I'm curious!!

How do you motivate yourself!?
What methods do you use!?
How do you manage your time!?

Gave up a while ago.....

although before my last set of exams i had a picture of my brother in his graduate gown on my desk.

Must beat him, must beat him!

Although the odd times i do do work it is generally as i lie on my bed...inbetween the end of neighbours and the beginning of the simpsons...

I don't, I discovered a long time ago that the more I tried to 'motivate' myself the less I actually got done.

Nowadays if something requires doing (irrespective of whether I actually want to do it or not) the easiest thing to do is just do it and get it out of the way.

:)

I just go "oh sod it let's get whatever over and done with"

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I have a set of medium term objectives that go in a notepad - these are general things, almost directions to go in in life.

I then look at my week ahead every Sunday and try and get my week planned around doing what's important based around those objectives.

Daily time manegement is down to what needs doing that day - basic lists and carrying stuff from one day to the next, or binning stuff that's just not important.

I try and avoid being panicked in to stuff - poor planning on someone else's part doesn't make a crisis for me... :) (David Brent?? )

Seriously - there's a book called 'First Things First' that is very good.

First Things First
What The World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently
By Stephen R. Covey, A. Roger Merrill,
Rebecca R. Merrill
Published by Simon & Schuster, First Fireside Edition 1995
ISBN 0-671-86441-6 Paperback ISBN 0-684-80203-1
373 pages


The same author produced 'The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People' is a good book. There's a summary here :

http://www.profitadvisors.com/7habitlist.shtml

Finally, I became a Jedi Knight.....Jedi = Just 'effing Do It!

Joe :)

I just bribe myself.

Do the laundry and you can sit in the garden with a beer after.

Do the cardio workout and you can have half an hour in the steam room after.

Do the housework and you can go to the pub after.

Works for me, I can always think of something I like to do after the thing I don't want to do.

Work to a list. I have one on my kitchen door that tells me what I've got to do and when for. IE - Lit essay due in Friday, compile notes on Wed, write the first two pages, complete thursday. Then cross off each stage. Try not to leave it until the last minute, but working in stages and to an agenda makes me feel good when I get to cross off everything I've done.

Set yourself a bit of competition, but keep it to yourself, you don't want to seem like a big head/cocky person! Similar to the idea of the Graduate Bro, set a realistic target and work like mad to beat them! My target used to be a girl in primary school who put me down and said I'd never get anywhere with my life. I've already left her for dust but I'll never forget what she said and she must have said it over 10 years ago!

Treat yourself! Similar to the bribe theory, if you know you've got something good coming to you, you might get on with it!!! My typical example is: I work on my coursework for a few hours after tea, then I get to spend 30 mins on Sheffield Forum!! yay! Tomorrow I'm off to the hairdressers to be pampered and I'm saving up to have a facial at Virgin Spa for my next treat (After RE-sit results day!)

Anyways, they are my ideas! So long as you get it done it doesn't matter how you do it!

It's good to have a goal, particularly for financial stuff. If you decide on something you want, then plan a realistic time to save up for it, and watch yourself get closer and closer to the target. Consider borrowing money to be cheating. You save for it - then it's yours!

My problem is stuff where there's no tangible goal, like housework. Your reward for doing it today is more of it tomorrow. Now what's the point of that!?!

It depends what for Jamie, I don't have to motivate myself for work (when I do I know it could be time for change) but Like Rich said i'm one of those that just get on with things and think sod it there are worst things.

Originally posted by nick2
I just bribe myself.

Do the laundry and you can sit in the garden with a beer after.

Do the cardio workout and you can have half an hour in the steam room after.

Do the housework and you can go to the pub after.

Works for me, I can always think of something I like to do after the thing I don't want to do.

Yep, it works well for things you really hate doing.

I work for myself so anything work wise I have to do...... or I don't eat and will have to live in a box.

Anything else then I'm great at putting it off or taking the easy way out e.g. hate doing housework and gf objects to doing it all so now pay a cleaner to come round every week :)

I've read Covey's 'Seven Habits of Highly Effective People' Joe, it was a good read and I took what I felt worked best for me from it. Not read his other books though.



I also work for myself and here's what I (try to) do ...

I create a work environment that is pleasant, uncluttered and 'disrtaction free'. I think cutting down on distractions is v important if you want to stay focused.

I have my agenda's and task lists on my PC and mobile device, but when if comes to actually sitting down and doing the work, I will transfer these to paper (so I get the joy of 'ticking' with my pencil).



However, I guess the big issue for me is that I am way too easily distracted and find it difficult to stay focused on something unless I am really really in to it.

The work I do (developing / programming video games) is good once I get stuck in, I actually like it, but the difficult bit for me is getting the ball rolling.

It's quite technical work, and one thing I'm discovering is that it's much more enjoyable (and effective) if I spend time analysing and looking at problems from different angles and then thinking how best to solve problems ... before actually jumping in and attempting a 'quick fix'.

I'm often up against quite complex technical problems. So for me, it's about staying calm and breaking everything down in to logical bite-sized chunks / getting everything in a logical order ... *before* actually jumping in and starting the work !!

When I attempt to do the work (i.e. start coding) before I've got it all sorted out in my head, I invariably run in to problems.

Does that make sense to anyone (apart from me) !?

To avoid procrastination, I work to a "to do list"

A list top priority.
B next.
C lowest.

I'm having serious problems with motivation at the moment! I've been so bl**dy lazy just lately! I never used to have a problem with Uni work in the past but with jobs to do around the house I'm terrible! Occasionally I'm good with the "Work now, play later" process: "Do the dishes now and I can watch the footy later" type of thing. But lately I've been a nightmare for putting lots of things off. I might have to try a basic "To do list" like this suggested by micksheff:

A list top priority.
B next.
C lowest.

Instead of the long list I currently have where nothing is getting done!

Plus the 'The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People' book sounds interesting. But then I'm really good at reading the books but then cr*p at putting the theories into practice! Oh dear!

I make a list a of things I have to do and then add on some things I have already done, so I can cross several items off my list before I start, and it gets me motivated (does this make any sense)

I usually think about what would happen if I DIDN'T do something. Then think about which set of consequences would be more painful.

That usually gets me off my rear.

Sometimes, just telling yourself you only have to do something for 15 minutes. (like Flylady) Once I get into a task, I often find it's not as bad as I imagined, so I just go ahead and finish it.

:) Sierra

Originally posted by Sierra
Once I get into a task, I often find it's not as bad as I imagined, so I just go ahead and finish it.

Yeah, I find that too Sierra.

Right now, I'm looking at how best to do the list thing.

I've got several project lists for the stuff I'm working on. I can then draw from these and create my task list for that day. Then it's just a case of getting stuck in and ticking the items off as I complete.

However, I guess the big issue for me is that I am way too easily distracted and find it difficult to stay focused on something unless I am really really in to it.

Jamie,

Here's what you need - I work from home too and it stops all those little things that keep distracting you.

http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=38576&pageno=6

Rob