3 a.m.

Haruki Murakami got up at 4 in the morning, wrote for five hours, and then went for a run.

The best ideas do not depend on motivation or inspiration but follow constant patterns and conventions. Here are some examples of how to use rituals and routines to motivate yourself:

Work out more consistently-Use the same warm-up plan in the gym.

Start a new day easily: Create a five-minute morning meditation ritual.

Start a new day easily: Create a five-minute morning meditation ritual.

Sleep better: Follow your sleep schedule before going to bed.

The power of ritual, or what I like to call the pre-match routine, is that it provides an unconscious way to initiate your behavior, making it easier to develop a habit, which means it’s easier to stick to it all the time.

The key to any good ritual is that it no longer requires a decision: what should I do first, when should I do it, and what should I do? Most people will never move because they cannot decide where to start. You want the beginning of the behavior to be simple and automatic so that you have the power to end it when it becomes difficult and difficult.

How To Make Motivation a Habit- You can take three simple steps to create a better ritual and make motivation a habit.

Step 1: A good pre-match routine is so easy to start that you can't refuse it. You don’t need the motivation to start your pre-match routine. For example, my letter begins with a glass of water. Weightlifting starts with putting on weightlifting shoes. These tasks are too simple, I can't refuse you.

The most important part of any task is the beginning. If you can’t motivate yourself at the beginning, you will find that motivation often only appears after you start. Therefore, your game preparation should be very simple.

Step 2: Your daily life should guide you to reach your ultimate goal.

Lack of mental motivation is usually related to a lack of physical activity. Imagine your physical condition when you feel depressed, bored, or unmotivated. You rarely move. Maybe you feel. Melted slowly on the sofa.

The reverse is also true: when you are active and physically busy, you are more likely to feel mentally engaged and energetic. For example, when dancing, it is almost impossible not to feel happy, and energetic.

Although your daily life should be as easy as possible, you should gradually shift to more vigorous physical activities. Your thoughts and motivation will follow your body movement. It is worth noting that physical exercise does not necessarily mean exercise. For example, if writing is your goal, then your daily life should bring you closer to the physical act of writing.

Step 3: You must follow the same pattern every time.

The main purpose of the pre-match routine is to create a series of events that always run before completing any given task. Your pre-match routine tells you, “This is what happens before I do ___.”

Over time, this routine will be closely tied to your work, so that just executing it will get you ready to do it. You don’t need to know how to find motivation, you just need to start your daily work.

If you remember the article on the 3 R’s of changing habits, you may find that your pre-match routine essentially creates a “reminder” for yourself. Your pre-match routine is the trigger you are used to, even if you are not motivated to do so.