By Seamus Anthony
How do you motivate yourself? Do you struggle with motivation? I sure do and it really is a bummer when you have great ideas but can’t seem to get on with it and make them work.
Well folks, roll up, roll up! I have the solution to your problem and then some – read on!
How I Get Off My Lazy Butt And Get Things Done
You see I love to dream but to act is another matter. I am just not a huge fan of ‘hard’ work (I am sure many of you can relate). But still I manage to get a lot done. I put this down to two factors.
- If ‘work’ is ‘hard’ then I find it very, very difficult to get going on it. However (and I am aware this is not a revolutionary concept) if I find the ‘work’ fun, then I love doing it and things get done.
- However even when you are working on a project that is fun to large extent, there are still usually moments when the Big Fun Project requires some not-so-fun hard work. For example when I was in a band, the concerts were so much fun as to be almost unbelievable, but the hanging around all day, sick in the stomach with nerves, grinding through another boring sound-check? That was just a hard slog. But it had to be done …
And here’s the Greatest Motivational Secret In The World (Hey, it made a good headline, OK?)…
FEAR IS A GREAT MOTIVATOR
Put a gun to my head and I will do pretty much anything you ask.
Plonk me in a strange land with three kids to feed and I will work like a dog to make it in my new country of residence.
Tell me that 500 tickets have sold for the next show and I will rehearse all week and stick through the sound-check until everything sounds perfect.
Why?
Fear – that’s why.
Fear of a bullet in the head. Fear of starvation. Fear of public humiliation.
Fear of whatever – it’s a kick up the pants every time for sure.
How I Got Out Of Cubicle Hell By Burning My Boats
Last year I was at the point where I just couldn’t handle it anymore – working for the man that is.
But the trouble was even though I was forever coming up with truly excellent business ideas, plans and even launches, I never seemed to make enough money to be able to let my depressing full or part time employment go.
Until I realized that I wasn’t making my own entrepreneurial exploits profitable because I just wasn’t concerned about money. I have reasonably low living expenses, and even with the family to support I could just work half or three-quarter time and scrape by comfortably enough. Therefore I would work on the 1% of business ideas, the creative, inspirational aspects of them, until it was time to crack into the 99% hard work part of the game, then I would just let it slide and move on to a new idea because I had enough money to get by on.
I am just not that motivated by money; I need stimulation. But the flip-side to this was the work-a-day jobs were eating away at my soul. I needed to do something to force the change…
Introducing – the Fear Factor
So what I did was I burned the boats – I quit my job and told myself that it was sink or swim time.
This scared the shit out of me because while I don’t care about money much I sure as hell can’t live without it – and I have a wife and daughter to support!
Well, now our business, SquareEyes, (which I run with Steve who also manages this blog with me) is starting to do really well and I put this down to the Fear Factor.
Every morning I sit down at my desk and I know that if I don’t hustle then there’s no money coming in next week. That makes me scared – and that fear motivates me.
There Are Many Ways To Motivate Yourself
The trick is finding which motivational technique works for you.
The reason I got to typing about this topic this morning is because I just got a copy of The Essential Motivation Handbook by Leo Babauta, of ZenHabits fame and my online mate, Eric Hamm of the excellent and popular Motivate Thyself blog.
I haven’t finished the book yet, as of writing, but it’s not the kind of book that you read straight through because after you read a page or two you get all revved up and ready to rock.
By this I mean this book is sure to make you want to get on with it; it will you motivate you to get out there and achieve your dreams and then some.
I know it certainly got me going this morning. It got me thinking about what inspires me to act; what gets me off my lazy butt and into top gear. It inspired me to write this post.
And hey – you may not agree with all of their techniques but some of them are sure to work for you.
For example Leo says that he likes to use public accountability to motivate himself, but for me this doesn’t work so well.
Don’t get me wrong – in my endeavors I find that a certain level of indirect public accountability comes into play: when you quit your job it suddenly becomes everybody’s business (I wouldn’t be surprised if my friends and family are secretly taking bets on whether or not SquareEyes succeeds or fails). But for the most part I have found that publicly announcing “I am going to do THIS” just leads to failure. I am not sure why but my guess is that I am just too secure in myself (and too used to public failure!) that I don’t really care what people think of me beyond being seen as a good-hearted, constructive and law-abiding father, partner, friend, relative and member of society.
What I am saying is I have an ego with skin as thick as a rhino! If I fail, I fail. So what? I won’t stay up at night caring what any one else thinks of that. It just doesn’t concern me.
So there you go – try out the Fear Factor – see if it works for you. And I heartily recommend you click our affiliate link and buy this awesome new eBook The Essential Motivation Handbook – it is sure to get you off your couch and pushing on towards success, especially on those days where you just. can’t. be. bothered.
In case you need further convincing here is a list of the chapters. I think you’ll find this fine tome is choc-a-block full of motivational goodness:
- How To Motivate Yourself
- The Only Two Secrets to Motivating Yourself You’ll Ever Need
- A Guide to Beating the Fears That Are Holding You Back
- Task Ninja: Form the Action Habit
- Top 20 Motivation Hacks
- The Ultimate Guide to Motivation – How to Achieve Any Goal
- Progress, Progress, Progress! 5 Tips To Keep You Moving Forward
- 7 Steps to Turn Your Self-Improvement Desires Into Reality
- 25 Killer Actions to Boost Your Self-Confidence
- 6 Small Things You Can Do When You Lack Discipline
- 16 Ways to Motivate Yourself When You’re in a Slump
- 5 Tips For Motivational Recovery
- The Magical Power of Focus
- 10 Ways to Beat the “Can’t Get No Satisfaction” Syndrome
- 30 Incredible Places to Turn When You Need Inspiration
- How To Deal With Negative Feedback
- How to Doggedly Pursue Your Dreams in the Face of Naysayers
- Achieve Your Dreams Despite Pressures of Work and Family
- Why You Should Celebrate Your Mistakes
- How to Actually Execute Your To-do List
- The Yin And Yang Of Persistence
- Enduring the Valley to Get to Success
- How To Relax And Why It’s So Important
- The Simple Guide To Single-Tasking Success
- Stop Reading About It and Do It
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