Way too many of us are all, “Ooh, I love this, gotta go, go, go, do, do, do–uh oh, did I say ‘do?’ As in for real? Crap.”
Yeah, motivation can be a bummer. Here are some ways to get yourself started:
by Kristin Wong
You have a brilliant idea for a project. You’ve talked about it, planned it to death, analyzed your options—yet nothing has come of it. It’s time to stop talking about that project and actually do it. Here’s how.
We’re assuming you know how to find time in your schedule, but you’re still stuck. Maybe you’ve got analysis paralysis. Maybe you’re great at doing stuff for other people, but terrible about starting your own projects. It could be a book you want to write, a web site you want to launch, or a side business you’d like to get off the ground. Here are some steps you can take to stop planning that project and finally get it going.
Find out what motivates you
Before anything, it helps to understand what motivates you, and what doesn’t. We’ve talked about the four types of motivation personalities. To recap:
- Questioners: They must completely understand expectations to follow them.
- Obligers: They’re great at meeting other people’s expectations, but bad at meeting their own.
- Rebels: They resist all expectations.
- Upholders: They’re great at keeping any and all expectations.
When you understand how you’re motivated, you can better manage your project because you know what to focus on. For example, if you’re a questioner, then maybe analysis
is very important to you. In that case, rather than analyze your project as a whole, break it up into smaller chunks, analyze one chunk at a time, and get started on it. This way, you’re still analyzing your expectation enough to follow it, but you’re not paralyzed by too much information.If you’re an obliger, you might need to involve other people with your project. This way, you have an external expectation you feel obligated to meet, even if it’s just friends keeping you accountable.
Knowing your motivation type gives you an idea of which of these methods will work best.