ROdown Blog
Motivation...it's hard work!
Howdy RO-er-er-er-ers! To introduce myself – my name is Matt and I’m a Youth Ambassador with Reach Out.
Today, it is my most glorious job to blog about the wonders of motivation! Motivation is one of those wily little things – sometimes it is there and then sometimes (usually when you have an assignment to complete!), it is nowhere to be found.
I know for me, how motivated I am is largely based around two things:
1. Do I actually want to do whatever it is I need to?
2. Do I have anything better to do? Unfortunately, that is not a very productive attitude to have – especially now that I work full-time and my day is often taken up with things I don’t really want to do and there is plenty of other stuff that I would rather be doing. So how do I deal with that?
Well, to think it through and to try and explain, let’s use two examples:
1. Your mum asks you to clean the bathroom (you have NO intention of doing this AT ALL!)
2. You plan on going for a run in the afternoon (you fully intend to do this and have it all organised).
In example 1 – the chances of you actually cleaning the bathroom are somewhere between 0% and 0%.
However in example 2 – you fully intend to go for your run so there is a much greater chance you will actually do it.
In other words, in the last example, you have set a goal for yourself. This is really relevant because setting goals is one of the most kick-butt ways to get yourself motivated! What is my point from before then?
It is that deciding to do something (even if I don’t want to!) and making a goal for it makes me far more likely to actually do it!
The benefits of setting goals is that
a) it gives you some direction, something to work towards
b) it motivates and inspires you to keep pushing (much easier to run 2km on the treadmill when you have set that as your goal, even if it is really, really hard!)
c) it gives you the chance to have regular experiences of achievement and success. If you don’t set goals, then it is hard to get that awesome feeling of having followed through with something.
But how can we set good goals? Make them SMART: Specific – you should know exactly what you want to do – 3 chin-ups, ½ hr of study
Measurable – your goal needs to be written in a way that you can say ‘yes I’ve done this’ or ‘no I haven’t’
Achievable– needs to be within your ability. It is not very realistic for me to want to be a world-class figure-skater...I just don’t look that good in a leotard!
Realistic – it needs to be within your means. By this I mean you need to have the resources (time, money etc) to invest in your goal. Being in a circus might be achievable for me but I don’t have the time to put into training
Time-limited – set a deadline for your goal. This doesn’t mean you have to have it done by then, it is just to give you a sense of it having an ending point
So there you go! Motivation is a tricky thing – but setting yourself goals improves your chances massively!
When I go into work now, I set the goal of checking and replying to emails for an hour in the morning. I would have to do this normally but now, because it is a goal, I get to feel really good that I have done it rather than just cranky that I had to spend an hour reading emails!
So share with us your stories about what motivates you, how you got motivated or tricks and tips you use to keep you on your game!
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7 Comments
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Cally
over 1 year ago
Reply ReportOnline Bucket Lists, Dream Lists and Diary entries are great ways to keep focused and withhold the determination you need to ensure you complete your desired goal/s. :)
tttara.:.
over 1 year ago
Reply Reporthey awesome blog. when i need to get motivated for something ill think of little ways to start setting about and acheiving my goal. i find talking to my friends and asking their opinion helps and also checking up on how they are doing :)
mazzman
over 1 year ago
Reply Reporthahah fantastic work guys! Sounds to me that your take on motivation is more like
"Structure Reward Program"
:P
I'm struggling with the motivation at the moment as well - trying to do a literature review for work and every time i start, i think of anything else i could be doing! But small goals, small goals! So today i'm going to read 4 papers!
canberra-jd
over 1 year ago
Reply ReportNice blog Matt! I know at the moment I'm having a bit of trouble with motivation for this uni report I'm writing! But I'm like Kiki - I set smaller goals and then reward myself at the end of each one so for example... Today I have 2 major goals, number 1 is to get this report done and number 2 is to do my flexibility work for upcoming med/physicals for jobs...
So pretty much I go... Section 1 of report needs to be done within 2 hours (about 400 words) once this is done, I can do 15 minutes of flexibility work and then get myself a coffee to begin the next section of my report... and that will repeat until I've completed my report!
Rewarding yourself is definitely important, helps to keep you motivated to keep going!
kiki
over 1 year ago
Reply Report:D nice blog!
What helps to keep me motivated is setting a long term goal, then finding out how to achieve this by setting smaller goals to get there! It helps keep it in perspective and helps me to not freak out about the long term goal.... but yea i think rewarding yourself once you have met a goal is important! cause it helps to to keep going..
kiki
over 1 year ago
Reply Report:D nice blog!
What helps to keep me motivated is setting a long term goal, then finding out how to achieve this by setting smaller goals to get there! It helps keep it in perspective and helps me to not freak out about the long term goal.... but yea i think rewarding yourself once you have met a goal is important! cause it helps to to keep going..
Antria
over 1 year ago
Reply ReportHey Matt! Good Blog. What motivates most is identifying what my values are (so sort of the overall most important things in my life) and then setting goals in line with these values. It also helps to remind myself of what I value in order to achieve those goals. So for example, I know I value my health and living a healthy lifestyle. When I think about this and set goals that aim to achieve this I tend to stick to them.