Motivating yourself when you don't feel like doing anything

I’m home after a pretty long travel jag last over the past few months.

What I told myself is “I’m so excited to make progress on some of my deeper work now that I’m finally home.”

What I’m actually doing: enjoying another cup of coffee out on the porch, giving myself a pep talk about being productive.

I’ve developed a few strategies to ignite motivation over the years, and I thought it might be a good time to share them. So I wrote this Forbes article to help you catalyze your own motivation.

The 2 strategies that are working best for me right now are:

Shake things up

I’m a girl who loves my routines! Until they turn into a rut. Sometimes the best way to motivate yourself is get yourself out of that mundane day-to-day. Watch a goofy YouTube in the morning instead of meditating. Put on some music that peps you up and either dance or sing. Go for a walk in the middle of the day. Call a friend rather than diving into your email to put out fires. Variety is the spice of life, and spice can drive motivation!

Program small wins

Self-knowledge is important, and I’ve accepted that I personally need a lot of positive feedback. When I have to motivate myself, the best feedback I can give myself is progress.

As Scott Belsky mentioned to me in our chat on my podcast From Start-up to Grown-up, research proves that most people are motivated by progress.

Forward motion can take all sorts of forms, including a very small win. Are you not motivated to start a project? Just make a list of your activities. Maybe do the one simple thing you can do and cross it off your list. Same with a list of mundane tasks. Or, do you have to motivate yourself for a tough talk conversation? Outline what you want to say without wordsmithing it. Getting your mind around your thoughts is a very satisfying small win.

Here’s what I did: turned on some cheesy 70s music and sang - out loud - for 3 songs. Then I listed all the podcasts that needed intros recorded so I had them all in one place. I can’t say I’m at full speed, but I am putting one foot in front of the other.

One last thing - remember Hofstadter’s Law: Things take longer than you think they will. Detours and slumps are baked into the process. If you’re being self-critical, check out this article I wrote for Inc about how to activate your 3 selves to transform your inner chatter.

How do you motivate yourself?

And what’s your favorite dance number or song to sing along to?

I’ve already started a Spotify playlist of my initial responses and would love to add yours!