How Do I Motivate Myself?

Often, when you are your own boss, it can be difficult to motivate yourself to get started each day. I have found that myself, and it is obviously important to motivate yourself if you want to succeed at anything, but particularly if you want to succeed at being your own boss. So, how do I motivate myself?

I motivate myself in several different ways.

But I would say the most important thing to be aware of is that motivation does not normally come before you start doing something, it comes as a result of doing something.

So, for me, the most important thing isn't feeling motivated to get a whole project done, or a year's worth of work, or a month's worth of work, or a week's worth of work, or even a day's worth of work.

For me, the most important thing is simply getting started doing anything at all toward my goal.

How Do I Motivate Myself?

The first thing I do is I don't wait to feel motivated. I just start. But in order to not feel too overwhelmed to start, I use a little secret called the Pomodoro Method.

What is the Pomodoro Method?

The pomodoro method is a very simple method to focus yourself on the task at had for at least a breif period of time. Traditionally, this period of time is 25 minutes. You can set it to whatever amount of time you with, but 25 minutes works perfectly for me.

All you do is set a timer (perhaps on your phone) for 25 minutes and focus on nothing but the task at hand for that 25 minutes. No facebook, no twitter, no checking your texts, no tv. Nothing but the task at hand.

Once that 25 minutes is over, you set your timer for 5 minutes. During this 5 minutes, you can do any of that other stuff you put off while you were focussing. Check facebook, check twitter, check your texts. Whatever you want. But just for 5 minutes. Then you move on to another 25 minutes of focus time, and another 5 minute break. Wash, rinse, repeat.

What if I still don't feel motivated?

If you still don't feel motivated, you might not be doing the right thing with your time. Perhaps you need to re-evaluate how you want to spend your time.

If you want to be your own boss, you are going to need to make sure that the work you do is something you are interested in for its own sake. Especially because this is no get-rich-quick scheme.

What about you? What do you do to motivate yourself? Please answer in the comments below.