7 weird but working ways to motivate
Miscellaneous / / June 15, 2021
Put on sneakers, dance, find yourself a "double" and other non-trivial techniques for those who have already tried everything.
If you often read articles about motivation, you probably already know by heart tips like "set goals", "make lists", "praise yourself for achievements", "figure out your desires and values." These are all classic recommendations that can really help in stimulating activity if you have problems with this. But there are a few more ways, less trivial and more fun.
1. Enable YouTube
We all heard in childhood that it is impossible to do homework with the TV on. So, now you can. Only not with a TV, but with YouTube, where videos from the work with me series are playing at this moment - “Work with me”, study with me - “study with me” or clean with me - “do the cleaning together with me".
The authors of these videos turn on the camera and go about their business. One is working at a computer, the other is reading a book, someone is writing notes and doing homework, someone is putting things in order, and someone is even sketching a draft of the future
novel. And so on for several hours.You, being at home, turn on such a video - and you seem to have a partner with whom it is no longer so boring to cram foreign words or prepare a quarterly report. You watch, get infected with the atmosphere of productivity - and it becomes easier to get down to business. At least commentators under hundreds of similar videos are talking about just such an effect.
2. Put on sneakers
This is a trick from the cleaning system. FlyLady. Its author, housewife Marla Scilly, believes that as soon as you put on any lace-up shoes, you automatically set yourself up for work. Lace-up shoes cannot be thrown off like house slippers, so you won't be able to immediately fall on the bed to lie down, taking time off from work - around the house or any other.
Also, Marla Scilly insists on having to brush her hair, put herself in order, and for women - also to do makeup and styling, even if there are no plans to leave the house. It helps to be more collected and motivated: here, I am already at the parade, it is somehow uncomfortable to lie on the couch like this all day and look at the phone.
3. Sing and dance
Results from one small studyJ. Hutabarat, S. Soeparman. Influence of singing dancing during a rest break towards productivity and product quality / World Applied Sciences Journal in Indonesia showed that employees who were asked to sing and dance during a break perform more productively and energetically than those who were not encouraged to do so.
How one is connected with the other is not known exactly. Perhaps, dance, like any physical activity, allows you to cheer up, "disperse the blood" and get a portion of endorphins. And the songs just cheer up.
4. Do the cleaning
Clutter leads to the fact that our attention is not focused solely on work, but is diffusedS. McMains, S. Kastner. Interactions of top-down and bottom-up mechanisms in human visual cortex / The Journal of Neuroscience on a dozen items that are not in their places.
And people surrounded by chaos are more likely to procrastinate.J. R. Ferrari, C. A. Roster. Delaying disposing: examining the relationship between procrastination and clutter across generations / Current Psychology and spendYour office isn’t big enough for clutter and productivity / Entrepreneur almost a week a year to find things lost in the mess.
Light cleaning will definitely make the main activity easier and more comfortable. To neat, beautiful workplace I want to approach much more than to the one filled with cups and littered with papers.
5. To dream
Dreamers are considered very lazy and unproductive guys: they supposedly do nothing, but only hover in the clouds. Sometimes this is true. But scientists believeB. Baird, J. Smallwood, M. D. Mrazek, et al. Inspired by distraction: mind wandering facilitates creative incubation / Psychological Sciencethat dreams can still be useful. They increase our productivity, make us more motivated and result-oriented.
6. Take a cold shower
For some, this method is more likely to scare than motivate. And yet researchG. A. Buijze, I. N. Sierevelt, B. C. J. M. van der Heijden, et al. The effect of cold showering on health and work: a randomized controlled trial / PLOS ONE show: employees who took cold showerfeel more productive at work. And they also have reduced the number of sick leave.
7. Find a "double"
When someone watches how we work, study or do some other business, it is somehow uncomfortable to be distracted, lazy and procrastinate.
But an adult usually has no one above his soul, and sometimes there is a lack of such a person. Therefore, you can find yourself a partner to work together, study or play sports and meet in person or by video link to help each other stay motivated and concentrated.
Thanks to a little social pressure, a person has a sense of responsibility, it becomes more difficult to skip, things are moving forwardThe Science Behind Focusmate / Focusmate more efficiently and faster, motivation grows.
This approach is calledL. Anderson. The body double: a unique tool for getting things done / Attention Deficit Disorder Association body double and became popular during the pandemic and the general lockdown.
To find a "double", you can use a special service Focusmate, which will select a partner automatically and start a 50-minute work session. True, this requires minimal knowledge. english and $ 5 a month.
Those who are not ready to communicate with strangers in a foreign language or pay money for the opportunity to work can try to throw a cry in social networks and look for "doubles" among their friends. Or take a look at productivity-related communities.
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