Motivating Factors
A few months ago I wrote an article about getting projects done. I gave examples and plans about how to go about completing tasks, but I only included the tactics for getting them done, not the strategy or reason for doing so. When you try to complete a task, there are always going to be things that can keep you from finishing it, or even getting started. The key is to overcome these distractions with an outside impulse to get it done. The engine in my car is fairly powerful. It whips me around curves and accelerates me to highway speeds quickly. However, it won't just get up and go on it's own. It needs a starter to give it the initial impulse to get moving.
People need starter motors too. We need some outside impulse to do things when we don't have the motivation to do them on our own. People generally do only what they have to. If someone or something makes them do more, they find that they can, but they need that impulse to get them moving. This is what makes Drill Sergeants and Fitness Coaches effective. They hold people accountable for their actions or lack thereof. It's a lot easier to tell yourself that you are just too tired to finish what you started, or that you'll do it tomorrow. If you have to tell the Drill Sergeant that, the excuse doesn't hold as much weight (plus, they'll likely say something like, "Save the drama for your mama!")
You don't have to have a Drill Sergeant to make you do things, but you can use other people to be your outside impulse. If you tell someone that you are going to do something, you've created that outside impulse for yourself. When they ask you about it later, you want to be able to tell them that you actually did it, so it gives you a reason to get out there and get it done. However, if you give just a vague statement, not stating how much you'll get done or when, then you let yourself off the hook, which is not what you want.
It's helpful to have a goal. If you don't know where you are going, you might not get there, and you won't know it if you do. Just having a goal isn't enough, however. You want to have a smart Goal. Let me restate that: you want to have a S.M.A.R.T. Goal. Specific, Motivating, Achievable, Relevant and Trackable.
When you articulate your goals, you want to make them as specific as possible, so you and others can tell exactly when you achieve them. This is one of the biggest problem areas with goal setting. Many people want to achieve things, but they fail to be specific about them, so they don't know exactly how much they need to do. (I want to have a painted Orc and Goblin army. How big an army? When do you want to finish it? Painted to what standard?) In turn, this lets them off the hook, since there's no deadline, so they don't have to feel bad if they don't get it. Don't give yourself that out. We're trying to get stuff done, so anything that gives us the impulse to get moving will help and anything that weakens that impulse has to go.
You also need to have something motivating about your goal. Why do you want to achieve it. Most people don't just want to be able to do 100 crunches in a day, but many of them want to lose weight or get in better shape, and this helps them get through those crunches. The more motivating factors you can find about your goal, the bigger the impulse will be to get it done.
Goals should be achievable. If you can't complete it (or don't think you can) then you won't get started. It can be helpful here to break your goal down into Long-, Intermediate- and Short-term goals. I want to field a well-painted Orc and Goblin army of at least 1500pts by next August. I want to have 750pts of it completed by February. I want to have 500pts of it completed by the end of this month. Breaking the goal down like this helps keep the size of the task from becoming overwhelming. It also helps you figure out what you need to do Today to reach that goal and keeps you focused on what you want to achieve. (Next August is a long way off, the end of this month is not!)
Related to having motivating parts to your goal, is making it Relevant. You should know why you want to achieve the goal, or else you won't have a reason to get off the couch and get busy. Know what it is and why you want it, then remind yourself any time you start coming up with excuses to not do it. I want an Orc and Goblin Army so I can play Fantasy. I want it to be painted to a better standard than my previous armies, so I can proudly display it and show others my skills. I like Orcs and Goblins because they are a fun, silly sort of army and I have a good theme to use with them. I like playing games with other people, and there are a number of people that have offered to play me as soon as I get my O+G army completed.
Finally, you want your goal to be Trackable. You need to be able to keep track of your progress. Not only will that help you know when you get there (Duh!) but it will keep you moving along the path to your goal. If you are staying on track or getting ahead of it, it will give you a feeling of success and motivate you to keep going. On the other hand, if you are not staying on track to reach that goal, you'll feel bad for not doing it and that will give you extra impulse to get it done. So, get S.M.A.R.T. (and no cracks about agent 99, if you know what's good for you!)
Okay, now we've got the idea of our strategy (What we want and why we want it.) Now we need to cover some tactics we can use to achieve it. In my previous article, I discussed Crunch Time and 1+1=Done as two tactics to be used when trying to complete a task, so I won't repeat myself here. There are some other tactics to be used as well. They are Forming Habits and Minimizing interruptions.
If you do something on a regular basis, it will become a habit. You will tend to do it automatically, which is exactly what you want when you are trying to get something done. Keeping this website going weekly is a lot of work, but every Sunday I start thinking about what my update will be about. Every Monday I get at least a little bit of the update written out, even if it's just a couple of thoughts to use as seeds. Every Tuesday I get up and start writing it out. These now happen automatically, so even if I'm very busy doing things on Sunday, my mind will still think about what I'm going to write about. Even if I'm really busy on Monday, I'll still make an effort to get something down about the update. Even if I'm really busy on Tuesday, I'll still sit down to write out the update, even if I have to do it in small chunks between other things, or stay up until 4 in the morning to get it done. (That would also be due to the fact that I've told all of you readers that I update every Wednesday, so you'll be holding me accountable for it by checking the site and seeing whether or not I've done it.
There will always be interruptions. I'm hungry and I need to eat. The phone rings. There's email to be checked. I've got to do the dishes. I want to play Diablo II. Friends want my attention. The two best ways to deal with interruptions are prioritizing and minimizing. If you can make a hierarchy of priorities, you'll know which thing is more important. Then, when something interrupts you, you can decide if it's important enough to stop what you are doing, or if you should keep on trucking and deal with the interruption later. Minimizing interruptions can also be very helpful. If I take the phone off the hook while I'm writing, I won't have to answer it, and people can just leave a message on voicemail for me. If my friends know that I'm writing my update, they won't come in to talk to me. This can also help by letting you schedule some of those interruptions. (I can eat and check my email after I finish this update, or I can grab a sandwich and look at that email for 10 minutes, then get back to work.)
Okay, now we've got an initial impulse to get moving on a project, we know exactly what we want to accomplish and how we'll go about it. We also know why we want to complete it and that we can do it, plus we've got some tactics as to how to achieve it and some people to hold us accountable so we'll actually do it. I've already stated my goal about my Fantasy army, so tell me what your goal is.