How do I get motivated?

I was prompted to respond to a question submitted in a forum I subscribe to about getting back into a state of motivation following the holiday. The person submitting the comment / question was looking for other experiences as they were finding it difficult to get back into “work mode” and get motivated to take action.

My experience is often similar after holidays and Christmas. This year is seemed to be even more difficult than usual.

To move through it I find that taking a couple of days to just "allow" myself to be in this zone of "no specific action", yet thinking / reflecting about the next few months (not even meditating, just allowing my thoughts to go wherever they take me during the course of the day), begins to move me closer to being in action.

After those couple of days I take one day to just update some goals, clear out old paperwork, throw away old to-do lists that probably won't get handled anyway. Just this act of creating some plans and tidying up leads me to a place where I am motivated to plan the next 2 days, by time not tasks, and I plan everything, even getting up, breaks and going to bed.

So, for example, the plan this holiday actually looked like this:

6 - Up
6.30 - Write sales letter
7.45 - Shower & breakfast
9 - Travel (listen to Jack Canfield CD)
10 - Car service (read Catherine Ponder book while waiting)
12 - Travel home (listen to HWnW interview CD)
1 - Client preparation for tomorrow (sandwich lunch)
3 - Write letters to clear up financial incompletes
3.30 - Call GW, ML, CD
4 - Gym
5 - Shower & break
6 - Email, sync iPOD for podcasts, back up laptop
7 - Mastermind (2) call
8 - Plan for tomorrow
8.30 - Client preparation
9 - Client preparation
10 - End of day review
10.30 - Bed

By planning like this, instead of by a to-do list, I am focused on the time, not the task, thereby less likely to use my own very efficient "avoidance tactics" and revert to "vegging out" in front of another great movie, and much more likely to be in action all day. The important thing for me is that even if some of the tasks don't get completed, I am being focused again on working activities and because it is time oriented I can not move a task somewhere else because there is no time allowed for that. I have effectively backed myself into a corner to stay on track.

One more day like this and I hit the sack exhausted but fully back into normality so to speak, so I can then allow myself to be less intense about the planning knowing I'm back to where I need / want to be.


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