How To Improve Your Motivation And Productivity

Do you get excited to start a project or create a new habit?

Are you are very motivated to get going on … but after a few days, that feeling dies down, and you start procrastinating.

I have devoted a lot of effort to figuring this out and have come up with my techniques, because every person is motivated differently.

So finding methods that motivate you personally is just a matter of experimenting.

Give each of the following techniques a try for a minimum of a week and notice your results so you can discover your personal motivation style:

Un-ignorable Consequences.

Set a deadline for the task(s) you want to complete and a consequence you won’t be able to ignore.

Here is the key: share the deadline and consequence publicly or with an accountability partner.

Example: Post on Facebook I’m going to do 10 burpees every day this week or I will not go on FB for a week. (That only works if you really care about the consequence.)

Another example: if I don’t pack a lunch this week, I will donate $200 to Donald Trump (or whichever candidate you don’t like) and post about it publicly.

The consequence should be embarrassing and something you will not just ignore.

Small Starts, Quick Rewards.

Create a plan to do only short tasks (just 10 minutes) and give yourself a small reward at the end of it.

The smaller the task, the better, so you won’t delay starting.

For example, I will write for 10 minutes, then I can go have my first cup of coffee/tea for the day.

If clear my email inbox for 10 minutes and then I can send my friend a text message.

Don’t let yourself have the reward unless you do the task!

Completion Compulsion.

Most people, especially me, have a strong desire to complete a list.

For example, if you’ve watched 6 out of 9 episodes of a show, you might really want to finish watching the season.

This is “completion compulsion” and everyone experiences it  — especially if finishing the list seems doable

So the technique is to make a list of 10 small actions that will take 10 minutes or less to complete or 5 small actions you want to finish each day. Then make it your goal to finish the list.

You could combine this with the un-ignorable consequences method (if I don’t finish my list each day, I can’t have a beer tonight after work).

Figure Our Your Powerful “Why”.

Figure out the meaning/reasons you want to complete this goal or accomplish this task.

It should be a reason that you deeply want to achieve.

Like “I want to eat healthy and have a fit body to be a good role model for my kids and be able to play with my grandkids.”

Post it somewhere visible to inspire you.

Be True to Your Word.

One of the most important things in life is to be trusted: to have people believe that when you say you’re going to do something, you’ll do it.

If people can’t trust you, you won’t have solid relationships with family, friends or at work.

Imagine hiring someone and not knowing if they’re going to show up or do the work if they do show up.

So you make: “Be True to Your Word” one of your priorities in life.

Start with small things and tell someone you’re plans – Then do it.

Repeat this several times a day, building other people’s trust in you and your own trust in yourself.

Find a Group.

We humans are social animals – use that to your advantage.

Create an accountability group of friends or colleagues who want to achieve a similar goal or finish a project.

Agree to set daily or weekly targets and check in with each other daily or weekly.

Set rewards and/or embarrassing consequences for hitting or missing the targets.

Have weekly “winners” for those who did the best at their targets.

Encourage each other and help each other when someone is faltering.

The Jerry Seinfeld Method.

Seinfeld used a unique calendar system to pressure himself to write.

Here’s how it works:

Get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall.

The next step is to get a big red magic marker.

For each day you do your task put a big red X over that day.

After a few days you’ll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day.

You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt.

Your only job next is to not break the chain. 

Focus on a Sense of Achievement.

As you start a task, think about how good you’ll feel once you accomplish it.

After every task you complete, pause at the end of it to savor your feeling of accomplishment.

This is a great feeling!  Share your victory with others.  Savor the feeling of building trust in yourself.

What is the best way to improve motivation?

All that matters is that you experiment and note the results.

At the end of each weekly experiment, go ahead and rate your productivity on a scale of 10. Then try another one.

At the end of these, you’ll have tried a bunch of great methods and have figured out which ones help you the most and it can be a combination of a few.

For those of you interested in what a life coach can do for you, click the link below to set up a complimentary clarity session!