Self-Motivation Strategies

Source: Mind Tool's Newsletter.

Just as there are two types of motivation, there are two main strategies for motivating yourself:

1. You make the task more intrinsically satisfying.

2. You provide your own extrinsic rewards.

Using a combination of both is often the most effective way to motivate yourself. So, you have to find further intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to get those undesirable tasks done. Here are some tactics that you can use motivate yourself:

a. Change your attitude and approach to undesirable tasks - For example, the task of reorganizing your filing cabinet may not be motivating in itself. But being seen as a competent and organized person might provide intrinsic motivation for you. By thinking of filing in this way, for example, you can connect completing the task with meeting your needs.

b. Think about why you do what you do - Sometimes you may start to think that your job is pointless, so why bother to do things? A great way to increase self-motivation is to list all of the positive outcomes of your job. If you're on the cleaning staff in a hospital, ultimately your job keeps patients safe from germs and disease. If you sell office equipment, you're helping people to work more efficiently.

c. Set goals - By setting goals you'll know exactly what you need to do to achieve what you want in life. Then, by looking at this "bigger picture", you'll be able to see how those undesirable tasks can help you reach your goals, and you'll be able to see "what's in it for you" to complete these tasks.

d. Break your tasks down into smaller pieces - Organizing the entire filing cabinet may be too large a task to do all at once. Start alphabetically, or with the first section of files. Then, when you complete the first group, you can use your success with the smaller tasks to motivate you to finish.

e. Build in accountability - Tell you colleagues or manager about your task. It can help to motivate you if you know that someone else is expecting you to complete the task.

f. Master time management - Learn to take control of your time, and create a schedule that helps you to do things more efficiently.

g. Don't procrastinate - When low motivation and procrastination occur together, it can be doubly hard to get things done. See our article on beating procrastination for more on dealing with this.

h. Reward yourself - Make an agreement with yourself to give yourself a reward when you complete a task. For example, buy yourself a specialty coffee for completing smaller tasks, or send yourself to the spa for a massage when you finish a major one.

i. Scare yourself with the negative consequences of not doing it - If not doing the task is going to get you in trouble with your boss, focus on this, and scare yourself into doing it!

j. Swap tasks with a colleague - Maybe you can trade your undesirable task with someone else who doesn't mind doing it, and you can do something for that person in return. Use each other's needs, interests and talents to work more efficiently.

k. Surround yourself with positive thoughts and people - Positive thinking is very powerful. Just telling yourself that you can do something is often all you need to get started. And when you're around other positive people, they'll support and encourage you to keep trying.

l. Create an accomplishment log - Use this to record all of the times when you were able to motivate yourself to complete a task or keep moving forward. The log can inspire you the next time you need some extra motivation