Susan Payton: How to Motivate Yourself to Get Sh#% Done!

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As I write this, I’m bleary from a delicious brunch and the afternoon sun warming up my office. There’s nothing I’d like more than to take a long, luxurious nap. But alas, there’s work to be done.

Can you relate?

We micropreneurs often have no one besides ourselves to hold us accountable. After all, who’s to stop us from shutting down our computers and spending the day at the beach? Or having a beer in the middle of the afternoon? (Two things which, I assure you, I have never, ever done. Ahem.)

Sometimes we just need strategies to help keep us on track. Here are my own personal tips for self-motivation.

1. Get Up and Shake It Off

You’re nearly comatose, and those numbers are dancing around your screen. Get up, stretch, and walk around. Maybe grab a coffee. You’re not procrastinating if you take a short break, and the interruption from the lulling activity you were doing can help you reset and refocus.

What Not to Do: Drive to Starbucks, sure that you’ll work just fine there. Then plop down and read your Facebook stream for two hours.

2. Put It on Your Calendar

I look terribly organized to other people, but it’s only because the second I get a task, I put it on my calendar. My Google Calendar looks like colorful confetti, what with my color-coded tasks of varying size filling up my week. I get a ping on my computer, via email, and on my phone, so there’s no possibility of ignoring it.

What Not to Do: Put tasks on your calendar and then not check it. If you’re a paper agenda kind of gal, use that. Just find a system that you can rely on to stay organized.

3. Set a Tighter Deadline for Yourself

I tell a client his article will be ready by Friday. But in my head, that means I’ll be done with it Thursday. For one, I’d like to impress this client by getting it turned in “early.” For another, if something comes up (like a beautiful sunny day I can’t resist) I still have a buffer to get it done.

What Not to Do: Make unreasonable deadlines for yourself and for your client, and then end up turning something in late. Not cool.

4. Set Goals

My daily goal is to accomplish my task list. So if it’s quitting time and I haven’t finished what I’m working on, I either power through and finish or at least get to a stopping point. There’s nothing I hate more than trying to pick up on the thread I was working on the next day.

What Not to Do: Set stupid goals you won’t accomplish. Enough said.

5. Dangle a Carrot

I’ve got family coming to visit next week, and I’d like to work as little as possible while they’re here. So that motivates me to take on extra work this week to clear next week’s calendar. I find that taking time off is motivation enough to skip that nap and stay on track.

What Not to Do: Constantly need motivation to get anything done. You’re an entrepreneur. You have to work. Just like I tell my dog: you don’t get a treat every time you do something good.