Day by Day

25.07.2020 |

Episode #9 of the course How to stay focused: Ten top hacks for motivation by K.C. Finn

 

There are many people who learn a great deal about motivation and maintaining focus and head off into next week with a strong plan of attack. It’s possible that they will have a huge week of confidence and energy-boosting motivation, only to find that they slump back into old habits quickly and lose focus as the days go by. Lesson Nine looks at the bigger picture, and how we can maintain focus in work over much longer periods of time.

 

The Theory

Motivation is ultimately a mindset or a perspective through which we approach not only work but every action of our lives in general. It is something that we have to cultivate as a natural element of our personality because not everyone is born a go-getter, but everyone can certainly become one with the right kind of practice. The theory behind today’s ideas is designed to keep you going and give you strategies to maintain the good habits that you may build from the lessons of this course until they become such a natural habit that you don’t have to remind yourself to stay focused.

It may seem far off now, but living a more focused and motivated life, in general, is something that you can certainly develop to a point where it becomes as easy as getting dressed in the morning. This is not to say that you will never run into adversity: such as moments of distraction, boredom, and struggle, but it is a pathway that allows you to reach those barriers and respond not with anger or frustration, but with a series of tools from your toolkit that you know you can pull out to overcome whatever is stopping you that day.

 

In Practice

Here are some essential tools for tackling the monotony and building day to day motivation:

Break down undesirable tasks into small daily chores rather than one big day of horror. Procrastination and putting things off can be a terrible pressure-building element of working life, so it’s better to do things that you dislike doing in small doses, and ensure that they are being achieved, rather than having them loom over you as the week draws on.

In contrast to this, you can also allocate specific days and times for specific types of work to help you switch focus and not get bored. Most people’s work will involve different types of correspondence, producing content and organizing data, so this gives you an opportunity to plan out your week in such a way that you don’t end up doing the same thing over and over again for hours on end.

Make a change when you find yourself struggling. In times when you find yourself listless and staring at a blank screen or a huge problem, take a moment to reassess the situation and look for opportunities for change. Whether this is in relation to physical space or methodological approach (as we’ve discussed in previous lessons) or whether it is simply to pause on this task and take on another for a while to give your brain a different way of thinking, it’s important to acknowledge that simply suffering through a task may not be the most productive way to get it done.

 

Reflection

As discussed earlier, daily motivation and long-term focus is not something that can be forced, but rather something which grows naturally out of good habits and promoting positive changes to your working lifestyle. The important message at the center must be an affirmation that you are making these changes, bit by bit. Regardless of where you are on this journey, every achievement is one to be celebrated, and every enactment of a good habit should be rewarded as a small step towards the greater goal.

In the final lesson of the course, we’ll learn how to combine all of the techniques that we’ve learned so far into a winning routine for optimum productivity and one that can be repeated day in, day out regardless of the size or difficulty of the task at hand.

Get ready for the Brain Boost Routine!

K.C.

 

Recommended reading

The Management 3.0 Blog does a great job of explaining the essential reminders that we need in order to make sure to stay motivated and attack each day with full energy and positivity. Check it out here.

 

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