Get Motivated Stay Motivated

Its the Christmas season once again and it means we’ll be moving on to another year.  New year always give us a hope, new goals, and a lot of reason to change.  We even make new year’s resolution for the whole year round.  But do we really accomplish these resolutions?  How many of these resolutions have you achieved?

Having new year’s resolutions can actually be considered a form of procrastination.  Why do we have to wait for a new year to make these goals and achieve them?  To start losing weight, stop smoking, stop procrastinating, save money, etc. can always be done anytime of the year.  The start of the year is just an excuse for us to procrastinate.  If your new year’s resolution is to start losing weight, wouldn’t it be better to start before the holidays?  That way, you can already control your diet when the holiday comes given that there would be more celebrations or get-togethers.

If we have something to change in ourselves, i.e. getting rid of bad habits, let’s not wait for the new year to come.  New year may be an opportunity for us to change but let us remember that it can also be a form of procrastination – which in essence is already a bad habit.

Even if we say that our new year’s resolution is to have these goals already achieved, the thing is that we’ll have an excuse to achieve these goals by the end of the year – just before the new year – although we can actually achieve it earlier.

There is nothing wrong with the new year’s resolution thing.  It could be fun actually.  But some of us make it a reason to procrastinate; to make an excuse not to achieve their goals.

As mentioned in this blog, one way to get motivated and stay motivated is to put your goals in a piece of paper and paste/hang it on your wall.  This will remind you of your goals and will motivate you to work on it.  Another thing is to post a motivating poster, picture, or painting in your wall or put it in a place where you can easily see it.  Something that would brighten up your day as you wake up, or make you smile when you feel sad, keep you calm when you are tensed, and motivate you not to quit when you feel like giving up.

Maybe you have seen some motivational posters in the internet already.  I just found a website, Bighugelabs.com, where you can create your own customized motivational poster.  All you have to do is prepare a nice photo, and motivational message.  Then upload your photo on their website and just fill up the form for your title and motivational message. Here is the layout of the poster:

Wouldn’t it be nice to put your photo, your loved one’s photo, maybe your pet, or anything that will motivate you?  Then write your own motivational message or quotes on it, and then it might just make your day.

Procrastination is most prevalent when we have a big deadline to beat.  We only become “more productive” when this deadline is approaching.  We’re lucky enough if we did a good job and finished it on time. But what happens most is not being able to finish our task.  Most of the times we may finish it but the quality of our work might be in question.

Though some people prefer to do their job a day or hours before the big deadline, it is still not safe to assume that it is better that way.  By doing that, you are taking a risk.  If that task is related to your work, then you are taking risk of your job.  If you are working with a team, you are not only taking risk for yourself but for your teammates as well.  That would also risk your working and professional relationship with them.

A good way to avoid procrastinating over your task is to set up your own series of mini-deadlines.  First, divide your tasks into smaller ones. Then for each part of your tasks, set a deadline.  By dividing your tasks, it will be easier for you to do each small part which will be more motivating to work on.  Doing smaller tasks will not lure you to procrastinate.  Instead, you’ll be able to finish your whole task just before the big deadline comes.

Just be sure to beat your mini-deadlines though.  There is no reason for you not to beat your mini-deadlines because your tasks have been divided into smaller parts already.  Then, always put an allowance in setting your mini-deadlines.  You should be able to finish the last part days before the big deadline.  With lesser chances of procrastination, you should be able to finish your task early, giving you an extra time to do other things even those that are not related to your work without any worries of some unfinished task.