When it comes to success, there is one key component that may be more important than even such factors as talent, intelligence, money or connections.
That elusive piece of the puzzle is motivation. After all, without motivation, nothing can be accomplished. You won’t reach your goals or meet your self-imposed deadlines without the motivation to take action toward them.
Unfortunately, that motivation is often what is lacking in the fulfillment of desires.
How To Improve Productivity And Motivation To Get More Done
We all have lists of things we hope to accomplish. These lists contain big goals, daily tasks and everything in between. Learning how to increase your motivation will boost the likelihood of checking more items off your list.
Let’s take a look at the science of motivation and the ways to harness it to your advantage.
An Improved Approach to Motivation
Author Dan Pink writes in his best-selling book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, that there are three components of motivation that compel individuals to get things done.
His premise is that the traditional method of motivating ourselves and others using a carrots and sticks type of reward system is ineffective.
Instead, he argues that the scientific approach to understanding the makeup of motivation provides a far better lens from which to view the subject. By understanding the factors that tangibly affect motivation, we can then develop strategies to increase it.
Three Elements of Motivation
The three elements of motivation Pink discusses in his book are autonomy, value and competence. It is these components, according to researchers, that drive people to become motivated.
Autonomy
Autonomy refers to the amount of control or independence one feels over a task or action.
It has been shown that when you feel that you have a significant amount of input regarding that task, you are more likely to follow through to completion.
Value
The second component of motivation, value, is the amount of personal significance or importance you place on a matter.
In essence, if something matters to you on a personal level, you will feel more motivation to take it on than if you are simply given an assignment to which you feel no connection.
Competence
Competence has been found to come from an individual’s feeling of mastery as it relates to practice and hard work, not necessarily to one’s natural abilities.
If you spend time developing competence toward a particular goal, it is predicted that you will be more motivated to complete said goal.
Strategies to Increase Motivation
Now that you have an understanding of what matters most with regard to what motivates us, it’s time to consider some strategies to increase motivation.
Using the concept of autonomy as a guide, let’s consider ways to add a sense of control or involvement into activities that need to be completed. One way to do this is to take ownership of a chore or add some aspect of self-direction to it.
If you are having difficulty starting a project such as submitting a paper for review, it may help to think of all the ways doing so will set you apart as an expert in your field. In doing so, you’ll see that turning in the paper is a necessary component to sharing your unique views with your colleagues.
To add value to your task, you want to make it meaningful or personal. Find a way to add purpose to that item on your to-do list. This involves changing your perspective or the way you look at that item.
Completing your taxes is a dreaded chore for most of us, but you can add purpose to it by focusing on the work you’ve done that comprises the numbers on the page or the contribution you’ve made to your job and community through your efforts.
Paying taxes is a symbol of good citizenry.
Finally, there’s competence. Feeling mastery over an act requires practice. Try to look at the job at hand as one in which you are working toward an end goal of skillfulness.
For instance, you’ll soon see the treadmill as less of an adversary the more workout sessions you endure. So, along with the ultimate goal of getting fit, you’ll soon see each session become easier, leading to a feeling of accomplishment.
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Best Ways to Improve Your Motivation Fast
Sometimes you need to get started on a project right away. Maybe you’ve been procrastinating for days, or even weeks, and now you’re down to the wire on an unforgiving deadline.
The threat of not completing the job on time should be enough to motivate you to get moving, right?
Wrong. Often, even knowing the consequences that exist for not completing a task aren’t enough to push us forward. Fortunately, there are some tangible steps you can take in order to give yourself a boost when your usual routine isn’t working.
Keep reading for some of the best ways to improve your motivation fast. Adding even a few of these to your bag of tricks may help you to overcome that slump when you need a motivational jumpstart.
Look Ahead
One way to convince your brain that an activity is worth starting is to look ahead to the end result. Think about the money you’ll make a from a freelance gig, the feeling of satisfaction you’ll get from handing in your portion of the monthly report to a nagging co-worker or the freedom to begin your two-week semester break when your last paper is submitted.
No matter what the project, visualizing the result of your efforts can improve your focus and motivation. Consider adding an actual visual such as a photo, magazine clipping or other image to motivate you.
Get Moving
If you’re feeling sleepy or even restless, you won’t be able to focus on that pressing task. A solution can be to move your body. Exercise has been shown to increase mental clarity and decrease stress, just the combination for working on a complex project with a looming deadline.
Taking a brisk walk or heading to the gym for a quick step aerobics class on your lunch hour can be just enough of a jolt to get you in prime thinking mode. Be careful not to overdo it or you’ll be too exhausted to do much of anything.
Take a Rest
It’s also possible that a quick rest can restore your clear thinking. If your brain is feeling cloudy or your thoughts are cloudy, a short nap or 20 minutes of meditation might be a better course of action than exercise.
Put your head down on your desk or stretch out on the sofa in your office for 10 or 20 minutes. When you wake up from this power nap, you should be feeling rejuvenated and ready to work.
Listen to Music
Upbeat tunes might be a solution that leads you to start tapping your toes and feeling more alert. If you are able to work with background noise, you can keep the music going. Perhaps changing to a mellower playlist or instrumental songs might be a better option for you than fast beats.
If you require silence in order to concentrate, put on just a few of your favorites to shift your mood, and then get to work.
Start Small
A method that is often successful in tricking the mind to move on a task is to start with a small portion of the whole. Using the above example of the monthly report, you might wish to begin by gathering your data and other supplies necessary for completing the job.
This small action can put you in the right mindset to keep working on the rest. Getting started truly is half the battle.
Motivation is not always easy to come by. However, with this knowledge of the science behind it, you can now pursue the steps required to achieve your dreams more effectively.
Soon you’ll be mastering your goals, which will fuel your motivation toward future endeavors.
These suggestions can, and should, be tailored to fit your personality, preferences and lifestyle. Experiment a bit. Use the ones that work for you, and throw out the rest. You’ll likely be surprised by the significant effect a simple action can have on your productivity.