So I see a lot of posts on forums, such as Reddit’s r/productivity, from users describing a lack of motivation to really do anything. A simple task often overwhelms many. Which should not be the case, right? When we get overwhelmed, and our motivation wanes, we often become unproductive. And when we’re unproductive, our performance suffers. I want you all to consider the following and think about intrinsic motivation for a bit and how it affects your own productivity:
Motivation is a fuel, like gasoline, that contributes to providing the energy required for work. Every day your “Motivational Fuel Tank” that holds your motivation sits at a level between Empty and Full. You can probably see that when your tank is empty, you’re going to be out of that motivational fuel, and nothing is going to happen as far as work is concerned. In essence, you become unproductive. But the opposite is also possible if your tank is full. By that I mean that you have a full Motivational Fuel Tank, but still lack the “energy required to complete the task(s). When that happens, we have to look at the actual capacity of your Motivational Fuel Tank. Let’s say that the regular motivation tank in the average human can hold 100L of that motivation fuel. Yours however can only hold 10L. The capacity is just so low, that you do not have the energy to complete “simple” tasks, and you begin to feel exhausted. And then slowly you feel overwhelmed because you’re stuck on the highway of life, pulled over on the side watching everyone driving on by in these super charged vehicles.
So now that we understand this, how do we improve our capacity for work and our intrinsic motivation? We can either increase the capacity of your tank to hold more fuel, or we can use some strategies to use the fuel that you already have. Both of these solutions actually go hand in hand. Your capacity for motivation/work will improve based on experience. It’s like learning a new skill. Let’s be realistic here. When you first start anything you’re going to be complete ass at it. But over time, as you learn from your mistakes and refine your skills you begin to improve. That same principle applies to improving your levels of intrinsic motivation. Next, we need to be able to use the fuel that you already have properly. One simple strategy we can use is to limit the amount of tasks that you “have to do”. When we throw so many tasks into the wind, and we lack the ability and capacity to work on them, we begin to slowly develop task avoidance and fatigue. You begin to get stuck and some of you turn to self help guru’s and productivity coaches, asking for advice on how to stop being lazy and to “kickstart” your performance. It doesn’t work like that. So, to avoid this scenario here’s what I recommend that you do:
1. Pick 3 simple tasks that you can do per day, and 1 complex task. Example: brushing my teeth (simple), cooking/eating breakfast (simple), reading a book for 30 minutes (complex).
2. Slowly add 1 simple task per day after a week. After 3 weeks you will have added 6 simple daily tasks. When that happens, add another complex task (1 complex task added for 3 simple tasks).
3. After a month, you will be completing 6 simple tasks and 2 complex tasks per day. That’s a total of 42 simple tasks and 14 complex tasks per week.
Over time, your capacity for work improves. You gain experience and competence. Your Motivational Fuel Tank is growing, and you have more energy to do more work.
Another helpful technique is to sort out when you want to work on the tasks. If you have 10L of fuel in the morning, work on your complex or difficult tasks then. Generally, they will require more energy and use something like 5-6L of fuel at a time, so work on them when you feel fresh. And the great thing about your Motivational Fuel, you don’t have to pay to fill up the tank. Watch a show, hangout with friends, do something that satisfies you emotionally and mentally, and your tank will reset back to 10L or to “Full” and you can go back and work on whatever other tasks remain while feeling refreshed.
I hope my analogies and oversimplifications can help you. To anyone that is struggling with really doing anything, feeling burnt out or unmotivated for anything, then I recommend you talk to a licensed professional counsellor or therapist. They will be more educated and experienced to provide you with strategies and interventions than users on Reddit or self help gurus in my humble opinion.
Until next time,
~ Sandeep
Featured image copyright Takehiko Inoue, from the manga Vagabond.