Ever have one those days where it feels like you have little to no motivation? Maybe you struggle with procrastination, too. This time of year, I have them all the time. Oregon is rainy and grey basically from October to April/May and I grew up in sunny Southern California. Even after over 7 years here, I still struggle every winter. It can make moving forward on my goals feel really challenging. If you’re like me, you probably get down on yourself about it quite a bit.
This winter I have been focusing on ways to combat this motivation challenge. While I’ve done a lot to manage Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), since that definitely plays a roll for me (happy light, grounding, and more conscientious movement - message me if you want to hear more) what has really been a game changer has been how I look at my GOALS to hack my lack of motivation and keep myself from procrastinating.
I’ve managed to continue to move forward on my business goals by breaking them into the SMALLEST version or task I can. It takes some time up front to do this (this, in itself, is a task by the way), but it really helps with the cognitive burnout that often accompanies lack of motivation for me. I get it out of my head, onto paper (or an app - I like Trello), and make the goals into TASKS that are so small I can’t not do them.
What does this look like in practice? Well, I’ve been needing to repaint my office (if you’ve been on one of my workshop or drop-in coaching calls you’ve likely seen the painters tape up behind me). I broke this down to: 1. Pick out paint color, 2. Buy supplies, 3. Tape off room (my husband helped me with that because I’m short), 4. Focus on one wall at a time - a. Pull furniture and art off wall, b. Put down paint tarp, c. Prep supplies … you get the idea. It’s one wall - not the most efficient. I know, but frankly finding the time to do it all in one day when my motivation is low sounds like a bear. Doing one wall at a time and breaking it down like this, I can get myself started; which is often really what we need. I would rather have the whole thing painted in a week than spend months waiting for the right time to have enough motivation and time to do it all at once.
Try it with your own life and goals. I’ve found:
- Worst case, you’re still a bit further along than you were the day before
- Best case, the serotonin boost by getting the win and taking care of that small task kick starts the ball of momentum and you are able to accomplish more than you would otherwise
Side Note: if moving forward on something opens up 5 more things you didn’t
realize you needed to do (this happens often for me while I’m working on my business), give yourself a moment to roll your eyes if you need to, but guess what - you would have discovered the same 5 more things eventually when you got to that task or step anyway, so really in the big picture you’ve still made progress for the day. Congrats!
This introspection and action inspired by the book “Tiny Habits” by BJ Fogg - one of my favorites on habit formation and motivation.
Hugs and Happy Riding,
Kristin
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