7 WAYS … TO STAY MOTIVATED

“Do what you love.” Weve all heard this before. Its great advice, though not many people truly take it to heart. But sometimes doing what you love isnt enough to keep you going. Inspiration, passion, and motivation are difficult things to hold on to. They always seem to slip away right when you need them most.

You know that feeling. Where youre that close to finishing a project, or achieving a goal, or crossing a task off your to-do list … but you just cant muster the energy. Youve lost interest. Youre exhausted. Drained. And you dont know why.

Thats burnout. Its something many of us are all too familiar with. Id like to share with you a few ways that I fight burnout – or prevent it from catching me in the first place.

1. Achieve in increments. When you only focus on a big goal someday, its easy to get burned out by the daily grind. Its like driving toward a mountain in the distance. You can drive for hours, but the mountain doesnt seem to get any closer. And spinning your wheels gets real tiring real fast.

The solution is to give yourself a way to measure and record every little step forward you take. Heres how:

Get a journal, notebook, or calendar. Writing things down is important. Identify milestones on the road towards your goal.If youre writing a book, you could treat each chapter as one milestone. Or, even better, treat each 500 words or 1000 words as a milestone.

If milestones arent obvious, create them. For example, if youre training for a marathon, hold yourself to a progression of distance. If you start out running at your maximum distance, youll plateau very quickly. Instead, start at a shorter distance – even if its very easy for you – then work your way up slowly.

Track milestones in a simple, visual format. Think of the progress bar on a download. One glance tells you exactly how much progress has been made. The format you choose doesnt need to be detailed or comprehensive. It just needs to show that youre moving forward day by day.

Learn to appreciate the little accomplishments. Let yourself enjoy the feeling of getting things done.

2. Train your muse. One of the biggest myths about inspiration that its random. One day youre inspired and motivated, the next day youre burned out – and theres no way around it. Or so they say.

In fact, inspiration is just like any other skill. It may start out as unreliable, but it can be trained and developed into something you can rely on.

So how do you train your muse? The best way Ive found is immersion. Surround yourself with things that inspire you and reflect your goals. Great composers listen to music. Great authors read voraciously. Great marketers attend seminars. Great productivity-ists subscribe to Zen Habits. And so on. Immersion trains your mind to work efficiently in the ways you need it to.

The more that your inspiration becomes a part of your life, the less likely it is to run out when you need it most. With that in mind, be creative. What ways can you connect with your inspiration on a daily basis?

3. Work less. Cut down on the amount of energy and time you spend working. If you have sick days or vacation days left, take advantage of them. Or, if youre self-employed, force yourself to work fewer hours each day – even if that means turning down new projects.

Working less doesnt mean you have to slack off or get less done. It does mean that you:

Eliminate unnecessary tasks.
Take strategic breaks.
Stop multi-tasking.
Seek help from other people.

4. Define success realistically. Theres absolutely nothing wrong with having big dreams and big ambitions. But if youre constantly frustrated by a lack of progress, it might be time to take a step back and examine your goals. Are they achievable? Are you holding yourself to a reasonable timeline?

Heres a good way to do this. Get a piece of paper and write down your big, ambitious goal. Then write down at least 10 specific, concrete steps that will allow you to achieve that goal. Be as detailed as possible. If you cant come up with a series of down-to-earth steps to get you from here to your dream, thats a sign that you need to either redefine your goals or rethink the way youre pursuing those goals.

5. Get more sleep. Youve heard this before, I know. So have I. But that didnt stop me from going against my better judgment and tiring myself out by staying up late to work. Getting enough sleep takes a conscious decision – and, just like any good habit, takes time to develop.

One of the biggest barriers for me in this area is procrastination. I have a tendency to put things off throughout the day, then stay up later as a result. Whats keeping you from getting the rest you need?

6. Take it slow(er). The world tells us to rush things: “Get there faster. Make money quicker. Retire sooner.” And while these things arent necessarily bad, they can easily get us in over our heads. If youre feeling burned out and overwhelmed, its time to slow down.

A few ways to take yourself out of 24/7 high gear:

Spend at least 10 minutes a day in a quiet place, away from distractions. Breathe.
Put together a playlist of slow, relaxing music. Listen to it whenever you start feeling frazzled.
Take a butcher knife to your to-do list. Set a limit to the number of tasks you take on each day and stick to it.
Extend your deadlines. Do you absolutely, positively have to get this done now? Just remember – this isnt an excuse to procrastinate.

7. Get a second opinion. Its hard to spot burnout from the inside. Your close friends and family are likely to identify the signs of burnout long before you do. So listen to what theyre saying. The next time your spouse, parent, or best friend tells you youre working too hard, take it seriously.

7 WAYS … TO STAY MOTIVATED by Jeffrey Tang, via Zen Habits. Get more inspiration from Jeffrey Tang at his blog, The Art of Great Things, or subscribe to his feed.