I am a big believer in going easy on yourself. A lot of us have a tyrannical inner voice that orders us around and makes us feel guilty when we don’t complete everything on our mammoth to-do list. I believe in challenging that voice, mainly by asking if we really need to do all those things today. Usually, some of those things do not really need to be done.
But what about those things that absolutely have to get done? How do we muster up the motivation to do the dishes or the laundry when we simply don’t feel like it? Answer: You don’t muster up the motivation. You just do it.
You won’t always feel motivated to do certain tasks. If you wait around until you feel like doing that task, you may end up never getting it done! The good news is once you start working on it, often you’ll “get into it,” and before you know it, you’ll be done.
Just do it. It’s a good mantra to use on those dreary tasks.
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Very true…we humans don't have unlimited motivation.
If there isn't even enough motivation to push ourselves to just do it, I say to make it fun. A change in outlook can help…or at least it doesn't hurt! What is fun to you may not be fun to me but here's some ideas:
– Challenge oneself in some way (guess how much you can get done in a certain time and try to beat your guestimate or, if you are competitive enough that you need completion, guess the least amount of time you will need to finish the job and race the clock)
– Reward oneself in some way (do this many minutes of work and have that many minutes of free time; if I do this much exercise, I can eat this treat food, etc.)
– Find incentive in everything (like the examples above, find the incentive that will motivate you and use it…believe it or not, most of us like to push ourselves to move towards the carrot!)