Motivation

[Cobalt]

I'm not sure exactly what I want to ask so I just titled this motivation. Basically, I'm having a problem with motivation to do things. It's not depression or anything like that, I just have things I actually want to do (read certain books, watch things I've bought, write, things I have a genuine interests in) but I keep putting them off seemingly forever. So I wanted to know what others do to be more productive. Do you make a planner/schedule day to day to do things? Do you use/have any applications you run on a tablet/cellphone to yourself organized and on task? I like scheduling/planning things (I am usually an organized person, sometimes obsessively so) so I think that route would probably be my best best. What does everybody do to be motivated to do certain things?

[Cridders88]

I really suffer from a lack of motivation too . I find exercise helps get me motivated to do other things, but then it's just finding the motivation to exercise... lol

[Anocxu]

Distractions seem to be what kills my motivation.

I could give you a long list of things that I should be doing and a longer list of distractions in my life..

I see the same setup with all my friends..
Gadgets, Gizmos, Apps, games.
I think this is what tampers with our motivation.

Now if we were to explore the topic of distractions and disciple...

That would be an entire new thread.

[East]

I learned to live with it...yeah..that's my solution....

I have a three year old living inside of me...and I just go with it now. Sometimes I get lucky and accomplish everything I want to accomplish but the rest of the time it's a crapshoot....

Accepting it finally made it easier..alot easier. I used to fight it all the time...

[Steve]

Mark has this problem. I used to think it was simply procrastination (an it is to some extent), but I've realized over the years that he tends to look at the entirety of both tasks and hobbies and he becomes overwhelmed. Once overwhelmed he tends to freeze and pull away, putting off even his favorite things to do.

I've started encouraging him to start just one task/hobby a day. His orchids needed re-potting so together we went to look at them and I got him to pick out one. Then I sat with him while he started the process of re-potting it. With some encouragement he got one done. The next day several more were done. And he was excited about it.

The hardest part is starting. It's just like when a teacher gave you an assignment to write a paper for a class, and you sat and stared at the blank page for the longest time before you finally figured out how to begin. One little thing at a time. Not all of it. Or even most of it. Just start with one thing first and put the rest of it out of your mind.

[matty7]

firstly.....turn off the TV ...its a devil that sucks the hours out of your life never to return, and the worst thing of all is to play catch up on a series that a friend has recommended who is now on season 6.... its so easy to just sit there wasting away allegedly been entertained by rubbish that you could happily live without - grab that book before the remote

[Bookworm]

I tend to make a 'to do' list If I need to kick my ass into gear, and consciously avoid things that will distract me and suck hours of my life away without realising it (such as my computer - once I sit down at my computer desk its suddenly midnight) :biggrin:

[Juanton]

For me its more of a balance. I dont have interest in work if i dont take time out for myself.

[TwisttheLeaf]

Mark has this problem. I used to think it was simply procrastination (an it is to some extent), but I've realized over the years that he tends to look at the entirety of both tasks and hobbies and he becomes overwhelmed.

This can sometimes be me. Usually, if it's important, I can overcome it by making lists. Breaking down a task into -parts- to accomplish, then focus on one PART at a time until I've finished all the parts.

firstly.....turn off the TV ...its a devil that sucks the hours out of your life never to return

This too. Music is easier to be motivated by than a glowing screen of continuously distracting, moving, talking stuff.

[Cobalt]

Thanks for all the suggestions and help everyone.

Cridders, I too exercise and definitely have the same problem. I'll plan to do my run at certain times of the day and that time comes and goes every day...I'll eventually go and do it but I slack hard before I just push myself to get it over with.

Anocxu, distractions are the death of me. If I didn't have a cellphone/tablet I would probably be a better person for it. Either that or youtube needs to go away...that's my real problem.

East, I do try and sometimes give myself leeway/the freedom to just slack off. I guess my problem is determining when slacking off has gotten in the way of the day too much.

Steve, I definitely identify with Mark and your assessment of him, that's very much like me. With writing I think of all the things I want to happen in my story, what interactions I want to happen, what scenes I want to take place, etc. and I get so overwhelmed with bringing that all together that I decide to start another day (spoiler: that "another day" never comes). That's the general idea though with all my hobbies, I think about what I want to do with all of them and get overwhelmed with the sheer size of the tasks/objectives instead of just thinking about starting it and getting past that first hurdle.

Matty, I would for myself substitute the TV for youtube (same thing really...). Sometimes TV will get in my way but the internet is far more dangerous...watch anything you want when you want whenever you want! That royally screws me over more times than I can even begin to count. So just moving away from those things is probably the first step I need to take...

Bookworm, list making is definitely a good thing for me. Part of it is I like to organize what I want to do and the other part is I get a kick out of crossing things off the list one by one as I do them. I need to make more lists I think...

Juanton, my issue is probably along the lines of not having the balance. I'll either go all or nothing (total slack or total task oriented). When I do too much of the task orientation it burns me out and makes the procrastination/slacking worse. So I probably need to be better at finding what my balance is.

Twist, I was thinking along those lines exactly. If I can make a sort of sub list, a list inside the list that lists parts of each item on the list (man I just abused the word "list" in that last line...) that will help give me a sense of direction and an idea of what exactly it is I want to do. I am definitely getting the idea I need to heavily curtail my video watching, I think that's a massive problem for me and a huge time sink/waster that yields little to no results (aside from the occasional learning of something new or interesting) for me. If I can seriously curb that I'll probably have solved some of my problem...