Tricks to Inspire Ourselves to Stay Motivated!

I should just admit this upfront — even though it likely will be surprising for some — I have a heck of a time staying motivated, over time.

It's not that I necessarily grow bored with the things I do... it's more a case of having a natural inclination towards distracting myself with irrelevant sidetracks.

Yes, I know... I have been keeping up with this blog for over seven years. Closing in on 2,000 posts.

Whereas those are definitely facts, it's also a (less known) fact that I often have to work really hard at motivating myself to show up and do the writing.

Even though I actually love writing.

I know... doesn't make a lot of sense.

But it's not exactly something new, in my world. Even when I was at University, I had to "play games with myself" in order to stay motivated.

The Many aspects of Human Nature

I believe some people are wired from nature's site to be eternal go-getters and filled with ambition to always "produce" and be on their game at all times. Others — such as myself — are quite content with just sitting and watching grass grow, perhaps enjoying a glass of wine.

Whether I have been (very) gainfully employed or working for myself, I have typically had a tendency to work very hard to get the basics taken care of... and then I have pretty much stopped there.

When I was at University, I got my writing — other that school assignments — done because I would force myself to enter writing competitions with deadlines, and that motivated me to get things done.

Part of what I do nowadays is derived from ADHD management tools that allow me to break my days and tasks up into lots of "little bits" so it's easier for me to check things off my "to do list."

I also end up creating "challenges" for myself... basically a slightly sick and twisted attempt at making myself feel guilty about not completing my own challenges. As I said, I "play games with myself."

My current "game" is that I have challenged myself to reach the 2,000 post mark before the end of April. Which means I pretty much have to write every day!

I guess many people would just call these "goals and ambitions," but the primary difference here is that I am typically working in the very short term... ironically, in order to try to complete long term goals.

I'm not too worried about the year, I'm more concerned with simply getting to the end of the week!

This "trickery" is basically the result of having spent years learning about myself and how my brain tends to process information from my surroundings. And so, I work with the knowledge that I just have to motivate myself for a few days, and then I worry about the next few days... and eventually it all adds up to a year, or even a lifetime!

And maybe that's the important lesson here: Having a good strong understanding of how your mind works is what helps us accomplish what we want!

Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

How about you? Do you find it easy to stay motivated? Do you ever need to play games with yourself, in order to get to your goals? Or does that just sound silly? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — Not posted elsewhere!)

Created at 2024.02.18 00:58PST
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