5 Ways To Be Productive Without Motivation
Motivation is like being pumped up on caffeine. When you start a new goal it is easy to stay driven, but in the long term it is not sustainable. With every high there is always a crash.
Motivation gets you past the start line, but you shouldn’t rely on it to take you to the end of the race. This is because it requires energy — if you try to maintain it for too long you will burn out.
Do not rely on yourself to stay motivated. The only way to keep going in the long term is to create an environment that allows you to stay productive. Here are five ways to foster a productive environment.
1. Make a Schedule
To accomplish any sizeable goal you will need to make regular progress over a long period of time. The only way to stay on track is to build a schedule, but don’t just build any schedule. Develop one that cultivates meaningful progress and is easy to stick to. Follow these two rules:
Be Specific
Planning the days you will work is not enough. You should also:
- Set a start and end time and a duration. Timeboxing your sessions will prevent you from procrastinating. With the pressure of time you will be forced to increase your efficiency so you can get your tasks done early. The risk of not limiting your hours is that, according to Parkinson’s law, “work expands to fill the time allotted.” No one wants to work around the clock. Practice getting done more in less time.
- Decide what you want to accomplish within that time period, and be certain these tasks are helping you progress towards your goal. Work for the sake of work is useless. Don’t just schedule work sessions. Ask yourself how each task is helping you move forward, and if it is the most important task to be doing.
Be Consistent
Once you have your ideal schedule, you need to stick to it. Most people think this requires discipline, but this is exhausting.
Discipline is only useful in the short term. In the long term you need to develop habits because they are effortless. How do you develop habits? Consistency.
Try and do your work during the same days at the same time for the same duration. Over time you will begin to associate those hours with work, making it harder to skip a session.
2. Make Lists
Deciding what you want to work on is important, but you need to write it down to ensure it gets done. Here are some reasons why lists encourage productivity:
Stay Focused
Having a list of tasks you want to accomplish during your pre-scheduled work session helps you focus. Don’t be overwhelmed by everything that needs to get done in the long term, just look at what needs to be done today.
Get Rewarded
When you run out of your internal motivation, you need something else to keep you on track. Every time you check an item off your list you will be hit with dopamine, making you feel happier.
Prioritize
Lists allow you to prioritize. When tasks aren’t prioritized, we will naturally do the easiest task first. Completing these may be better than doing nothing, but they consume the time needed for doing the more important tasks.
If you get addicted to checking off items on your list, working on harder or more time-consuming tasks first may be difficult. You get to check off less items for the same amount of work. The workaround is to divide each larger item into a set of subtasks. This will give you more items to check-off to refuel your dopamine, and will make the task easier to complete. You should still look at the bigger picture periodically to ensure you are still on track, but focusing on the smaller steps will reduce your stress.
2. Do It Now
If you can do something in under 10 minutes, do it now. Scheduling menial tasks for later requires more effort than just doing the task. Do it now. Right now. Your to-do list will look cleaner and you will have the piece of mind knowing it is done.
2. Hold Yourself Accountable
If you have a 9–5 job you are very unlikely to skip work simply because you aren’t feeling motivated that day. People are waiting for you to show up, and being absent could cause you to loose your job.
If you skip a day progressing towards your personal goals, no one is there to punish you. The consequences feel lower, so it becomes easier to push it aside.
You may have intrinsic motivation to some extent, meaning that you do not rely on external rewards to keep showing up. Being intrinsically motivated is a powerful tool, but to some extent we are all effected by external forces. Relying on yourself alone to stay accountable can be risky.
To keep you going, add consequences for whenever you miss a session at progressing your goal. Hold yourself accountable by telling other people about your goal, specifically those close to you or someone whose opinion matters to you. Someone who lives with you is also ideal. They will see if you are sticking to your plans or not regardless of whether you tell them.
The Buddy Method
If telling someone your goal is not enough, you can increase the accountability by finding someone who is also starting a new goal. Schedule a time each week to check in with each other and talk about what you both accomplished.
Saying you did nothing that week when they stuck to all their commitments is embarrassing. You don’t have to find motivation from within — use this fear of embarrassment as fuel to keep going.
The buddy method is even more effective if you can find someone progressing towards a very similar goal. You can learn from each others mistakes, and even work together. If your goal is to get in shape, schedule gym sessions with them. You may bail on yourself if you want to sleep in, but you would not want your friend to be stood up.
It is easy to give up on our goals when our motivation runs dry, but no sizeable goals are accomplished on internal desire alone. Don’t be the person who gives up on the days when they lack internal encouragement. Don’t just support yourself, set yourself up for success by creating an environment that supports you.
