Motivational Techniques from the Unmotivated

by Beth Holmes

I have a really bad habit. Okay, I have a few bad habits, but who's counting? My worst one (maybe) is my inability to stick with anything I start. I get really involved in a project, a job, a hobby, or a book, and by the time I've put a little effort into it I stop. A few weeks of buying $100 worth of tiny little beads and wire and making jewelry was enough to sate my thirst for microscopic crafts forever. My burning desire to become a veterinarian fizzled out as soon as I saw the requirements to get into vet school. My many, many attempted gardens have failed miserably within a few weeks (but I'm not done trying that one yet).

So now I stand at the start of the long, long road to financial independence, and my own home-based business. And I think about the aforementioned bad habit, and I get scared. It's easy to say that this time it's different, that this time this is something I really, really want to do and I know I can and all it's going to take is just doing it, but I've said that before. And those ideas were just bad. So I need a list, one source I can go to when I need to remember what I've learned about motivation.

Here they are, from the brain of the master procrastinator and quitter extraordinaire, my own personal motivational techniques:

1) Make sure you actually want it. Because let's face it: if you don't really want to achieve your goal with every molecule in your body, you're going to find a reason to quit. It's just like when I'm buying new clothes. I try on a shirt and immediately start looking for things I don't like about it. I think about every excuse I might use to avoid putting it on in the morning. Does it pull too tight across the shoulders? Is it a weird color? Are the sleeves a millimeter too short? Examine your decision from every revealing and unflattering angle. Only when you are satisfied that you can give no viable reason to quit, then proceed. If you can think of reasons not to do it, then either work on correcting those issues, or move on to another idea.

2) Figure out why you want it. If the task at hand is particularly massive, overwhelming, or intimidating, it might be a good idea to examine why you want to try it in the first place. The obvious way to do this is to ask yourself "Why?" The less-than-obvious method is to keep asking "Why?" For example:

"I really want to start my own business."
"Why?"
"Because I want to work from home." <----- The conversation could end there, but watch what happens when you keep going. "Why?" "Because I want to spend more time with my family." "Why?" "Because I feel guilty that I've been working away from home for so long." "Why?" "Because I resent my father for never being there for me and I don't want to be like him." Or whatever. The more you ask "Why?" the closer you are to discovering the real truth behind your choice. Once you've reached the point at which "Why?" can no longer be asked, you've reached the truth. Take a long, hard look at that truth and ask yourself if there is anything else you can do to satisfy it, then give any other options considerable thought. We are all trying to fill a void or complete a circuit in our lives, and there are often many different ways to do it. It's best that we have all of our options in front of us before we choose one. 3) Set teeny, tiny mini-goals. There are thousands of "lists" like this one, motivating people to achieve their goals, and this tip is on every single one of them. Why? Because it's a really good tip. I, like many people, enjoy crossing items off of my to-do list. Now imagine if you had one giant to-do list, and everything on it brought you closer to your goal. When you look at it in grand, large-scale perspective, your goal looks terrifying, but broken down into smaller goals, it suddenly appears manageable.

I buy several 79-cent spiral notebooks at the drugstore and write a major goal down on the cover of each one. Every single page contains a "mini-goal" that will work toward the big-mamma-jamma goal. No matter how small the task is, no matter how quickly I can get it done, I dedicate a whole page to it. For instance, in my "Start My Own Business" spiral notebook (the one with a picture of Garfield on it), one of the first pages is entitled "Research website options." On this page, I have written the names of hosting companies I've heard good things about, domain checkers, free website apps, sites with good templates or design tutorials, and different options for URLs. The next page in the notebook is entitled, "Purchase domain." There may be nothing on that page except a great big checkmark when I complete that task, but I still count it as a completely separate item on my list.

4) Get someone to hold you accountable. Zen Habits blogger Leo Babauta recently posted a call to action: his devoted readership is now partly responsible for keeping him honest as he writes his book. He posts daily updates, and keeps us all up to speed about his progress. Readers are encouraged to post comments about his daily work.

Nothing makes me more uncomfortable than somebody pointing out that I didn't do something I said I would do. In fact, it makes me so uncomfortable that often the only thing motivating me to keep my promises is the fear of being spotlighted if I fail. Asking for someone to call you on your BS is a hugely humiliating thing to do.

It is so tempting to think that you can be an island. It's even more tempting to think that you'll be able to surprise friends and family with this new goal you've just accomplished all by yourself. No man is an island, and everyone at least needs someone to remind them to get to work. So find someone you trust to keep you honest.

Note: People you know online can be helpful in this regard, but can also take a flying leap in the face of a "real life" person. After all, in a "real life" conversation, there's no such thing as "Signing off..."


Were you hoping this list would be longer? Well, too bad. Any other tips I've read or heard about seem to be geared toward very specific personality types and situations. I figure that in general, people require motivation of some kind. These tips should satisfy that need very nicely. If you need more, leave your questions in a comment.